News from Jules | 03.24.2025 | Spring Forward

And the cycle continues.

For several years now, I start the new year on the spring equinox as one of many small ways to live in harmony with nature, and my own true nature. Moving through the four seasons of a year feels more natural to me than following a calendar. After such a long winter, it was a great relief to come through, to begin again on Mar. 20 as we crossed over into a new cycle of growth.

When I stepped outside this morning, I was blinded by the bright blue sky and startled by the noisy chatter of birds—as if they had all just arrived back in town from their respective migrations and had so much to catch up on. A pleasantly warm wind blew through my thick blue fleece, as I walked to my Healing Flow yoga class, sipped my earthy green tea, and considered the question from my earlier call: What wisdom does the spring have for me?

“Turn your face up to the sky. Listen. The world is shivering into possibility. The world is reminding us that this is what the world does best. New life. Rebirth. The greenness that rises out of ashes,” said Margaret Renkl in The New York Times article, What to Do With Spring’s Wild Joy in a Burning World.

“Everything from what makes you happy to what makes you sad is brought to a fresh symmetry; you will feel as though spring is an opportunity to start over,” wrote Roya Backlund in her Elite Daily article “The Meaning of the Vernal Equinox Will Leave Your Soul Feeling Refreshed.”

At some point during the fall or winter, I start to discern what the Universe needs most from me and how I need to grow. The answer usually arrives as one word. The word is a seed that I plant and nurture for the next year. The next cycle of growth.

Believe was my word for last year. And so, for the past four seasons I focused on learning to fearlessly and faithfully believe.

Last year’s word emerged out of long conversations with one of my best friends in Denver, Colo. while I was still on the road in 2023. At one point when we sat on the floor of her closet as she packed up for her destination wedding, she said:

“I believe you are capable of all of your dreams, but sometimes I wonder if you believe.”

Do I? Don’t I? I wondered.

The hesitation, the doubt, the disbelief was the answer.

This was the kind of challenging honesty I expected from others, especially my closest friends, to help me get to the next level.

“In order to access your next level you have to move outside your comfort zone and face off with the parts of you that want to keep you stuck playing small. You did not come here to play small. You did not come here to dim your light. You did not come here to be a slave to fear. If you want to fly then you have to be willing to give up everything weighing you down.”¹

Just like Lukis Mac said, I had to examine what I thought I knew.

For starters, I thought to believe was binary.

You did or you didn’t.

I learned it is and it isn’t.

Belief isn’t black or white, on or off, either/or, because it isn’t a fact. According to Dr. John W. Saultz, a belief is something we cannot prove true—though cannot be based on information that is provably false—but choose to accept as true and make decisions accordingly.

Belief is a choice—whether or not we’re conscious of it.

So, it wasn’t really a question about whether I believe in my dreams, my talent or my art, in others and humanity, in nature and something greater, but how. I had to dig through and untangle my beliefs about love, about family, about partnership, about intimacy, about relationships, about community, about productivity, about artists, about capitalism, about patriarchy, about humanity, about God and more.

Which were limiting beliefs? Which were empowering? Where did they come from? How long had they been there? What did I believe but was still unwilling to accept?

What was actually true for me? What felt true to me based on what I saw, what I heard, what I felt, and what I sensed in my direct experience of the world.

I learned that thinking a thought—or feeling an emotion or perceiving a sensation—is different from knowing a fact which is different from believing an idea. Believing is a kind of deep knowing that is reinforced by repetitive thoughts, emotions or sensations.

Thus, I discovered how deeply belief is intertwined with faith. Not in a purely religious sense, as Dr. Saultz wrote in his book Choosing Faith (which I highly recommend), but as the development of values we choose to trust when making both significant and ordinary life decisions. In other words, believing in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of an idea based on consistent, steadfast experiences. What do I trust?

Who do I trust?

Do I trust myself? Do I consistently have my best interests at heart—and the best interests of others and something greater? Do I know what is the right choice for me? Does my body know what it needs? Will I follow my intuition?

Yes.

“Only you can make your dreams come true. Meaning you have to believe in you. Believing in your ability to co-create your dreams into reality is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself,” sings New Zealander Lukis Mac in “Celebrate Your Blessings.”

“I believe in myself.”

Me too.

Listen to this year’s BELIEVE playlist on Spotify.

See my photos of emerging spring on Instagram.

There was some thinking involved in sorting all this stuff out, but most of the reflecting happened while writing in my journal, in conversations with others, during meditation, and especially through insightful moments of experience. The moments when it felt as if the belief emerged from a quiet, still place deep within me. I wrote about some of those moments last year and there are many that I haven’t found the words for yet.

After spending so much energy working through the memories and the dreams in the archives of my mind, body, and spirit, I’m confident that learning to fearlessly and faithfully believe is not something I can master in one year—one cycle of four seasons. And, as Dr. Saultz wisely points out, beliefs are not permanent, so it is healthy and essential to reexamine them over time.

To believe is a lifelong practice of paying close attention, asking questions, attuning to what is true, and choosing accordingly. And, it starts with presence in the now.

Just like in yoga this morning.

After I found a spot near the front of the class for my trusty sky blue yoga mat, I set my big travel mug of tea by my yoga blocks and took off my thick blue fleece. Then, I laid down on the floor and focused on the teacher’s voice:

Look around the room and see five things.

Close your eyes and hear four things.

With your body, feel three things.

In your mouth, taste two things.

And, now set your one intention for your practice.

Presence, I whispered to myself.

Presence is the seed that I’m planting and nurturing this year.

This next cycle of growth.

May you dig deeper and spring forward this week.

Love,

Jules

1. “Next Level” by Lukis Mac on Hire the Heavens album (2022).