The Seasons Within

For the first time in years, I am spending time in a place where the change between seasons is drastic. Quebec, Canada has cold winter with a lot of snow, then spring, where the trees have fresh new green growth and we get to see a totally new landscape after the rough winter. The summer is well appreciated … Québécois will do all they can to spend a sunny day outside, because they know this won’t last very long … and often too soon, autumn shows up, as a “spectacle” full of beautiful colors—saying goodbye—before we slowly get used to the cold and less light again.

When I moved to California, it felt like there were no seasons. I was so used to the huge changes in weather 4 times a year in Canada, that I couldn’t really notice the subtleties between seasons within California. Plus, there was so much novelty with my point of reference being Canada. I could only compare larger and more obvious changes, rather than comparing the way seasons differ within the Bay Area. Over the years I started noticing more nuances; that the lemon tree behind my house would have not one, but two harvests per year. Sometimes three, which, for a Canadian is quite phenomenal! I noticed that despite the fact there were flowers all the time, those too had seasons in which distinct varieties would show up at different moments.

This is how we get to notice more nuances when we get to know oneself better. We get to know our own weather or season, the gradations in our emotional states, rather than simply labeling from anger to sadness to happiness. It’s like observing the light at different times of day and a different time of year—the type of ice or snow, the kind of wine you drink, or the model of bicycle you want to buy.

Whichever passion, hobby, trade, or career you’re in, you notice more specificity in your knowledge and you can perceive disparities, which a newcomer or a novice couldn’t recognize. And the more you learn, the more you realize there is more you could learn. It’s the same with the self, with our state of mind, and with movement.

First we only notice the contrasts within the extreme differences, and the more we pay attention, the more we sharpen our understanding and knowledge, so that we become more astute in discerning subtleties. This way we can have more precision in what we do, what we are, and what we observe. Of course, not everyone wants to invest their time in improving their sense of perception to a high level. However, since we only have one body in a lifetime, and we are living within it no matter what, we might as well make it a pleasurable place to be in … and to be aware of its different weather, so you can be better equipped to adjust, adapt and move forward.