Lapis Lazuli Necklace
Eco sterling silver and Brass

It’s been a long, hard winter both literally and metaphorically. Even at the best of times, by mid-January, I need to pull out the Tom Waits album ‘Bawlers’ and listen to his rendition of ‘You can never hold back spring’. This year though the emergence of new shoots and longer nights felt like redemption.
 
After a difficult few months, for a multitude of personal reasons, I remembered why it’s so important to plant crocuses and daffodils, both literally and metaphorically.
 
As the first signs of colour emerge in nature it is a reminder that all is impermanent, that nothing stays the same and that no matter how hard things get, there will be sunshine and joy ahead.
 
This can be easy to forget on the darkest nights. Grief can feel unending and heartache overwhelming but in these moments we realise our resilience, our strength and our capacity to endure.
 
Then come spring we use these experiences to fuel our gratitude, connection and lust for life, as Rumi said ‘grief can be the garden of compassion’.

There is a lot to be learned in the darkness but it can’t become a way of life, winter is a necessary and sometimes beautiful season, with many lessons but it must end and we must rejoice in the coming spring light.