Are you ready? Cast off the winter blahs! Let go of hibernating at home. It’s time for rejuvenation, reawakening and a feeling of new energy or hopefulness. The days are becoming lighter and warmer and color is returning to nature. It’s time to blossom and feel connected to all that is around us.
Just a few more weeks until we officially welcome spring – Wednesday, March 20! In many cultures, there is a ritualistic approach to welcoming in the warmer weather and new energy. There are ceremonies for the Spring Equinoxwith some even having a modern spin to them.
Other rituals have been around for centuries. “Lent” is celebrated by some Christians and actually means “Spring.” It is a period that begins with Ash Wednesday on March 6 and lasts for 40 days (plus six Sundays). A period when before the holy day of Easter or the rebirth or reawakening, a person takes dedicated time for insights and the letting go of certain attachments, beliefs, story lines that no longer serve them.
Wisdom Teachers Use 40 Days for Insights
The 40-day time period is well known by many of the religious groups. It has an auspicious timing that indicates the ability to intuitively connect to the Universe and gleam powerful insights. We know that Jesus fasted and entered into silence for 40 days. Moses also reportedly fasted for 40 days on Mount Sinai before receiving Spiritual insights. Buddha received his intuitive insights during a 40-day fast as did Muhammad who was in a cave for 40 days as received the words of the Quran. The insights are not exclusive to religious leaders. The inspiration for Reiki was provided when Dr. Usui fasted for 40 days in the mountains of Japan.
Each of these wisdom teachers as well as present day leaders recognize the importance of taking dedicated time to connect with something larger than ourselves. They recognize too that time for your inner reflections helps us release from the attachments of modern living and gain a larger, more deeper understanding.
Begin Your Personal 40-Day Spring Journey
Where do you begin? In our modern day hustle and bustle, you might be saying this all sounds great but there is no way to hide away for 40 days. And who wants to fast for that long? And you would be right! So we need to find creative ways to adopt the practice into your current life. The key theme is taking focused time to personally connect with your intuitionand with Spirit.
For some Christians, Ash Wednesday begins the 40-day journey usually with them giving up something of importance. It might be giving up a certain food or food item like sugar, or giving up the use of something such as negative thinking or letting go of binge watching TV.
For Muslims, Ramadan which begins in May is a month-long fasting ceremony that coincides with the 40 days when Muhammad received his insights for the first part of the Quran. Muslims reframe from eating AND drinking (even water) during the daytime and at night have a healthy bite.
Fasting is a way to cleanse our physical bodies and allow for access to our intuitive guidance. Yet, the process of igniting your intuition for 40 days does not necessarily need to center around fasting or food.
Thinking Out of the Box
If you have reached this part of the article, then something is resonating in you to consider a 40-day Spring initiate. Here is the fun part. There are many ways to incorporate this beautiful ritual into your life and it does not require any specific religious alignment. All you need to do is use your own creativity or imagination – both of which are heavily linked to our intuition. What is calling within you for rebirth or rejuvenation?
Here though are some considerations for your first steps:
- Objective: What are you trying to accomplish? Connecting with your intuitive side? Seeking to reframe your personal storyline? The objective does not have to be framed through a negative lens of “giving something up.” It might instead be on how to incorporate something new. Take time to really think through what you would like to accomplish.
- Dedicated Time: You have decided on your objective. Let’s now talk about what you plan to do during your inner challenge. Example: Your objective is to focus on positive things and incorporate meditation. You therefore plan to do small acts of kindness and will meditate daily.
- Date and Timing: Pick a date and time to begin your Spring Initiate. You might wish to begin with a religious start such as Ash Wednesday or Ramadan. Your time frame might wish to be 40 days to coincide with the ancient wisdom leaders but certainly can be whatever you would like. Remember that changing patterns usually requires more than a month – 40 to 100 days is excellent! From our example above then, the person might wish to meditate daily for 10 minutes and have a goal to do 4 small acts of kindness over the 40 days.
- Compassion for You: When we begin the journey of making personal changes and having energetic shifts, it is only human to not be perfect. Be compassionate with yourself over the 40 days. When something happens that does not meet the objective, be aware of it and what happened but mostly be compassionate with yourself. Then go back to your beautiful objective and try again.
- What Happened? One of the most important components to a successful Spring Initiate is to simply be aware. For whatever you decided to do, what have you noticed? Simply being aware on a daily basis is critical to observing changes. As you implemented meditation and small acts of kindness, what happened to you physically? Emotionally? Mentally? Spiritually? Simply be aware!
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I am also going to start a #SpringInitiate beginning on Ash Wednesday, March 6. I have never previously observed the season of Lent yet feel it is a good time frame and like that it is connected to a spiritual ritual. A wonderful book I am reading is “Lent for Non-Lent People” by Jon Swanson. Easy read and interesting considerations for the 40 days plus 6 extra days so my ritual will also include 46 days total.
If interested, join me on Instagramto track how you are doing. I am still working through what I will be doing but will keep you posted there! Hope you too will join the 46-day challenge! #SpringInitiate