Today, we enter March. I had been mulling over the intensity of the last week of February: The State of the Union Address and it's counter, The Peoples' State of the Union, the drama and joy of the Winter Olympics, the sudden "Blizzard of 2026", hitting the New York Tri-State area, as temperatures here in L.A. county soared above 90 º. And now, on the last day of February, American and Israeli forces bombed Iran. Where we collectively go from here is not clear yet. A new month is one way to consider a spiritual re-set as as the world stage reacts. We can begin with moments of peace, moments of prayer for healing that extend to peace for all. Can we leave February behind, but take Love with us as we open to Peace?
As I was mulling over the week's events (before the attack), and this shift to a new month, an artist friend of mine sent me a photo of the winter landscape surrounding his New York studio. (see below)
I texted back the first thought that popped into my mind, a poem by William Carlos Williams.
"Among
of
green stiff
old
bright broken
branch
come white
sweet
May again."
Yet, I sat a little longer with the photo. In that quiet space, I was transported to Switzerland, and the memory of a magical drive through a snow covered forest, with our mutual friend and teacher, U.G. Krishnamurti. It was late December. The upcoming New Year loomed ahead - was it 2005? 2006? I'm not sure. I just sat with the photo, the spring poem, and the winter nostalgia of Switzerland, acutely aware of passing time. Even the naming of this month seems a reminder that time is "on the March" in Nature's transition. The months of winter, the promise of spring, and March in between--"in like a lion; out like a lamb" is the timeless chant of March, (dating back to at least 1732 in an English book of proverbs). March is the pivot between the memory of spiritual retreat in a winter wonderland forest, and the arrival of "white sweet May again", in the movement of the seasons.
The point here is to pause this first week of March, and reconnect with Nature. It doesn't have to be outside in bad weather; Nature is everywhere. With the human centered pressure to transform the world into something other (and there are infinite visions and revisions being dreamed of in these times), as ancient as it may seem, our lives are still enriched and sustained by the natural, in Nature's ongoing rotation. Perhaps, I can really call it Nature's agenda, which includes the Whole of Life--every evolving creature in It. When you reach news overload, remember March may begin with a roar, but softens into spring. As much as we love to assume that we, as human beings, rule life, we remain a component of a much larger field--call it Nature, or the Universe, or God the Transcendent. Still, we are home. (Susan Nettleton)
For poetry: https://mypoeticside.com/show-classic-poem-35463 https://poets.org/poem/dear-march-come-1320 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45667/the-gardener-85
Louis Brawley, March 2026