Written by John Walters – Founder of Questae Collective
We celebrate the spring (vernal) Equinox on March 20th which is when the sun is in direct line with the equator giving us equal light and equal dark.
The Equinox marks the passing and end of winter, and we step into Spring. The season where everything reawakens, new life reaches out from the slumbering earth, the branches are filled with blossom, the sun shines longer, it’s warmer against our skin, there is a sweet freshness in the air, and often we feel lifted and liberated escaping from the dark long cold wet winter.
For many there is excitement and anticipation for the longer, lighter (and warmer) months ahead, and it is at this time of year when we start to think about the spring clean, but what does that really mean?
For many it is a simple task of opening the windows and letting that freshness of air rush through to cleanse our homes. For others it maybe a time to clean out the mind, to reset, recalibrate our thoughts, our emotions, and how we see the world. Less obvious than the New Year’s resolutions yet still apparent and there for us to consider.
We all have our favoured season and for us at Questae, spring is for sure one of the most beautiful and positive seasons, new beginnings, new life, and new opportunities to grasp.
So the other weekend, after I had watched my son play football, I took myself off to the beautiful medieval town of Sandwich in Kent. There is a lovely 8-mile route that loops along the Great Stour River, along farm tracks, fields and around the golf courses to Sandwich Bay where I can meander along the beach, back up to the road, and then back into Sandwich.
Sometimes I run the route but that day I decided to walk. I also decided to not wear my headphones but to listen to, soak up, and enjoy the sounds that nature provides, and boy-ma-boy did I do the right thing!
I was able to listen to the bird song, some of which were mating calls from the recently returning birds now nesting for the warmer months, I could hear crows, gulls and I spied a couple of buzzards enjoying the breeze. But I was also able to hear the sound of the wind passing through the grasses, the reeds, and the trees, really noticing the change in the pitch as the wind blew.
I could appreciate the differing aromas, the sweetness, the damp, and the contradictory dry of each differing environment, the scent of the blossoms, the new grasses, the moss, and the earth.
On the beach I could hear the constant of the waves, the pull and push of the pebbles as the sea ebbed and flowed, the tide cleansing the shore with each movement. I could feel, and hear each footstep upon the mix of sand and pebbles.
And as I returned to the town, and along the small lanes I was greeted with more sounds, more aromas, and new sights…in fact, I have walked, or run, this very same route many times, but today it felt different, it felt new, I was seeing, hearing, smelling, and sensing so many new things, and all because I had allowed myself to. I had not been distracted by music, or sound from a device, I had submersed myself into nature and enjoyed everything around me
But most importantly I experienced overwhelming sensations and emotions of pure joy, absolute happiness, calm, contentment, and feelings of outstanding wellbeing.
So as I sat against a wall by the original Cinque Port, and after buying an ice cream (rum & raisin) from a building dating back to 1384(!), I reflected on that walk, on what I had experienced, what I had learned and what I had enjoyed, and how, for that short time at least, I had entered a moment of total mindfulness, allowed some oh so important self-love, self-care. And what I learned was that we need to remind ourselves what nature brings us, all that it gives, all that it means and what just a short space of time within nature can do for us. It reminded me that I need to immerse myself into nature more often, and that in doing so I will raise my vibration, my spirit, awaken my senses and give myself more of those wonderful, and addictive, feels of wellness and wellbeing.
So if there is one thing that you do this springtime, I implore you to get outside, find a walk, find a space, but just find that time for you, get out and into nature and enjoy those euphoric experiences as well.
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