Regenerative reflection, rethinking, realignment.
Imbolc - a beautiful time to reflect on regenerative meaning
As January closes, in what seems to have been a long, wet, dark month, yet beautifully punctuated with jewels of bright sunshine days, we reach Imbolc on February 1/2. The length of daylight has been increasing a minute or two each day, imperceptibly maybe, but now much more noticeable, particularly around dusk and sunset.
We hear the early blackbird as they flute the first stirrings of what will become the familiar dawn song. White pearls of Snowdrops are flowering, crocus, primrose, daffodil and dandelion are emerging.
Yet. For me this time of the year, Imbolc, may not be the start of spring, we have a month or so of winter to come, but as marker, a quarter day in the wheel of life, its a time we feel the seasonal light changing.
I read around the wheel of the year customs, of Imbolc, of Bridgit, of fertility, dandelions and seeds, always reinforcing feeling and sensing not just the seeing.
I also think of architect declare regenerative index question that breaks open a crack in the built environment, for wheel of year seasonality to grow around using natural systems as inspiration, recognising the seasonality of nature and people, and in celebrating equinoxes and solstices together.
And listening … to Dobrinka Tabakova’s stunning Sun Triptych - Dawn, Day and Dusk
So linking a few thoughts here on why increasingly I am seeing this time of year essential as a time for regenerative, reflection, rethinking and that continual realignment.
Regenerative Reflection: Creating Conditions for Life
As I learn more, I sense Imbolc asks us not just to notice the return of light, but to reflect on our felt relationship with it. This isn’t about productivity or optimisation, it’s about something different, something older and wiser, reaching to the core of what regenerative is, asking
“are we creating conditions conducive to life, or are we merely extracting a little less”?
Are we in the right relationship as Robin Wall Kimmerer would ask?
A Seed’s Inherent Knowing
I find it rather awesome each spring as I plant seeds that, such a small entity, in the darkness of soil knows which way is up. It hasn’t seen the sun, yet will grow towards it with certainty. This isn’t taught, it isn’t a written process.
It doesn’t workshop its approach or wait for consensus, or proof that up exists, or for guaranteed safety, or for reassurance of reward.
It simply begins.
Is this the true essence of regenerative action … acting from deep knowing rather than surface conditions?
When we allow light back into our lives, our work, our projects, regeneratively, can we take inspiration from that seed’s knowing ? Does it grow from something true and rooted? Are we creating conditions where more life becomes possible? Are we still waiting for conditions to be right, or are we actively creating conditions where life, ours and others, can flourish?
Not Waiting, But Creating Conditions
The dandelion doesn’t wait for spring to arrive fully formed. It doesn’t wait for the soil to be perfect, for all threats to pass, for perfect circumstances. Instead, it becomes the condition it needs. It breaks compacted earth, leaves create shade and hold moisture, roots emit compounds that change soil chemistry. It doesn’t fight concrete but finds the crack, widens it, makes it habitable. It transforms barriers into opportunity.
A regenerative project doesn’t seek to just extract value or solve a problem in isolation. It improves the system it’s part of, leaving things more alive than when it started. Like the dandelion, regenerative projects change the soil.
Allowing light back into life.
Not forcing, not demanding, not controlling. Allowing. We can’t force regeneration any more than we can force spring.
As light returns at Imbolc, what might we ask ourselves, to shift regenerative thinking and practice away from less extraction, to follow the inherent instinct for life, the one that knows which way is up even in darkness.
Related Regen Notes:
Light, the story within - Exploring Gaelic circadian expressions
or search Imbolc on Regen Notes
If you would like to know more about the topics covered here or in other Regen/Notes, how they can be and are being applied to further regenerative thinking and application please do reach out.