Thriving in Summer
Are you gathering enough summer energy to get you through the upcoming cold, dark winter?
Summer is the wellness explorer's basecamp. Each year on your journey through the seasons, summer is where you return to rest, reconnect, and resupply. It's a place of abundance, safety, and relationships. It's a place where you feel safe enough to let down your guard ... so you can trust and relax. It's a place where you can express your full potential. It's a place where fun and silliness are encouraged - so you can play with expressing yourself in new ways and trying new things. It's a place to experiment with what is and isn't a good fit for you. Summer is the time for you to build a foundation of warmth, light, energy, connection, and joy so you can withstand the challenges of the other seasons (whether those seasons be external or internal). So again, "Are you gathering enough summer energy?" The Summer Season Summer is your annual basecamp because, more than any other season, it has the capacity for abundance and safety. Summer is when most of our food is grown and available; when you're no longer at risk of freezing to death or having your crops damaged by frost; and when you have the most sunlight.
Traditionally, we experience a bit more free time in the summer - for farmers, the crops were planted in the spring and won't be harvested until the fall. Students are out of school. Although there is always more than enough to do, the intense sun and heat (Yang energy) of summer make it necessary to slow down a bit and cool off. Too much Yang can harm you ... so summer is when you learn the lesson of balancing Yang with Yin (cooling, restful energy). So, either by choice or by necessity, you make more time for a sit on the porch, a picnic, a family gathering, a nap in the hammock, or a vacation.
Summer is also when you stoke your inner fire - your energy, spirit, drive, creativity, ability to connect and love, ability to sense what is good for you and what isn't, and what is the right action for the right moment.
In summer, fuel for your inner fire is plentiful. That fuel is a combination of:
fresh and nourishing food
balanced rest and activity
connecting with friends and loved ones
vacation and playtime
moments of abundance, safety, connection, and freedom
During the summer, be mindful to stoke your fire so it can burn brightly through the rest of the year and you don't find yourself in mid-winter with only a few fading embers as your inner fire.
Your Internal Summer In Chinese Medicine, the symbolism of the seasons and the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) applies to both your external and internal life. When we talk about summer, we are not only talking about the season you experience on your trip around the sun, but also the 'summer' that exists inside you.
Your internal summer is your inner fire. It is your drive, passion, and creativity. It is the energy you gather and use to get you through challenging times.
Your internal summer is made up of those times when you have a sense of being safe in the world and feel like you have what you need.
Your internal summer is the ability to balance out your Yang (what you need to do to get through the day) with your Yin (what you need to do to rest, repair, and rejuvenate).
Your internal summer is your ability to tell the difference between what is good for you and what isn't.
Your internal summer is your ability to be so open and connected to what is happening around you that your intuition guides you to make the right actions at the right moments.
Your internal summer is your ability to connect with other people in deep and meaningful ways. It is your ability to listen deeply and give warmth to others.
Your internal summer is your ability to play, risk being a fool, take chances on your dreams, explore new ways of acting and being, and open your heart to the world outside of yourself.
That is what a healthy internal summer looks like and what you want to strive for. The unhealthy versions can be either a depleted inner fire that leaves you with no energy to exist on or an overactive inner summer that creates a lot of internal chaos, disconnection, anxiety, and neediness. How to Build a Robust Inner Fire The simplest tip to building a robust inner fire is to take what summer is giving you and embrace it. Almost everything you need to build a strong inner fire and a healthy expression of your internal summer is available to you during the summer season - which makes it the ideal time to do this work.
The wonderful news is that once you're familiar with this way of looking at your life and with a little practice, you can tap into your internal summer and stoke your inner fire no matter what season it is. It's important to take responsibility for tending your own inner fire. It's up to you to provide your own fuel through your choices of daily activities and self-care. If you're not providing the fuel yourself, then your inner fire will go out and look for it elsewhere - and that is where neediness and anxiety are born. If you find yourself feeling needy or anxious, a good question to ask yourself is "what am I doing to feed my inner fire?" Here are some ideas to help you do that. Monitor Your Choices Summer is a good time to practice making good choices. This is a skill that can be developed and made sharper as you create a healthier internal summer and more robust inner fire. You can experiment with this by simply asking yourself this question whenever a choice is to be made, "Which choice is the best choice for me?". Whether you choose the identified best choice or not is for another discussion, but the act of asking that question is a great way to hone your ability to know what is in your best interests. If you haven't done so already, you may want to visit the "Meet Your Inner Trail Guide Course". This course takes you through a simple process of identifying what is in your best interests. Fresh and Nourishing Food. Summer is the perfect time to add more fresh fruits and vegetables to your meals. With the abundance of fresh produce, this can be the easiest time to step away from processed foods. The quality of your food choices equals the quality of your life energy.
Gather With People You Enjoy
Spending time with people you enjoy is a powerful way to stoke your inner fire - a gathering of friends has everything you need: connection, laughter, warmth, support, and conversation. Schedule some playtime with your friends.
Have Some Fun and Dare to Be Silly Playtime is all about being in a safe and supportive place where you can let down your guard and have some fun. It's a time to allow yourself to be a little silly and take some chances with new activities or new behaviors. It's a time when you can fully express yourself without fear of judgment. As an adult, when's the last time you had a playdate with some good friends? It's a deeply nourishing experience - make it happen! Get Outdoors Again, summer is the perfect time for this! Nature is our restorative. The impact that time in nature has on our health can't be overestimated. If the only impact on your wellbeing was that time in nature pulls you out of your narrowly-focused life and opens you up to the vastness of existence, that alone would be enough. Time outdoors can create healthy shifts in your life faster than almost anything else. Get Moving and Slow Down Getting your body moving, especially if it involves play, is crucial for stoking your inner fire. Movement and play break up stagnation in your life - stagnation is stuck energy. Free it up. Nudge loose the stuck places in your life. And then get some rest and take time to relax. Campfires
What's more iconic in summer than a campfire? In Chinese Medicine, the summer season is represented by the Fire element.
Campfires make great gathering places. They also make great places to relax and be quiet for a time.
Tap Into Your Joy If you haven't already done so, read my blog post What Brings You Joy. Open Your Heart Meditation We all need times in our lives - a season of the year - when the danger of frost is past. Where we can blossom safely. Where we can attempt things that feel risky or awkward. Where we can take a chance on dreams. Our human communities need that summer of warmth and safety. Summer reminds us that there can be moments in our lives where we can safely open ourselves up to the world. When there is enough for the moment to nourish us and support us. When we can freely receive warmth and give it.
The Open Your Heart Meditation is a simple practice for tapping into your internal summer and stoking your inner fire any time you want - even in the middle of a cold, dark winter. This meditation nurtures your ability to open yourself to the world, absorb its warmth, and listen deeply to what it has to say to you. It also nurtures your ability to fully express yourself and to give warmth to others without depleting your own inner fire.
The goal of the Thriving Through the Seasons Program is to introduce you to your internal seasons and to help you experience them in a more balanced way. Moving toward balance enhances your wellbeing and quality of life. I hope you will join me on this journey.
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