0:01 Hello, and welcome to Stillness in the Storms. I'm Steven Webb and I help people find steady ground when life
0:09 gets hard. No gimmicks, no life hacks. Just honest conversation that will bring you peace when you need it most.
0:16 So happy Easter if you celebrate it. And if you don't, happy Sunday. Happy April. Happy. Clocks
0:24 have changed and it's light past seven. If you're in the UK, I don't know when the clocks change. Over
0:31 in the States or in Australia. So I want to talk about something that spring always reminds me of.
0:39 When the daffodils start appearing on the roadside. Especially in the places that I forgot they were last year. I
0:46 forgot the buds were just waiting in dormant all winter long. They just start appearing. It's like oh that's nice,
0:53 just give me that warm. And I love the fact that it's so bright and so yellow. It's such a
0:59 simple. And they give us such a life lesson that, hey, you know, I might be beside a roadside, I
1:05 might even be leaning on the pavement, but I'm gonna bloom anyway. Yeah. I don't care what you say. I
1:11 don't care if my neighbour beside me is taller and brighter than me. I am gonna blossom anyway. And I
1:17 think that's we can Learn so much from just that alone. So when all these times when we look and
1:24 think things are done and things are over, you know, the daffodil comes up and says, I wasn't done. I
1:31 was just waiting. And I think that's what I want to talk about today. What rises, what comes back, what
1:38 returns to us, not because we force it, but because that's what life does when we stop standing in
1:46 its way. And because it's Easter and whatever your relationship with that is, whether it's a deeply meaningful to you
1:54 or just a long weekend off and some chocolate, you know, it is a mix of chocolate and a long
2:00 weekend and reflection. For me, there's something in the story that I think is worth sitting with. And even if
2:08 you're not religious, even if you It's not anything in particular. The central image of Easter is something about
2:16 coming back to life. Something that was dead, something that seemed dead or was buried, rising
2:24 again. And you don't have to believe in the literal resurrection to feel the pull of that idea, because
2:31 we've all experienced it. So think about it. Think about something in your life that you were sure
2:39 was over. Maybe it was your energy, even. Maybe just through a period of illness, grief or burnout
2:47 or depression, whatever it Was. And you genuinely thought, do you know what? I'm not going to feel myself again.
2:54 That's it. I'm never going to feel better. There's times when I felt that in hospital last week. And there's
3:02 times when it's really cold outside. I'm like, do you know, is summer ever going to be here again? Are
3:09 we ever going to hear the birds again? And we do. We do think those things at times it's only
3:13 human nature. And it must have been a morning where you woke up and you. And the dread. Wasn't there
3:21 an afternoon where you caught yourself laughing and thought, oh, there I am. There you are.
3:28 So maybe it was even a relationship. Maybe it has gone cold or distance maybe it was a friend or
3:35 something like that that just suddenly called you out of the blue because they were doing something that reminded you,
3:41 or they just sent you an emoji whatever it is, and it just cracked open again. A conversation, a crisis
3:48 a moment of unexpected honesty. You know, all these things just have a tendency to suddenly
3:56 come back. Some of them great, some of them celebrated, some of them not so perfect, and some of them
4:04 not like before, but alive nevertheless. Or maybe it was curiosity, that feeling of being
4:11 genuinely interested doing something wanting to learn to read and explore. It goes away sometimes, doesn't it?
4:19 Sometimes I'm reading books and I cannot put a book down. Other times I think, I haven't picked that book
4:25 up for months. I suddenly get back into it. Music. I was listening to music the other night, and I
4:31 was listening to Don't Fear the Reaper, Blue Oyster Cult. And I didn't know they said Reaper. I I thought
4:38 don't fear the reburst And now I heard it on Tv and it had the subtitles and it said Reaper.
