Summer? So Soon?

Summer is here! OK, not officially, but as kids do you remember marking your summer by the Solstice? Me neither, and my daughters are no different. They see summer starting in less than two weeks when the last school bell rings (although to be honest, I don’t even know if they have bells anymore, maybe it’s more of a buzz), and I think even our dog is feeling it.

In the adult realm of our house, we’re less excited about the speed with which summer approaches. It’s not that we don’t have great plans for the next few months; it’s that we have SO MANY great plans. The big trip is to Costa Rica for 10 days in July, but up until then we have a trip to Dallas for a long weekend, a trip to Colorado for a tae kwon do competition, a trip to my Dad’s where I’ll be driving a U-Haul back from Massachusetts and various other local events we’ll be attending, not the least of which is a 10-day Feng Shui certification course I’ll be leading starting in late August and a 2-day body, mind, spirit seminar for which I need to prepare to lead a half-day session in September.

Meanwhile, we have about 70 seedlings sprouting in our living room that need to get planted along with all the other yard work that keeps taunting us. 

So our girls’ excitement for the best summer ever is quickly becoming our panic that there’s no way we’ll be able to get everything done.

International trips, cross-country trips, local trips, family, friends, classes, seminar, yard work – all while maintaining some semblance of sanity. Ahhhh! And then we breathe.

That last part there, that’s the key. Breathing. I tell my clients, friends and families all the time, it’s about breathing. It’s the simplest thing to do but makes all the difference in the world. It allows us to center ourselves because we actually feel our body moving in and out, up and down. When we focus on our body it forces us to step outside of our mindset in the moment, and that moment can be exactly what you need to step back for a minute and take another look. A more objective look, and even a grateful look.

As I step back, I can realize how fortunate I am to be able to have such a packed summer. I can be grateful for my nine to five job that has allowed me to afford these things. I can be thankful for all the people in my life that care enough for me to want me to visit or travel with them. I can acknowledge all the great things in my life. And that’s why I breathe.

You may wonder what this has to do with Feng Shui. Translated, Feng Shui means wind and water. And if the goal of Feng Shui is to create a space that flows like wind or water, what better way to start do this than by internalizing this flow, breathing in this flow, and making it a part of you each day.

We’ll talk about water another day.