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Sometimes in the heart of winter, when I feel like I’ve been cold for months, it helps to find a summer breeze.
The warm scent of flowers blooming. When a cool breeze feels like a refreshing drink. I actually like walking into that wall of heat, when there’s nothing but it, packed in tight. Barely room to move . . . It can feel like a hug if you’ve been trapped in over cranked air conditioning most of the day!
Can you really hear the ocean in a shell? The sound of it lulls me. Easy does it. No where to be. The feel of the ocean as it caresses your ankles, cooling you down. And then receding, sinking your toes in the soft, wet sand. It’s almost like a foot massage.
I adore the sun sparkling through thick green leaves. When the trees are full I feel abundant, pregnant with possibilities!
One of my favorite things about summer is the bursts of color you see everywhere. Flowers along the side of the road, in parking lots, and surrounding houses. Most everyone is wearing colorful clothes, too. There’s a spirit of vacation and having fun.
Ah, the long evenings, cooling down, but remaining sultry. The sun gracing the day until nearly 9 pm! When there’s still enough light in the sky to see by, it makes me feel like the days are endless.
How good it feels to relax and let go. To not be attached to time – even psychological time. Doing what you feel, when you feel it. Sleeping, eating, resting. Not pulled down by things having to be a certain way. Not shaped within the confines of the structure of time, it lengthens. The days last longer. It feels like it’s late afternoon and it’s only 1:30.
I tune into the rhythms of nature, the leaves moving easily in the breeze. The sun meandering its way through the trees. It feels a bit like my body systems are moving slower, too. As if floating on the rise and fall of a wave, gently rolling. I don’t seem to be striving for anything.
Is it time now to shift gears? No, I’m in the same gear I was when I woke up. When was that anyway? As if I’m reclining on a comfy chair, with nowhere to be at any particular time. Does it make me clearer or foggier? I cannot yet say. I wonder what it will feel like when I leave this place?
Like lifting off your feet in water, trusting it to keep you afloat. Allowing the breeze to touch your skin without cringing in cold. Suddenly all those things that were making me feel tight and constricted have flittered away like the butterflies from the Mexican Sunflowers.
The icy goodness of a cool, fruity beverage slides down my throat like a caterpillar through the grass. It eases the heat like bare feet through wet grass.
Things that once seemed so important are forgotten as I ponder the sunlight shifting or the flight path of the butterfly. Everything seems far away and quiet.
Now I get up gently to get in the water, just ’cause I feel like it. There is something so freeing about the feel of the water supporting and surrounding me. I lift off the bottom of the pool and I float, trusting. I have a real sense of now. Being outside of time. Without wanting or needing it to be any different than it is.
This summer I learned to Kayak. I’m not sure if the metaphor is exactly the right one, but let’s see ~
Recently, in my life, there have been some choppy seas. Car trouble, lots going on at work, things like that. Nothing too serious, but enough when I’m hot and tired, to wobble my foundation.
I went Kayaking on a lovely, still lake. But if the stories are true, a kayak can get you through pretty rough waters.
The key, as in life, must be to stay calm, to not fight the tide. If you start to panic you might lose your oar or capsize. Neither of which would be a good thing if the water is rushing. We all function much better when we have a firm hand on our lives and remain upright.
I believe that life sometimes brings us these waves as practice for keeping our center.
We cannot overlook the surrender piece. If the waves are tossing you about, fighting it doesn’t help. I don’t think it would be wise to actually relax when you’re kayaking in rough water, but a certain amount of give is advisable. You need to roll with the water or it will toss you aside, like a housecleaner sweeping away the dust.
In this semi-relaxed state, eye on what’s ahead, and a firm hand on the oar, you can ride the rapids and come out on the other side – perhaps a bit wet – but still on a steady keel.
I can’t say the livin’ is easy, exactly. For most of us who work, it’s not really easy. Though there is a definite ease to summer. Coming and going is not such a hassle. You don’t have to shovel or scrape to get your car out. And there are fewer clothes and accessories needed to walk out the door.