4:45 And I'm like, oh, wow, how obvious is that? Now I cannot unhear it now. I just hear Reaper. Now
4:52 it's correct. But, yeah, it's. These things just suddenly come back and we enjoy them. We sit in them. These
4:59 things remind us of things. And a distant memory. And Alan Watts and, you know, I like listening to Alan
5:07 Watts. He's another one that I don't listen to for months and years and suddenly go back and I cannot
5:13 put his teachings down. And he talked about this rhythm rhythm constantly. He saw it everywhere in nature, in
5:20 psychology, in the way human beings actually live when they're not trying to control everything. I think
5:28 this is important. When you stop controlling,
5:31 life has a way of. I I don't drive along the road and go, where are those daffodils? Come on,
5:37 Pop up. I don't look at the bare tree and go, where's your leaf? Come on, what you're doing. I
5:43 just trust that spring will come along eventually. And
5:48 they use the image of waves. A wave rises, crests and falls. And if you're watching just one wave,
5:55 you might think, well, that's it, it's gone. But of course another wave comes in and another. The ocean doesn't
6:03 run out of waves it's just It just doesn't work that way. Whether it's in our own lives, whether it's
6:11 in our own spiritual journey and we're in more compassion or a country or anything when it comes to progress,
6:18 I think it's much like the tide coming in. You get a one big wave and it's like, wow, this
6:25 is new, this is amazing. And then the tide comes out get back out and it readjusts and it comes
6:30 back in and it comes back in slightly further. And then for each wave it advances slightly more. But it's
6:38 never perfect. And then I'm really milking this metaphor now, but I'm going to carry on. It's my podcast, I'm
6:45 allowed so and And then you've even got the tides themselves. It's like everything humans do, like whether it's
6:53 the Internet or whatever we do, when the telephone first come out, everybody panics and Ai now people are panicking,
7:00 people are thinking, the end of the world. Or we've had things for the last 80 years that will destroy
7:06 mankind. I have a trust that we will sort it out, but it'll be messy. It's gonna mess up the
7:12 beach, it's gonna mess up some people that weren't ready for it, that didn't realise the waves were coming in.
7:18 And it's not going to be good, it's not going to be pretty. But eventually a tide will come in
7:24 and we'll go, we're okay with this now, we've got it soiled we've got some rules.
7:29 And yeah, I'd say that we're really heavy heart at the moment because I think as Margaret facture said if
7:37 you don't have international law, you then have nothing left. And I'm starting to worry about international law at the
7:43 moment. I always thought the western countries would always abide by international law, but hey, here we are, that's a
7:51 different story. So going back to Alan what's great insight. I do have to keep coming back to year after
7:58 year and it is not separate to the rhythm. We are that rhythm, the rising and folding of energy, of
8:05 mood, of hope, of creativity. It's not a simple problem to be solved. It's not like, oh,
8:13 I need creativity. It's here. It's here forever. It comes and goes. Everything is in those waves. The trouble comes
8:21 when we get attached to the crest, when we think the high point is real and that's where we are
8:27 and that's where we need to stay. That moment of, I've got it now. I'm happy, I'm in that brilliant
8:34 place. Then we grip the good feeling and panic when it fades and
8:42 we fall off it and we fall off our surfboard, just to go even deeper on the metaphor, because of
8:48 course, it fades. Everything does. But fading is not the same as dying. It's just another
8:56 wave, another way of coming back in, another way of improving things. It's just another
9:04 chance. And at this point, I want to say something to anyone who's at a low point right now, anyone
9:11 who is in that falling part of the way, because I know some of you are.
9:17 And Easter can be a difficult time when you're struggling. All of this talk of new life and renewal and
9:24 fresh starts, it can feel like pressure, like everyone else is rising and you're still in the ground, still buried,
9:32 still waiting for something that doesn't seem to be coming. Especially if you had a particularly harsh
9:40 winter and maybe lost somebody you loved or something like that.
9:45 And I want to say this clearly as I can. You're not behind, you're not broken. You're
9:53 not failing to rise on schedule. The seed doesn't bloom just because someone stands over it and
10:01 says, come on, hurry up, it's spring. I know I'm really milking these metaphors this week, but I
10:08 like metaphors. They work for me.
