Photo by Gary O Smith
Our winter weather has been much colder and wetter than usual for South Texas, but that’s fine with me.  We really needed the rain, plus the hard freezes ought to help minimize the mosquito population during the long, hot summer which will be returning soon enough.  Meanwhile, the unusually low temperatures have taken their toll on the plant life around here.  Our yard looks particularly barren and ghostly, populated by tangles of angular, gray branches and spindly sticks.  I can’t look out the window without wanting to pick up my pruning shears and start trimming back the deadwood.  But I don’t, because conventional gardening wisdom says that in the San Antonio area we should wait until mid-to-late February before pruning most trees, shrubs, roses and perennials like plumbago, esperanza, lantana, and bougainvillea.  Trimming any earlier will encourage them to sprout prematurely, making them vulnerable to a late freeze, (which can happen as late as the first week of March).
 
It’s also important to remember that the dead limbs and leaves are merely a signal that these trees and plants are focusing their growth energy underground.  Winter is the time for their root systems to spread deeper and wider, thereby making it possible for the canopy to grow higher and broader in the coming year.  A tree can only bear more fragrant mountain laurel blossoms in spring, more juicy peaches in summer, and more tasty pecans in autumn than it did last year, because of the silent, underground growth that occurred during winter.  Pruning too early can disrupt this vital process, dissipating this much-needed energy upwards and outwards too soon.
 
This process holds equally true for you and me as it does for the plants and trees.  We, too, need to have a time of rest, a time to be non-productive, in order to be fruitful and productive later.  This simple fact tends to get overlooked in the headlong rush of daily life in the modern world, but that doesn’t make it any less important.  Fortunately, right now is a good time to remember that this is the season for quiet introspection and reflection, for going deeper into the texture of our lives, for no particular reason.  A time to allow these cold, wet days and nights to provide a perfect backdrop for slowing down.  A chance to curl up with a good book and a cup of hot tea.  To sit staring into the fireplace.  For preparing a nice, healthy pot of soup for yourself and then taking the time to savor it alone — or with a few friends. 
 
In short, this is a great time to take a cue from Mother Nature and let go of your Doing and just Be for awhile.  I really hope you’ll allow your Self to be semi-dormant for a while, whether for a week, a day, or just an hour or two.  I’m pretty sure you’ll be glad you did.
 
With blessings and hopes of seeing you Around the Circle,

Rudolf

The great contemporary violinist, Itzhak Perlman was stricken with polio as a child and always walks with the aid of leg braces and crutches. It hasn’t kept him from performing, but it does require him to undergo a complicated ritual before each concert:  to walk slowly across the stage on his crutches; painfully but majestically seat himself; put his crutches on the floor; undo the clasps on his leg brace, tuck one foot forward, the other foot back, pick up his violin, nod to the conductor and begin to play.
 
On November 18, 1995, Perlman performed a concert at the Lincoln Center in New York, and underwent his usual, long arduous preparations for play.  He nodded to the conductor, and began playing - but then something went wrong.  There was a loud snap, and everyone in the auditorium could see that one of the four strings on his violin had broken.
 
Everyone knew what this meant.  He would have to get up, repeat the long ritual in reverse, go offstage to change the string, then come back and start over again.   But Perlman didn’t.  Instead, he sat in silence for a few moments with his eyes closed - then opened them and signaled the conductor to begin again where he had left off.  Then Itzhak proceeded to play with a passion, power and purity that no one present had ever heard before.
 
Of course, everyone present knew that it was impossible to play a symphony with a 3-stringed violin - everyone except Perlman.  He performed the impossible feat - and right before their eyes, the audience could see him modulating, changing and recomposing the piece in his head.  When he finished, there was absolute silence in the room - until everyone leapt to their feet in an extraordinary standing ovation that went on and on - for everyone knew that they’d just witnessed a miracle.
 
Perlman finally quieted the crowd, wiped the sweat from his brow and said in a pensive, voice that was not at all boastful, but simply reverent:  “You know, sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left…”
 
We may not all have the same musical talent that Itzhak Perlman has, but I believe that each of us faces the same choice he made. Because you and I have been given talents and a purpose to express to the best of our abilities.  We also face challenges, losses and limitations from time to time; that’s simply part of the human condition.  Then it’s a matter of remembering that it’s part of our task to find out how much we can still do with what we have left.
 
Fortunately, we never have to do it alone. Perhaps that is what Itzhak Perlman reminded himself in those few moments he chose to sit in the silence in front of the crowd at Lincoln Center. Spirit is always present.  And no matter how difficult the circumstances or appearances, there are always helpers and helping hands available, if only we are ready to ask for and receive the support.
 
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it! 

 
With blessings and hopes of seeing you Around the Circle,

Rudolf