This is cherry blossom time and in Japan the coming of the cherry blossom is a cause for celebration and of great interest.
Follow through this link here and you’ll see a map showing when the blossom comes out in different parts of Japan (over March and April – we’re a bit later with our blossom here in Scotland)
Why is it such a celebration? Well, not just because it is beautiful (which it is) but because it makes us so much more aware of transience. The blossom comes, the blossom goes. It’s not here for long. Everything is like that. Our lives are like that. We are here with these bodies for a while, and then we are gone.
This is a transition time for me in my life. I’ll be retiring from medical practice this summer, which is a huge life change. So I’m acutely aware of the beauty and the power of transience right now. There is celebration of the life lived so far, of how much it has changed, and an intensity to the everyday experience which comes with the awareness of change.
This is a good month to notice the daffodils coming out, or the cherry blossom briefly flourishing on the trees. Nature is showing off the wonderful beauty of transience.
I know we have a human tendency to cling, to want to keep the status quo, holding onto not just what is good but what is familiar. But we also have this deep human capacity to know that we are mortal, to know that change is the inescapable reality of Life, and somehow, that makes today even more precious, even more important, even more beautiful.
Heroes Not Zombies 
Good luck with your formal retirement! I’ll tell you if it hurts 🙂
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