March: Release the Past

"FREE YOURSELF FROM YESTERDAY"

BY DR. LARRY MORRIS

As we prepare to enter a new year, let's take a moment to allow ourselves to release this past year: we can decide right now to let go of anything or anyone from last year that we no longer wish to carry into this. A person with many burdens and problems once came to a minister from New York City named Raymond Charles Barker for advice. "What can I do to escape all these burdens?" he asked. Rev. Barker thought for a moment and he said, "Just remember one thing—yesterday ended last night.” Too often we carry too many of yesterday's hurts and pains around with us, beyond their time. We really don't have to drag last year's sorrows into the new year with us. Why not leave them behind and step into this new year fresh, innocent and open to new life. Let's let go of the old now and spring full bloom newly alive into the new—we let the past be with the past as we open our hearts to this new year.

“Spring Fresh”

by Dr. Larry Morris

This is a good time of year to have a spiritual garage sale. As Winter fades into Spring do we feel fresh and newly alive inside our minds and hearts? Are there any old worn out thoughts and feelings which we haven't yet released? Sometimes we carry around an old attitude or opinion or point-of-view through which we are still seeing things, even though we no longer really believe in its validity. We simply at some point forgot to let it go. Perhaps we're busy blaming instead of changing things. A man was always complaining about his lunch. He told his fellow worker, "Oh no, not cheese sandwiches again—I hate cheese sandwiches." The other man suggested, "Why don't you ask your wife to make another kind of sandwich?" The man replied, "I'm not married, I make the sandwiches myself." Since we all make our reality sandwiches ourself, let's try making them fresh and new and joyous this Spring.

“Transitionary Month”

by Dr. Larry Morris

There's an old saying that March rushes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb. This is a transitionary month which ushers in a profound change in nature and in ourselves: the old winter days and nights give way to the soothing warmth of spring. The stark barren trees and colorless grass melt into pale green beauty throughout this month of transformation. When there is a change in the seasons, we sometimes feel unsettled—we have become so used to winter, the way everything feels and looks, that when the outer change begins to happen, we, too, go through a time of inner release and transition. This is a joyous time because we actually see the creative process of new life coming into being throughout this month. Each day we see trees coming into blossom, grass turning green, flowers blooming in loveliness. As the 13th century Chinese Zen Master Wu-men said, "Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.”