4 Gentle Shifts Towards Spring
A special Nowruz edition Part 1 of 2
Dear lovely readers,
My letter to you this week is a little different. With the arrival of Spring and the start of Nowruz, I want to share something more reflective; a few small gestures to mark the season.
A recipe.
A ritual.
A gentle letting go.
Instead of my weekly 4 Tiny Ideas+Rituals, this is Part I of II special Nowruz editions, a way to pause, to notice, and to begin again, softly.
So here are 4 gentle ways to step into the season—through food, ritual, and a little letting go.
1) Cook Something That Welcomes Spring 🌿
At the heart of Nowruz is a table set with meaning—the Haft-Seen, an arrangement of seven symbolic items, each beginning with the Persian letter س (seen), i.e., the letter S in English. The word haft means seven; seen is the letter. Together, they form a table of Spring, of symbols, of hope.
One of the most beloved items is sabzeh: sprouted wheat or lentils grown in a shallow dish, a living sign of renewal. A reminder that life is unfurling.
These kale fritters carry that same energy. Green, and nourishing. A small gesture toward the season ahead.
And if you don’t have kale, use whatever leafy greens or herbs you do have: parsley, Swiss chard, cilantro. That’s the whole point of Spring: to adapt, to shift, to let things grow however they want.
Recipe link here.
2) Bake Something That Bridges Two Seasons ♾️
In this season of Nowruz, we mark not only beginnings, but continuity. It’s a return. A return that honors what came from the season before, and what lies ahead.
With my Cardamom-Scented Plum Cake, we gently fold the seasons together. The cardamom holds a little of winter’s warmth. The plums bring tart, sweet, brightness.
It’s not about starting over.
It’s about carrying something forward softly, with intention.
3) A Softer Kind of Spring Cleaning ✨
There is a Nowruz tradition called khāneh takānī—literally, “shaking the house.”
Not just a cleaning, but a clearing.
A way to make space before the new season enters. But, you don’t need to overhaul your home. Choose one small place.
Here are some ideas:
📚Go through your old cookbooks. Keep the ones that feel like you. Let one go.
🧣Give away a scarf or shawl (I have a magnificent shawl collection, but it’s time to let go of some of them) you haven’t worn in years. Give it to someone who loves it more than you do.
🍌Give away a kitchen gadget. Open the kitchen drawer, the one with the banana saver, the avocado slicer, the garlic grater. You know the one. Let a single-use gadget go. We all have them, and we hoard them.
This isn’t about tidying.
It’s about making room. For breath, for light, for whatever comes next.
It is not about productivity, but about preparing (with care), for what’s to come.
4) Leave One Thing Behind 💭
Every new season begins with a shift—not always in nature, but in how we move through our days.
This week, consider a gentle edit.
Leave one thing behind.
🔕 Mute some Instagram stories. Not because you don’t care, but because you need to focus. If Instagram is work for you (it is for me), you might be following friends or family to show support — but their stories can still pull you off track.
Don’t unfollow. Be kind. Just mute.
🖤 Unfollow a social media account (non-friend, no-fam) that no longer brings you joy. This one’s tricky. Sometimes it’s not even about the content, it’s the feeling it leaves you with. Maybe it makes you compare. Maybe it makes you feel behind. Maybe it makes you doubt something you were sure of five minutes ago.
It’s perfectly okay to let go of accounts with whom you have no personal connection and don’t serve you. Just clean it out, and make space for what truly matters.
📨 Unsubscribe from an email you never open.
We’ve all done it: signed up with good intentions, then let it sit unread. Maybe you feel guilty. Maybe you keep it “just in case.” But it’s okay to let it go. Unsubscribing is kinder than pretending. It clears space — for you, and for the person sending it. I feel so grateful when you open my letters, and when you don’t, I understand, because it simply means what I share isn’t for everyone, and that’s completely OK.
All this to say, letting go doesn’t have to be loud or harsh. Sometimes it’s just a gentle shift in what you choose to hold on to, and let go of.
May this week’s Nowruz edition bring a little beauty and ease to your days. I’ll be back next week with one more small offering to carry us through these early days of Spring. And as always, if something here resonates, I’d love to hear from you—send me a private message, or lave a comment and share your thoughts. Wishing you a gentle + intentional week.
All love, Shayma x
