Greener Grass

How do the seasons, where you live, reflect your personality?

Greener Grass

As I lay staring at the ceiling, a thought bubbled up, like water from an unrecognized spring, clear, unexpected and reflective. No wonder the cows always gravitated to that one spot in the pasture! The ground was cooler, the grass was greener, and the trees were thicker.

Is it possible that some people a do better where there are seasons? A song writer wisely said that he goes where the weather suits his clothes. Perhaps that is not a complete thought. Perhaps we go where the weather suits our personality and mental makeup. Clothes, after all, are just a temporary and changeable external covering.

Do you seek sameness? Are you comfortable in an environment that is essentially consistent? Another way of asking that is to involve attitude toward change. Do you constantly seek change? Does it energize you? Is it the dynamic force that drives your imagination? Your creativity? Great! The world needs people like you, always seeking something new and different. Pushing the boundaries of accepted states of being, just for the sake of expansion. Something new and better is just around the corner, just ahead. Just waiting to be discovered, experienced and then used as a steppingstone to the next new and different thing.

Or in an alternate reality, there are those who are simply fine where they are. This is not to say they do not think expansively, but they are content in their environment. There is no over-riding urge (read obsession) with change. While improvement may be an option, it is not a compulsive drive. They are satisfied with their job (for the most part) and their environment ( a few improvements?) and their relationships ( a few tweaks for the better, no rush). All in all, just the mental opposite to the change seeker.

Both types know change is inevitable, like death and taxes. But one personality type seeks it out, consistency be dammed, and the other just adapts to it, when necessary. How can we recognize these tendencies and use them to enhance the lives of those who experience them?

It is possible that the personality that revels in change, seeks it in all aspects of their life. Their mindset avoids the static. Fortunately, the parts of the globe that have distinct seasons, support this personality. Fall allows a winding down, a time of calmness, a relaxation of drive in preparation for the coming winter.

Winter itself reflects a certain peace, a break from the need to be driven, accelerate, and expand. It is needed reset time for the soul and body. A hunkering down, and a time for planning and even introspection and review occurs in winter.

But winter itself can be wearing for the change seeker. Long winters can seem to drag on. The hunger for spring is overwhelming. The need for spring can be felt in the bones. When will the sun come back and burst the seeds of new life? When can new ideas, generated in the winter, but sleeping, be put into action? When will the blood become energized and motivations turn into reality?

When least expected, spring arrives. Like a dog catching a scent in the air, we feel it. There has been a change. Something is different. Its almost here, deep in the ground, bulbs are sprouting and within bare branches, sap is surging. Change is coming. Soon it will burst forth like a new idea, an epiphany of freshness. Opportunity for newness.

Change seekers will feel their blood rush, their ideas clarify, their spirits, long locked in dark days and blankets of cold snow, begin to surge. It will bring new hope, sunny tomorrows, fresh green grass, enthusiasm.

After springs bursts, comes a period of action. Ideas are realized. Warmth and constant sun are great enablers. The surge of spring enables the reality of application. Then when the push to actualize starts to wear at the edges of energy, it all starts again.

The scent of fall is in the air. Its palpable. Change seekers know that soon they will have a reprieve, a chance to regroup, reevaluate, recoup and then rest before the next onslaught of change arrives. Spring always follows winter!

Why all this metaphysical musing. Change seekers relive this roller coaster of “cool down, rest, emergence, striving” on their internal clock. Nothing about their environment, employment or relationship can ever stay static. It is all subject to the flux of their season-like modifications. If one understands the seasons, then the inner drive of the change seeker becomes clearer.

Understanding the inner make up of the change seeker is crucial to the acceptance of it by the content personality. Not feeling a constant overwhelming drive to change things, the content personality rests in the safety and sameness of the moment. Change occurs, but not at a frenetic, impulsive, driven pace. Contemplated and thought through, change is considered and incrementally accomplished. Often so subtle as to be undetected by the change seeker, the content personality can find the change seeker’s methods to be erratic, unsettled, dissatisfying and confusing.

The original thought of this musing is that the change seeker forces change and then does better in an environment of dynamism and unsettled-ness. Seasons reflect this in our environment. Perhaps that cycle in the environment and weather is enough to make things more acceptable for the change seeker. Knowing that daily routines will be altered by the weather and the hours of daylight offers just enough diversity to meet their need for constant change. This environmental change requires no effort on their part but rewards them with variation. It is automatic. It can make the consistency of job, relationship and environment more acceptable, even bearable.

It is accepted by society at large that one is more active and aggressive in the spring and more active and forward moving in the summer. Not much is expected in the winter. That period of rest and inaction and preparation can meet the needs of change seekers for variation. The change seekers’ inner clock is rewound and their need for change is met. It is almost as though the earth itself is supporting their innate need for change.

The content personality seeks sameness and the constant movement of the seasons does not always meet their need for safety and security. A day in summer may differ greatly from a day in winter. While the content personality can accommodate these changes easily, they do not necessarily meet their needs. Why can’t everyday be a summer day? Or whatever suits their need? All this uncertainty seems predictable but unnecessary.

Which are you, perhaps a seasonal change addict? Ok for now, but pushing constantly for what is next, for change. Spring is great, but summer is better. Fall is beautiful, but winter has its charms. The grass always seems to be greener, better, more unique just ahead. Change represents progress, so let’s push ahead to get there.

If you are the content personality, then consistency is key. Right now is great, let’s enjoy it. This grass is so green, it meets my needs. Why break down the fence just to get to the other side? Impulsive actions are not necessary when the present is enough. Immediate benefits can be improved upon, but what is the rush? Change is inevitable, but why push it. Move forward, but from this foundation of consistency. Revel in the summer of now.

Where are you? Does the weather suit your clothes? Do periods of discontent wash over you like waves in the ocean, occasionally leaving you gasping for breath and crawling to the beach just to relieve the exhilaration and uncertainty of being pounded by the waves. Or are you content to pass time on the beach, soaking up the warmth and watching the struggle of those in the waves. Contemplating the power and beauty of the sea, but calm and un-battered.

It is possible that the end result of life for the change seeker and the content driven personality are the same. Just as everyone leaves the beach at some point, we all reach the same conclusion to life. Some rush to meet it, then fall back to regroup. Some contemplate the moment, move in increments, and achieve the same results as the change seekers. Each has accomplished their inner goals, only the process differs. Self-examination is the key. Are you a seasonal advocate, or a summer indulger? Both are good, but oh! So different.

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What are your thoughts on this? Comments? They are welcome at Karenmac1999@hotmail.com