The Seasons of Love

A relationship is a like a garden. If it is to thrive, it must be watered regularly. Special care must be given, taking into account the seasons as well as any unpredictable weather. New seeds understand its season and nurture love’s special needs.

Springtime of Love

Falling in love is like springtime. We feel as though we will be happy forever. We cannot imagine not loving our partner. It is time of innocence. Love seems eternal. It is a magical time when everything seems perfect fir. We effortlessly dance together in harmony and rejoice in our good fortune.

Summer of Love

Throughout the summer of our love, we realize our partner is not as perfect as we thought, and we have to work on our relationship. Not only is our partner from another planet, but he or she is also human who makes mistakes and is flawed in certain ways.

Frustration and disappointment comes along: weeds need to be uprooted and plants need extra watering under the hot sun. It is no longer easy to give love and get the love we need. We discover that we are not always happy, and we do not always feel loving to our partner. It is not our picture of love.

Many couples at this point become disillusioned. They do not want to work on their relationship. They unrealistically expect it to be spring all the time. They blame their partners and give up. They do not realize that love is not always easy because sometimes it requires hard work under the heat of the sun. During the summer season of love, we need to nurture our partner's needs as well as ask for and get the love we need. It doesn't happen automatically.

Autumn of Love

As a result of tending the garden during the summer time, we get to harvest the results of our hard work. Fall has come. It is the golden time-rich and fulfilling. We experience a more matured love that accepts and understands our partner's imperfections as well as our own. It is a time of thanksgiving and sharing. having worked hard during summer we can relax and enjoy the love we have created.

Winter of Love

Then the weather changes again and winter comes. During the cold, barren months of winter, all of nature's beauty pulls back within itself. It is a time to rest, reflection, and renewal. This is a time in relationships when we experience our own unresolved pain or our shadow itself. It is when our lids comes off and our resolved pain or our shadow would be given a time of solitary growth when we need to look more to ourselves that to our partners for love and fulfillment. It is a time of heating. This it the time when men hibernate in their caves and women sink to the bottom of their wells.

After loving and healing ourselves through the dark winter of love, then spring inevitably returns. Once again we are blessed with the feelings of hope, love, and an abundance of possibilities. Based on the inner healing and soul searching of our wintry journey, we are the able to open our hearts and feel the springtime of love.

We should thus, be cautious and always try our best to remember that love is seasonal. In spring it is easy, but in summer it is hard work. In autumn, you may feel very generous and fulfilled. In winter, you will feel empty. The information you need to get through summer and work on your relationship if easily forgotten. The love you feel in fall is easily lost in yourself and forgot how to love and nurture yourself. You may doubt yourself and your partner. You may become cynical and feel like giving up. This is all a part of the cycle. It is always darkest before dawn.