Mardi Gras has come and gone – but what it promises us New Orleanians has not quite – officially – arrived yet.

Because for me, anyway, Mardi Gras means spring is fast approaching. Many of our more northern neighbors may see snow for Mardi Gras, whenever it falls on the calendar.

What does spring mean? Well, rebirth, and hope, for starters. Flowers begin to bloom, and then to drip from galleries and balconies. Trees put forth green shoots, then blossoms.

Can anyone, walking in the French Quarter, or in Audubon or City Park (to name just a few of New Orleans’ lovely vistas) in the spring, not feel a lift of spirit? A sense of hope, of optimism?

Our New Years’ post for 2024 discussed the importance of mindfulness, as we look ahead. And I won’t walk that back one inch. But there’s a need in all our lives for more than what the mind alone can bring to the table.

We need hope – and not just the hope we’ll be able to obtain more/better material goods, more financial security, more current prosperity.

Hope is a word we use loosely. It can, depending on who says it, and the circumstances, mean no more than a wish.

But it can also mean much more than that. Hope, to me, means a sense of promise – and a path toward the future.

And that sense can lead us upward and onward in the best frame of mind and spirit. We can promise, too – we can promise ourselves that we won’t lose sight of the great, though brief, gift of life, in all its challenges and all its rewards, both material and spiritual.

The promise of flowering trees betokens a fruitful future. Let’s promise ourselves that we, too, will be fruitful this year. Yet, without our hopeful flowering – no fruit is possible.

Spring is the time to make sure we, like our trees, like the plants which drip sweet fragrance from our galleries, open ourselves to the sun, to life, in order to thrive and bear the fruit of productivity in every area of our lives.

Let us do our work with fuller hearts and hopeful zeal. Let us embrace our friends and families with greater gifts of love, time and attention. Let us remember that, as Rudyard Kipling wrote:

“If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the earth and everything that’s in it . . .”

And let us fill every one of those minutes with something fruitful – whether the fruit of the moment is better and more successful work, deeper and closer relationships with our loved ones, or simple enjoyment of life. Let’s have them all!

Doesn’t spring make you feel, if you take a minute to experience it, that life is worth living?

And – as a reminder of another spring inevitability – remember to send us your tax information!

What does spring mean to you?

Click here to email me directly – I’d love to know your thoughts – and your feelings about this hopeful time of year.

Until next time –

Peace,

Eric