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Posts from the ‘Summer’ Category

Jun 3

Long Summer Days

“Aaah, summer – that long anticipated stretch of lazy, lingering days, free of responsibility and rife with possibility. It’s a time to hunt for insects, master handstands, practice swimming strokes, conquer trees, explore nooks and crannies, and make new friends.” – Darell Hammond

“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James

Vibrant colors, sun lingering, soft breeze.
Days when glory shows its face in bloom.
Play, wander, watch.
Somersaults and cartwheels.
Crisp vegetables, sweet fruit.
Soak in these days.
No place to be but here.
In the balm of long summer days.
Do not let them pass you by.

“We might think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it’s our garden that is really nurturing us.” – Jenny Uglow

“In summer, the song sings itself.” – William Carlos Williams

Jun 1

June

flower

“In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.” – Aldo Leopold

“Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.” – Al Bernstein

Pause.
Pull over.
Rest awhile.
The beginning of summer.
The season that never goes slow.
So we must slow to steep in it like a tea bag.
Soaking up flavor and essence.
Look around, walk slowly, breathe deeply.
June, the beginning of summer glory.
Be present and awake for all of it.
Overwhelmed by color, held by the sun, in praise of earth coming alive.
Inviting us to do the same.

“What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.” – Gertrude Jekyll

Aug 31

Reverence Time

“By all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer’s best of weather And autumn’s best of cheer.” – Helen Hunt Jackson

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”― Albert Camus

As summer completes her third act and fall prepares to enter center stage, be open to seek and see the gifts woven in each season, in transition, in endings and in beginnings. Each day is a gift, open and enjoy the moments you are in.

Gratitude harvests beauty in each season.

“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”― Yoko Ono

Jun 13

The Dance of the Dragonfly

“To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking.” – Agnes de Mille

“Magic is seeing wonder in nature’s every little thing, seeing how wonderful the fireflies are and how magical are the dragonflies.”― Ama H.Vanniarachchy

Hover, dance, celebrate, drink in the color, ease and joy of summer. With the dragonfly as your guide, let the unnecessary go, cling to air, balance on a sliver of grass.

“Dragonflies are reminders that we are light and we can reflect light in powerful ways if we choose to do so.”― Robyn Nola

Jun 8

The Sprinkler is Calling!

“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” – Khalil Gibran

“When ‘happiness’ eludes us – as, eventually, it always will – we have the invitation to examine our programmed responses and to exercise our power to choose again.” – Richard Rohr

Summer invites rest, play and ease. Accept the invitation and get to the party early. It’s been a long year and the world is slowly opening back up. You can feel the energy, the joy, the freedom. As lockdown unlocks externally, do the same inside. Create a different daily normal fueled by gratitude, savoring, kindness, joy, possibility and delight. Make something of this massive reset and seismic shift.

Feel the earth under your feet as the breeze flows through your hair. Do not resist the urge to run through a sprinkler on a hot day. Let the water permeate, renew and refresh. Allow healing and restoration. Let old rules go and enter each new day with your imagination in search of adventure right where you are now.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein

Jun 4

Spring Harvest

“I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because I sing.” – William James

“Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest? But I tell you look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.” – John 4:35

Each season creates a harvest. Sowing, tending and reaping daily we savor the harvest in gratitude, awareness and awe in beauty abound, in seemingly simple things.

New flowers are blooming daily, filling the air with fragrance as summer takes the driver’s seat. Pull over and spend some time in the spring harvest to awaken your senses. Deeply rooted gratitude is the secret to sustaining the winds.

Do not miss the scenery on the road to what’s next, to what’s easy, to someday. William James said, “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” The art of brilliance is seeing the beauty and bounty in each day, in the moment, free from circumstances and expectations.

Never surrender joy in difficult times. Guard it, embrace it, release it. Joy multiplies. The fields are ripe for harvesting today. Life is in the details woven through each day.

“Time itself comes in drops.” William James

Feb 6

Flow Not Force

“I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.” – Irving Berlin

When the sails are release and the boat at the right angle, it captures the wind and creates energy from resistance. The sail can’t control the wind, it can only harness it and enter its flow. No force needed, harnessing the wind and transforming the collision of forces, from mechanics to magic.

Harness the wind, embrace the flow, glide with ease and delight.

Sailing
by Dorothy Allen

Swiftly cutting through the water,

Falling spray on either side,

Coyly dipping,

Rising, skipping,

Borne along by wind and tide,

Merrily my boat doth glide.

Oh, the sunlight, how it flickers,

Showering diamonds on the way!

Madly dancing,

Shining, glancing,

Slyly beckoning, come and play,

Be, like us, bright, free, and gay.

And I sing a song for gladness,

Send it echoing toward the sea;

I am happy,

Happy, happy!

Blow ye winds! Blow joyfully,

Nor sigh; but sing and laugh with me.

Jun 20

2 Comments

Summer’s Birthday

“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James

Today is the first day of summer. All seasons have their gifts. Summer beckons us to rest, to play, to witness sunset, to saunter barefoot in the grass, to long walks, to lemonade, to float on water, to breathe in nature.

Happy Birthday summer, may we seize you and dance in the beauty, warmth and celebrate each day with the frivolity and ease that you command.

“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.

Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.

Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.

Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”

― Yoko Ono

Today is June 20, 2020. 20/20/20 – an extra 20 for even more perfect vision to see the gift in a summer’s day and each day in all seasons. Happy Birthday Summer!

Jun 11

Perch

“Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.” – Marcus Aurelius

To sit quietly and observe. No judgment. No sound. May we all find the peace to do as the bird does on a soft quiet morning on the tip of a branch. To find depth in being and seeing, in understanding and presence.

“Be like the bird who, pausing in her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing she hath wings.” – Victor Hugo

May 8

3 Comments

Ending, Beginning. Repeat.

“I don’t believe in an outside agent that creates the world, then walks away. But I feel very strongly there is an intelligence at work in every flower, in every blade of grass, in every cell of my body. And it is that intelligence that, I wouldn’t say created the universe. It is creating the universe. It’s an ongoing process.” – Eckhart Tolle

“The end is the beginning of all things, Suppressed and hidden, Awaiting to be released through the rhythm Of pain and pleasure.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

With a long slow spring, I assumed that I’d be pulling a few dead shrubs in the front yard. And then suddenly and surely, the green popped from beneath and the old dead petals are weakening and falling off, saying good-bye. When we think it’s over, it’s really the beginning. Follow, embrace and hold to the seasons, cycles and rhythms. They remain whether we remember or not. They remain.

The buds, spring push through to take their place, to take the baton from winter and hibernation. We have a lot of spring and summer ahead. Let the light in, no questions asked.

 

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