The Spring Equinox has come and gone, but the chill in the air remains. The buds on the apple tree have begun to emerge; the pink jasmine flowers lightly scent the air, but the feeling of winter lingers.

Every spring, it’s the same sequence. Flowers blossom, fruit trees bud, and the Earth stretches to awaken. However, Emerson reminds us, “To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same fields, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again.” This spring does in fact feel different.

Not long ago I was abroad, where I expected to be for a good deal longer before evacuating suddenly given the pace and manner in which the coronavirus escalated. It was banana trees and a non-Germanic language and goats blocking the dirt paths and a seemingly endless series of scalp infections. Now, there is none of the above.

There is though, beauty of a different quality than I previously had recalled. The blue of the southern California sky, and the blue grey of the San Gabriel mountains. The backlit clouds at dusk. The grey underbelly of puffy white cumulus clouds that sail by, constantly undergoing transformation. Standing on the earth, looking skyward, they always seemed like grand kingdoms unto themselves. They seemed so real and impenetrable and large. But when you fly through them in a plane, they seem like nothing more than a light mist, nothing solid in there at all. Nothing is as it seems; we are easily fooled by appearances.

There is too, tea. Good tea.

Sitting down at the tea table on this cusp of seasons, the clay of the teapot remains cold to the touch. Before brewing the tea, I take time to warm the pot slowly to make sure that the clay does not crack. Normally, the temperature has to be quite stark for this to happen, but there is no harm in being gentle, in taking extra care.

Sometimes adjusting to change, especially change of an abrupt nature, takes a little time. That’s okay.

Go slow. Go easy.

Have a cup of tea. Try something new.

Let us be patient and mindful. Let us be kind to ourselves. For if you cannot manage that, how can you do so for others?