10:11 Things bloom when they're ready, when conditions are right. And you
10:17 may not even be somebody that likes the spring in the winter because if something happened. That's okay. But
10:23 there is pressure.
10:27 And when the warmth reaches the depth, that is enough for you. That's it. But it
10:35 has to be individual. And that's the point of all these things. Not all trees bloom at the same time.
10:40 You know, you often drive down the road and most of the daffodils have already bloomed and out. And you
10:45 get one on the end just coming through going Hey wait for me. That's okay.
10:53 Your job right now is just not to force it. I just wanted to say that and make it clear
10:57 that just because spring comes along and everybody feels better. And then, of course, in the. Over in Australia, which
11:04 a lot of you are listening for, I love you guys over there, and you're going into winter so it's
11:10 completely different for you. So really, really, what you should do is not listen to my podcast for six months
11:17 and then start listening to them, and then they will make sense um Please don't do that. Please don't do
11:23 that. I need your support.
11:27 Anyway, talking about support, I want to stop here and say thank you. This podcast has no adverts, no sponsors.
11:35 It exists because of people like you. Treat me to a coffee. Those small donations pay for everything and they're
11:42 making my life a lot easier to produce more podcasts, as you noticed.
11:47 So a genuine, heartfelt thank you goes out to you guys this week. Rosie, a new monthly supporter greet Soja
11:55 Sadie, Rochelle and Helen, you guys are awesome. You are the reason this podcast this week exists.
12:03 So thank you very much. So, and if today's episode means anything to you, you can. Maybe you haven't
12:11 got the money to support, maybe you're supporting the past you'd like to do again. Leave a review. Leave an
12:16 honest review of how I can improve or what's good about it, what's bad about it, and star it and
12:22 bookmark it and maybe just share it with somebody else. Those things also help a lot as well. And if
12:30 you can, head over to StevenWebb.uk the links are in the show notes below.
12:37 So. God, I feel my heart beating fast, like as if I'm really nervous today. Don't know why. It's like
12:44 as if I'm recording this podcast in front of thousands of people and I'm just talking of you, just me
12:49 and you. So what does it mean in practice? What does it actually look like to let things rise rather
12:56 than forcing them? Well, I think it starts with paying attention.
13:01 Really paying attention to what's actually happening, what's already happening, rather than what you think should be happening.
13:10 And spring is a good teacher here. Nobody tells the daffodils when to come up. Nobody schedules the dawn chorus.
13:18 These things happen because the conditions are right and life does what it does. Those chemical balances in the
13:26 trees that just sat there and waited.
13:28 And if you actually watch spring, not as scenery, not as a background, but as something to pay real good
13:36 attention to,
13:38 you've started to notice that renewal is not dramatic. It's not a sudden explosion of colour and energy that we
13:45 seem to think it is. It's slow, it's gradual, it's one bud at a time. Some of them come out
13:53 early and that's it, they're done. Because they misjudged it. I think. I shared two weeks ago, a week ago,
13:59 the Scandinavian Proverb that winter returns in spring seven times before summer. Well, tell that to the
14:07 daffodil that shot up early or thing I
14:12 just go out and hear those bird songs at the moment. I still think they're genuinely arguing and they're just
14:17 doing what we're doing. Moaning about what's for tea, what we're going to eat next. And, you know, my brother
14:23 got bigger worms than I did and things like that. You know, the kind of thing that they'd be more
14:28 arguing about, you know. Well, if I live with my friend, he's got a nest that's higher up and he
14:35 can see the valley anyway. And
14:40 that's how it works in us too, I would say. The return of energy, of interest and joy and peace.
