Spring is an embodiment of creation and growth and an auspicious time for reflection on what growth and progress mean to us. With the extended light of day and warmer temperatures, the rate of photosynthesis, essential to all life on earth, begins to increase. In this way, Spring sets the stage for growth and illuminates a wide-ranging spectrum of potential and abundance.

In this spirit of possibility and growth, I can't help but to think of what we leave behind when we grow. Letting go is necessary for growth. We might recognize the need to let go of habits that no longer serve us, or to let go of expectations or beliefs that limit us, or to release the pattern of binary thinking.

Binary thinking is a byproduct of the functions of the amygdala of our brain. That’s the part that equips us to solve problems and avoid danger through the fight or flight response. It may also wire us for othering, or social marginalization. And the issue is, this causes us deep suffering. We adopt an “us versus them mentality,” and even apply it to our own individual, internal self. We tend to split our options and desires into a dichotomous frame, narrowing our lens. We adopt absolutes like, “I’m either the winner or the loser,” or bad versus good; pretty versus ugly; right versus wrong; worthy versus unworthy. Or we tend to conflate our preferences to actual needs: “I absolutely need the pink one and will never be happy with the green one.” I’ve been wondering how we can begin to let go of these contrived outcomes, to see letting go as progress in itself, and detach from the extremes that our results-driven, consumerist society advocates for.

I also think about what we leave behind when we make a definitive choice. In holding on too tightly to one end, to one extreme practice, ideology, or goal, we deny the options of the both, the neither, the modifications, and the variations that lie somewhere in the middle. While choices and decisions do need to be made, I wonder: How we can lighten the grip and let the choices be effortless and unbinding? We can make choices with a yogic mindset by first studying ourselves to help recalibrate our needs and desires, and reassess our core values. Then, we proceed with the yogic reminder that our personal agency is supported by a higher power, so there's a shared responsibility in the outcomes of our choices. I’m wondering here, when we make a choice, can we do so with the unconventional agreement that we’re free to choose and to un-choose… to change our mind?

As we enter Spring, as we sow actual seeds for vegetation and metaphoric seeds for new habits, projects, or attitudes, I am moved to consider the ways we can foster the fullness of ourselves and of our experiences by embracing the space in between the extremes and by shifting focus away from the outcome or the winning, and onto the value of the process itself. Imagine the freedom in resisting the periphery, in being okay with a sliding-scale type of result, with peacefully resting somewhere in the middle, in the constant potentiality of a thing. Imagine the openness of spirit when we are able to cherish the subtle win in a perceived loss; or the breadth of compassion when we recognize the collateral loss in a fruitful win?

Imagine the freedom in having more than one option, being able to hold multiple, even divergent truths simultaneously, of being filled with a sense of newness without having obtained any new context or new thing. Imagine the range of beauty and inspiration as you allow seeds to develop freely, and blossom within an expanded realm of possibility.

May you continue to plant the seeds of peace, of love, and of expansion. Happy Spring!