Summer dresses itself up for us. (Okay, there are some that enjoy a freshly lain snowfall, but that’s not the usual scene.) In summer there are wide flower beds everywhere: in parking lots, outside the grocery store, around office buildings and on the side of the road. Blossoms swaying with the wind. The pervasive green reminds me what a brilliant color choice it was. Green is everywhere, and yet, I never tire of looking at it. There’s a thickness in summer, with the trees huddling close together, the bushes full and the flowers singing. It just reeks Abundance to me.
Some get bogged down by the summer heat. If I had my way, it would be sunny and 75 or so all the time. But I don’t mind the heat the way I do the cold. When I’m cold, I tend to stay that way. Whereas, when I’m hot, there is often a cooling breeze in the vicinity. A duck into an air conditioned space is like a cool drink of water. That same water can cool me down to my toes. There are always a plethora of cold or frozen drinks to be had in summertime. Water fun lowers your temperature and cheers your mind. Summer clothes can help beat the heat. And, I would have to say, the colors and lightness of the summer wardrobe is so much more fun than heavy sweaters and boots.
Summertime means vacation. People are always going somewhere or doing something interesting through the summer months. Everyone has more energy and enthusiasm. Even the ads on TV show people out having fun, barbecuing, on the rides at amusement parks, in a field having picnics. Love winter all you like, but outdoor picnics are not likely to be part of the fun.
I can’t think of anything I like better than being outside and feeling the sun on my face and the soft breezes against my skin. That seems to be the first thing I long for in the winter months. The beach can be a lonely place in the wintertime with wind whipping and desolate expanses. In the summer, it’s alive with pungent smells, delightful sounds and the sheer joy of being at the ocean.
There are so many more opportunities to be outside when it’s warm out. You even get a taste of it when you’re in the car, with the windows down, the wind in your hair. We always eat less in the summer. With plenty of fruit and fresh veggies, the meals are cooler, as well as lighter, and the snacks sweeter.
The length of the days also fuel me. In the winter, getting home at 5 or 6, when it’s dark, makes you feel like the day is over. But in the summertime, when the sun is still up, it’s like we’ve gained a lot more time. With the sky light until almost 9, the possibilities are bursting.
School is out, traffic is lighter and I am happy to be alive!
I wanted to write about the Solstice, so I thought I’d wait until I was under its influence. I learned recently that solstice means the sun stilled. Every day, the sun moves a little bit across the sky through the astrological signs. But on the solstice, it is in the same place it was the day before, preparing for its journey back to the shortest day.
I’ve always felt it was a point of power. Where energy comes together. I use the solstice like New Year’s – a chance to re-evaluate and dream of where I wish to go next. What do I want to do for the summer? Setting those intentions can be fun and impactful.
The longest day feels good to me. In the winter, when it gets dark at 5, I feel the day is over. At 7, the sun is still going strong. And it’s just gotten dark enough to chase me in after 9. That’s a sign of possibilities!
It is said you should note the day – the rising and setting of the sun. Just note it. That’s a lovely, simple acknowledgment.
In some places it’s midsummer. But for us, here on the East Coast, it’s only just the beginning of summer. Most of the celebrations around the world contain some aspect of bonfire and revelry. It is a time of joy. Summer is my favorite time of the year. (Though I have been known to claim Fall as my fave.)
I love the lushness of summer and the longer days. The smells, the colors. Only in summer does the grocery store parking lot explode with color! The sun doesn’t dapple quite like it does in the cooling afternoons of summer. Someone gave us a book of photos called, Finding Summer. I was disappointed that it doesn’t show my pictures of summer. So, I’m on a quest this summer, to find My Summer. (I am but a novice at digital photography – I tried to shoot the last vestiges of daylight on this longest day of the year. I could only figure out how to turn it on!) I want to take pictures of the long days, the June bugs, the waves of flowers, the sunlight playing . . .
June is my month. It is my birthday, so there are presents to be had, but also good things to happen.
May you have a fun and prosperous summer and find ways to acknowledge its beauty.
The Positive Slant On the Path 