14:46 Whether. Whether it's spring in you, whether it's just really doesn't matter, but it creeps in it's sometimes without
14:53 even knowing it. And if you're not paying attention, you will miss it. You'll miss those little moments of compassion,
15:01 those moments of just understanding. And
15:07 I was reminded that Jun Po, one of my teachers,
15:11 one of the main teachers that I knew personally,
15:14 he passed away five years ago now. I was like, wow, I had no idea. I thought it was like
15:20 two years ago.
15:23 And he spoke about what arises out of the initial of any given moment.
15:28 And whether that's grief or anger or compassion or all these things just arise. And he says the first thing
15:36 that arises is always caring. After that, the noise creeps in the story, the things are
15:44 keeping and they turn that caring into anger or all the other things. Because if you're angry about something, you
15:51 care about it. I've never met an angry person that doesn't care they may not be caring about what you
15:57 care about, but they still care. And the one way of diffusing an angry argument, and I'm not very good
16:05 at this, remembering it when I'm in it, the one way of doing it is just looking up again do
16:10 you know what? You could be right. I can tell you really care about this. Explain to me why you
16:15 care
16:17 and whether that's a parking spot, whether or not that's something else. Anger always comes from a place of deep
16:24 caring. But again, it's that arising. It's that coming up. And I think that's so important to
16:32 pay attention to. And
16:36 there's a lovely poem by Tony hogland and it's called the Colour of the Sky. You'll have to look it
16:43 up. Maybe. I'll see if I can find a link to it or put it in the show notes. But
16:47 there's a line in that poem, it says the end turned out to be the middle.
16:55 Here's the thing. We don't know whether things will return. We don't know. And the Easter story,
17:03 we don't know at the point of Friday, they didn't know he was going to rise on the Monday. And
17:10 whether you want to take the story literally or take the story, it's just a story, it really doesn't matter.
17:15 And that's not the point. They will always come back and return in some form, in some way. And
17:21 if there's any way that Jesus did return it through compassion, through
17:28 saying on the cross, forgive them. They don't know what they do. The same as the Buddha, when he was
17:34 spat at in front of all his students, his students are really angry. And the Buddha says don't he he
17:41 didn't spit at me. He spat at his version of me. And when he come back and apologize the next
17:47 day, he said, that's okay. You didn't spit at me. You spat at yesterday Your version yesterday and me.
17:55 And that's what it is. I think
17:59 everybody's ignorant. I'm mixing stuff up now, but that's okay. Anybody regular to my podcast, you know I'll do
18:07 that anyway um That's what the mind does, and that's okay. But the end the end
18:14 turned out to be the middle. And I think that's a lovely Easter message, stripped of all its theology and
18:22 just lay bare the thing that you thought would finish the season. The energy, the part of yourself it
18:30 might just be in the middle. Not the end, the middle. With
18:36 more still to come. And who knows? So
18:40 I'm going to draw this close now. Running out of breath. I'm getting older. I can't talk this long constantly
18:48 for like 15, 20 minutes anymore. So here's your takeaway from today. And it's a gentle one. And it
18:56 feels right for a Sunday, I think. Pay attention to what's arising, not what you think should be happening, not
19:04 the transformation you're trying to force, just what's actually happening quietly beginning to show itself.
19:11 Maybe it's energy, maybe it's curiosity, maybe it's a willingness to try something you've given up years ago.
19:19 Maybe it's just a morning where you feel, for no particular reason, slightly more alive than you did yesterday. That's
19:27 the bud, that's the crocus, that's the way beginning to rise. You don't have to make it happen, just
19:36 have to notice it and stand and not stand in its way. That's important. Thank you for being here today.
19:43 Thank you for listening. I'm Steven Webb and the companion meditation for today's podcast
19:51 is going to be on inner peace meditation it'll be episode 97. It's called what Rises? A spring meditation, and
19:59 it takes everything we talked about today and it gives you the quiet space to sit with it. You can
20:06 find it wherever you listen to podcasts or at StevenWebb.uk. Take care of yourself, Stay curious,
20:14 keep an eye on what's arising. And I love you.
