(ThyBlackMan.com) Spring is here! We’ve arrived at the season after winter and before summer; the season in which vegetation begins to appear; the season from which we emerge from the long frost of cold and snow and low temperatures.
Metaphorically, spring is the season in which we open to the possibilities of a brand-new future!
Our body, mind and spirit begin to unfold in miraculous ways as we take in new opportunities for growth and change.
Three important questions present themselves at the beginning of this exciting new period of the calendar year. The answers to these questions will determine the vibrancy of our experience and the beauty we may bring to this season of our lives.
Am I Holding a Grudge?
If there is one sure way of remaining grounded in life, it is to spend the rest of our lives nursing a grudge against another. Often, when we spend our time at the cash register of grudge, we’ll only discover we’re coming up short again and again. There are people who perceive they’ve been wounded, and spend inordinate amounts of time reliving it and getting back at the culprit.
That attitude is suicide on the installment plan and it results only in a life festered by toxicity, poisoning the soul and stunting the physical vitality of the holder.
To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it.
–Confucius
Have I Given Up On My Dreams?
This question is vital and positional in its importance to the first question; that’s because if, indeed, you are nursing a grudge against another, you are giving less time to pursuing what is really important to you.
You cannot nurture a dream and a grudge at the same time. A grudge becomes a cruel weight on the spirit and psyche – it only holds you down.
Indeed, it’s a bird with clipped wing.
Dream big – even if your dreams have come crashing down. Get up and dream again!
I love how the late Christopher Reeves, the embodiment of Superman and of how dreams can soar, paraphrased it:
So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
–Christopher Reeves
Is There a Higher Power than Me?
This question continues to be the life’s most intriguing question. It is also related to the second question, for our dreams bring us into closer proximity to the Creator who planted those dreams within us. The answer you give dictates what your life is about; it evinces your present and evocates your future. Answering in the affirmative gives us meaning and ushers in our willingness to make a profound difference in this world.
To be sure, there can be no other answer than the affirmative to this question, if you resist the tendency to frame it solely with the context of religion. It’s much more than a religious question; the answer is cosmic, it’s universal. Most of all, it’s within and it is born of a rich understanding that God is connected to us in much bigger ways we may imagine.
In the Holy Bible, God says:
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
-Jeremiah 29:11
So there you have it; a transformational and ascending order of questions at the beginning of a new season, each question connected to the previous and each question critically important to your evolution: Am I holding a grudge? Have I given up on my dreams? Is there a Higher Power than me?
Staff Writer; W. Eric Croomes
This talented brother is a holistic lifestyle exercise expert and founder and executive coach of Infinite Strategies LLC, a multi-level coaching firm that develops and executes strategies for fitness training, youth achievement and lifestyle management. Eric is an author, fitness professional, holistic life coach and motivational speaker.
In October 2015, Eric released Life’s A Gym: Seven Fitness Principles to Get the Best of Both, which shows readers how to use exercise to attract a feeling of wellness, success and freedom (Infinite Strategies Coaching LLC, 2015) – http://www.infinitestrategiescoaching.com.