Summer is peeking from under the spring showers. It’s finally here! Here’s how to transform the next warm months into a real Midsummer Night’s Dream:
1) Spend the night under the stars. Take a tent or a sleeping bag and let the starry sky be your ceiling for the night.
2) Plant something flowery or fruity in your garden. Same time next year, you’ll be able to savor the fruits of your labor.
3) Indulge in a “guilty” pleasure. Be it mindless reality TV, a dirty novel, or a rich, decadent treat.
4) Rent a bike or take your own through your neighborhood. Let the wind brush your skin and the sun’s ray dance across your face.
5) Set an intention. Every meditation, yoga practice, and successful achievement often begins with an intention. What would you like for your summer? To play, to feel free, to heal and be healthy? Create a vision for what you want and take mini steps to achieve it.
6) Elevate your senses. Listen to live music or the sound of crickets on a summer night. Introduce your tastebuds to a new type of food. Buy silk sheets or run your fingers through blades of grass or grains of sand. Visit a rose garden. Watch a sunset.
7) Learn something new. Let this be the summer you finally take that hula/cooking/gardening/singing class!
8) Finish it. That craft project that’s been sitting on your desk, the paperwork that turned into a paper tower, the bench that you half-finished, the book that you started but abandoned…Commit to finishing something you started months ago and feel how good it feels to check it off your list.
9) Make a commitment to yourself. Perhaps you let your own desires go or you’ve forgotten about the girl who used to climb trees and draw to her hearts content. Make a commitment this summer to return to yourself. Do something every day this summer to bring you closer to you. Who are you now? What are your goals? Is there a part of you that still desires drawing, writing, and climbing trees? See if you can bring her back at least for the summer season.
10) Take a grateful breath. The older you get, the faster life goes. Take a moment, even if it’s at a stoplight to inhale and be grateful for where you are now. Be grateful for the fact that you are here, that you have someone to love, that someone loves you, that you have had magical moments in the past and you will have more in the future. Be grateful for music, for laughter, for the joy that children seem to be born with. Be grateful for the moment even if it’s a difficult one. We never know how we will be changed by everything we go through.