Ahhh...spring!  I can feel it in the air.  The days are longer and the trees are in full bloom--pink and white petals raining down upon us with the slightest breeze to scatter across a landscape dotted with daffodils and tulips.  The sun spreads its warm fingers across my back, the promise of barefoot days outdoors.  My mornings begin in birdsong, and I already look forward to shedding my winter coat in favor of the sun on bare skin.  Okay, maybe I'm getting a little carried away here, but seriously: spring is almost here!

Spring is the season of renewal and regeneration.  After long months of hibernating we, like flower bulbs, take all the nutrients we have gathered in our roots and push out towards the light--a new blossom, a new potential waiting just within sunlight's grasp.  Now we can reap the benefits of fall and winter's inward-looking gaze and begin again.  In honor of this forward moving season, I have come up with five ways to celebrate it--try one, try them all, or invent your own.  Whatever you do, take the time to honor the hopes and intentions you have planted in your soil this season.

1. Watch the sunrise.  Seriously!  I know it might feel like a lot to ask for, but there is no better way to welcome spring than to watch the sunrise; after this time of equal night and day, the light hours will lengthen.  Put on some coffee, wrap yourself in a blanket, and enjoy the sun's light washing over you, sweeping away the last of winter.

2. Plant some seeds...and fill your house with flowers while you're at it.  Spring means gardening.  I admit I cheated a little and already planted some radish and lettuce seeds, but that's only because I can't wait to plant some herbs and ready my garden for future produce.  Gardening is good for the soul too; each seed you plant is like planting your intention for a more fulfilling life, conjuring up another way of being.  Don't have a garden or a green thumb?  Buy some flowers.  Big, bold spring flowers--and place them in vases around your house.  There are few things more delightful than waking up to a vase of happy daffodils on your nightstand.

3.  Take a nature walk...even if it is in your own backyard or neighborhood.  Last week I found myself consumed with mid-term paper grading only to come up from it a few days later to realize that the trees in my neighborhood had bloomed.  When did this happen? I asked myself.  Naturally, I then stopped to enjoy this fleeting wonder.  Take time to absorb this transient season!

4.  Put out birdseed.  Thank those finches and doves that making waking in the morning such a pleasure--and encourage them to serenade you anytime by putting out seeds in your bird feeder. 

5.  Spring clean your home.  This may not sound like the most joyous activity, but there is something to the idea of chasing out the dust and heavy thoughts that might have settled over the winter.  So clean your home.  Throw some new sheets on your bed.  Add more fresh flowers to a room.  Purge your home of anything that doesn't bring you joy.  Open windows and let nature in.  After all, spring is about letting go of things that once were and embracing the potential for what might be.