“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
Henry James
For most of us, summer is such an enjoyable sweet time of year—morning, afternoon and evening. The bugs can definitely be pesky but the warm sunshine and things like watermelon easily outweigh the little nuisances.
What does summer mean for you? The details of how we spend our summer vary widely depending on what kind of work we do, whether or not we are retired, if we have projects we want to get done while the weather is nice, and – whether or not we have kids off of school!
Whatever your particular sort of summer looks like, this month’s column is designed to encourage you to make renewal a focus for this season.
Summer is designed to be a time of rest and renewal. After our season of planting and watering seeds, it is time to let the sun shine on the crops of our lives and give them a chance to grow and mature.
If there’s something you’ve been working on throughout the past year, you might want to consider setting it aside for this short and very sweet season and come back to it fresh in the fall.
Another idea is sort of the opposite – maybe there’s something you’ve been hoping to do or try or learn but just haven’t taken the time for it. Could this summer season be a time to start something fresh and new, setting some other things aside for awhile?
Deborah Day states, “Renewal requires opening yourself up to new ways of thinking and feeling.”
As you think about what renewal can look like for you, give some thought to questions like:
- What experiences do I want to have?
- Who do I want to connect with this summer?
- Are there skills do I want to learn or improve?
- What new ideas or routines do I want to develop?
During a season of renewal, it’s crucial not to just keep adding items to our to-do lists but to set them aside for a little while so we can use our mind space to consider some bigger-picture ideas and dreams for our lives.
Part of allowing ourselves to be renewed in this beautiful summer season is letting ourselves get out into nature and just be a part of it, letting go of the nagging urge to always be productive in some measurable way.
That will come in time as we continue on our journeys but summer is a time to renew ourselves so that we can keep growing stronger, more able to bring about good change in our lives and in our circles of influence.
“Renewal is not just innovation and change. It is also the process of bringing the results of change into line with our purposes.”
John W. Gardner
