Summer is here and it has been h-o-t! I’ve been in lobbies, elevators, and on zoom meetings commiserating with others about the heat. This excessively hot start to summer has felt so detached from the experience of a season I usually treasure. For the first time, I was hearing more about the unfavorable aspects (i.e., busy airports, too many plans, too hot, too much time off for kids), than the excitement I normally expect. I began to reevaluate my relationship to summer; maybe mine was outdated?
In the past, summer always marked a season of play, travel, and freedom to spend idle time with less structure. I have childhood memories of days spent at the town pool, outdoor bbq’s, staying up late, baseball games, family road trips, and lots of after dinner trips to Dairy Queen. While I still enjoy some of those same childhood moments, now with my own kids, I’m noticing I relate to summer a bit differently. I find that between those hottest of pool days and chilly nighttime ice cream delights, I am most appreciative of the simple pleasure of slowing down. Living in the awareness that the ease of these moments brings joy ~ is the gift of living with mindful presence.
Here’s to a joyful, uneventful, summer of noticing simple pleasures!
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Love the memory of a cherished time gone by, Annie. Thank you!