There’s no season that teaches us more about vitality than Spring when nature’s primal life-giving force is irrepressible and the growing conditions are just right to activate earth’s inherent fecundity in an explosion of colour, scent and growth everywhere around us.
Nature’s abundant generosity stirs us awake at our very core, and inspired by the infinite creative possibilities the season gives rise to, we join in the celebration of life with great enthusiasm, planting gardens, cleaning and refurbishing our homes, making lifestyle changes to get fit, feel great, eat well and live better.
As spring shifts into summer, conditions change – what was once, even if short-lived, a well-tended garden may become neglected, the plants that started the season out strong, now compete for space, nutrients, water and sun. The lifestyle practices that were kicked off in the ideal conditions of spring may be gasping for support from the sweltering heat of July and the droughts so common in August.
So how can you best navigate the changing external conditions and live sustainably?
Garden metaphors are useful tools in coaching. People “get it”. They understand that there are many kinds of plants, each with its own specific conditions that need to be met to foster optimum growth. We are no different. Much like a plant, at different stages of life, we require different conditions to support our evolving growth processes. “Quality of Life” is dynamic.
While in the spring of our lives we may value certain things, the very same things are no longer relevant to us when we are retired. 
So what’s there to hold on to – what is one condition that is consistent throughout our lives?
Like with a plant, the earth and the sun are the two consistent, contributing factors to our growth. The quality of the soil (our culture) and the strength of our root system (values and beliefs) give rise to the life we live under the power of the life-giving sun.
Does a flower sense the presence of a bee, hummingbird or ladybird – the breeze moving its leaves or petals – or the movement of the sun from east to west across the sky?
What value might there be to the flower in cultivating mindfulness? Does its practice developing a greater presence, a larger bloom, stronger roots, more potent seeds? Whether this metaphor works for you or not, I think you’ll get the point – if we’re not present to our experience what’s pulling our attention away? What can be of greater importance to us than being right here, right now – in the experience of the life we are living? What is vitality but presence?
It’s in staying present to who we are in the moment, to noticing what we are noticing without judgement, acknowledging and appreciating the things that bring us joy, give pleasure, make us feel good, strong and at peace with ourself and our world that we feel whole, alive and empowered.
If, however, you find yourself struggling with being present in your life, your mind pulling your attention away into worry, fear and pain; you feel overwhelmed, stuck and challenged to focus or sustain your attention on what matters, and find it difficult to take step by step action to create the life you want, then mindfulness coaching might be just the medicine you’ve been looking for.
This article was first published in the June 2014 edition of Worldwide Coaching Magazine
About Julia von Flotow
