It's April. The month of fresh starts. A new season. New fiscal. New quarter. New semester. New lunar cycle. A chance to do things differently.
Some of my clients are taking the opportunity to spring clean their work lives, reviewing and getting rid of processes, goals, assumptions and habits that no longer serve them. Others – like the Future of Hockey Lab – are launching bold new initiatives to drive change. Here on Vancouver Island, my neighbours and I are starting our veggie gardens, despite the cool damp weather.
No matter what we're doing, we're all planting seeds. Sowing hope for the future.
Yet, as we do this work, we often get so caught up in "fixing" problems from the past or working with old habits and assumptions, that we don't take the time to imagine exactly how we want the future to be better. What we want to change. Do we want to feel more energized? Have more clarity about our job? Get a bigger audience? Or, like me, have stronger ties in our community?
As you work through your spring rituals, I encourage you to try to carve out a little time to dream. Think about one thing you'd like to change right now. It might be developing a new relationship, new perspective, new skill or even just growing a new vegetable in the garden. Be really specific about what you want and how it will make your life better.
Then ask yourself – what's one seed that I could plant today that could make that happen?
The seeds of change don't sow themselves. And – it's amazing what emerges when we declare our intention simply by putting them in the ground.
