Welcome to Summer…
The blissful time of year when everything gets a little lighter…days, clothing, meals and most notably…our state of mind.
Depending upon where you reside, the seasonal shift into Summer is either subtle, or slightly more dramatic. But either way…there’s an attitude that drifts in with the balmy winds and blue sky. It fills our days with a gentle lightness of being we don’t seem to experience at any other time of year.
I’ve always believed Summer to be the season that reconnects us to our youth. Remember the end of June…how we’d look forward to that last day of school? Then the bell rang, everyone cheered and we flew out of there feeling the adrenaline of FREEDOM running through our veins. My friends and I always noticed how our parents didn’t yell at us quite as much in the Summer. We got to stay out longer…go to bed later and they generally eased up a little on all the rules!
Between July and August, the rush of life appeared to come down a notch for all of us! Looking back on it now…I may have taken my youth and my freedom filled Summers completely for granted.
As working adults, we may not get the luxury of a few months off…but we can still embrace the attitude and savor a Summer state of mind…allowing it to sink into our skin like a beautiful bronzed tan.
I’m pretty sure most of us hold on to certain traditions that we recycle year after year…like swapping closed toe shoes for sandles and flip flops…spending weekends at the beach or lake where we take a good book and a great nap!
This morning I came out on my deck to turn on my fountain and drink my coffee (one of my own Summer morning rituals). I was greeted with the intoxicating scent of the barbecue. To me this is the ultimate classic seduction of Summer…the delectable, smoky smell we associate with steaks, basting brush’s and bbq sauce!
But this was 7:00AM on a Sunday morning???
So while I was only quietly coherent enough to be stirring creme in my Nespresso…someone out there in my neighborhood was already up and working their grill. I sat down, put my feet up, then raised my steamy coffee cup to silently salute the unknown keener (whom I imagined was savoring a delicious barbequed breakfast sausage somewhere by sunlight).
And then I found myself thinking “Wait… isn’t this EXACTLY the kind of Summer state of mind we should all be embracing in these brief, fleeting few months”? The one where regular rules don’t apply? A kind of mindset where we are free to break out of normal routines…unwind from our rigid agendas. Isn’t this the time we allow ourselves to live in a casual, lazier, mellower state of “anything goes”?
Yes…this is what our Summer season is all about and it’s why we loved it so much as kids.
So here’s to you…the energetic one’s whos sunlit enthusiasm has you barbecuing at breakfast…or to those deciding to go swimming at midnight. And my sun hat goes off to anyone out there who finds themself napping in a hammock or over indulging in a little extra buttery corn on the cob.
Summers were made to be enjoyed…so I hope you are out there grasping, celebrating and delighting in every waking, nostalgic, sunshiny moment of this short season.
I also vote that we try keeping our fun, lighthearted Summer state of mind alive and kicking…long after the sun goes down.
For today friends…this is The World as Eye See It
The World As Eye See It... 