Instructions for surviving March madNesS

Instructions for surviving MARch  MaDnesS.


Spring can leave us all feeling UPSIDE DOWN. Gravity assures that we barely notice this. I do remember standing on a chair to look at a drawing when I was nine, because my teacher told us ''to take a break, and to look at your work from a distance. Change perspective...” Sage advise that should be followed, no matter what the work you do is, to this day.

It can be a very turbulent experience being an inhabitant of the mind. SO lets use this to our advantage. Changing perspective need not be painful, but rather playful.  I say, dig like a thick legged chicken, and confess your sins and regrets to the earthworms you uncover;  dance like a shooting star against the dark mood, stare into the deep brown eyes of a cow, see all sentient beings for their struggle. Drop kick judgement to the next stratosphere, (the curb ain't near far enough! ) Play tag with the dust bunnies of your neglected house.

Blow some bubbles---

Stare at the best painting you can find for 3 hours. Let it come alive for you. Imagine painting it.

Unplug from everything.

Scream into the wind—wearing a dramatic scarf, so you stand out like a cartoon character with it blowing lyrically behind you.  GOGGLES will greatly improve this  look.

Spend the night sleeping in the forest, listen to how alive it is.  Scare yourself silly.   Speak with the owls and the racoons.   Nestle in a den like a wild thing.


       W    A    I    T.



Be patient. Be still. Breathe slowly.

Allow an animal to nap on your lap until they choose to move. Cherish the tenderness. The bond. The lesson.



Swallow the beauty of blossoms like the last visual feast you will ever devour.

Be useful out there but don't stress yourself out doing it.

Be kind to others, (it's a given,) as this showers you back with multiple rewards, namely, entrance to nowhere when you die but maybe a clever or well meaning epitaph. No, Let's just be kind because it's
good to be, no other flippin' reason.

If you are edgy, restless, irritable, dry and tired under winter's itchy coat, waiting for ice to melt, a north wind to stop slapping insults at you,  W  A  I  T.

This too shall pass.


Until then, moisturize.


And, when the blossoms arrive, you too will be blessed with the wakening world once again; the primordial wisdom, tireless intelligence of nature, the reverent resilience that continues to offer us hope, over and over, and over again.

Be the best version of you. Even if you have no understanding of why, what difference it makes, and how many other people seem to do it all better, faster, smarter, it doesn't matter, because they are still
not you. And cannot be. And we need all the birds to sing.



We need everyone's voice and efforts, if we are going to make this planet better. AND, that goes doubly if you are a woman, a child, a minority, one-legged, deaf, schizophrenic, labelled and categorized in any external and offensive way, fat, edgy, alternative, grumpy, gay, freakish, poor, disempowered, too hairy, electric blue, elderly or sin ugly,  just share your song.    I think we must.

And together, we will find spring.  We will come back to life.   We will re awaken together.

Our blossoming will be magnificent.


 C. Norma Hoeppner/march/ (naturally) 2015