How to Pay Attention This Week

The sun melts. The ground revealed. Revealing us with it.

The soil has been more evident this winter than in a normal winter here. Though I wonder what a normal winter is anymore as our climate shifts, I am holding it right up with some of the winters I knew even 10 years ago here. It was not normal to see soil much, if ever, in the winter. Maybe through the ice, a peak would appear during the normal January thaw.

When the ground finally revealed itself, I would be in complete awe of the view of soil over the view of just a white and icy landscape. I would look forward to the first scent of soil meeting the heat of the sun. That earthy and vibrant life-giving scent felt nearly forgotten in the depths of a real northern winter.

This winter, I have seen the soil far more than not, and though that holds its own thoughts, I have found with every that that revealed the ground beneath us once again; I felt I was able to check in this winter on who the winter was forming me into. I could sit back and look at what was emerging in me and, most importantly, what had been degrading.

As we enter the final stretch of winter, as the sun begins to shift closer and closer to due East and West in the final weeks of winter and before spring arrives, I feel there is something really powerful about this connection we can make with ourselves.

As the soil is opened repeatedly this winter, I find those spots always look a little different. They sometimes have more brown or black layers as leaves have degraded, and recently, I have noted the emergence of some green there as well. Things are changing, and I can nearly bet you would say the same about yourself.

It’s time to start watching the revealed soil and ourselves in the mix this week. What has degraded through winter? What is itching to turn green and begin to emerge? Let’s dig into this.

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