SUMMER INTENTIONS

We make New Year's intentions, why not summer?  Why not intentions for that most relaxed season of all, when vacations are scheduled, kids are out of school, days are long, breezes warm and flowers in bloom?  

One intention might be how we want to spend our extra daylight hours.  Sunset strolls, night swimming, games in the backyard, winding down our mind and body with something creative or contemplative?  I can't think of a bad way to spend this time.  But outside it should be.  That's where we find fireflies, birds settling in, chimney swallows, moss for our bare feet, mown grass and wonderful scents.  Being outdoors till dusk turns to dark is a perfect way to spend an evening.  

Anytime we pay attention we are rewarded.  Every day we have the opportunity to witness night to light and day to dark.  We could have an intention to be fully present for one of these daily transitions.  I remember from childhood the Robert Louis Stevenson poem "Bed in Summer."  "In winter I get up at night / and dress by yellow candlelight. / In summer, quite the other way, / I have to go to bed by day."  (1885) In London, England today the sun will set at 9:22 pm.  It rose at 4:44 am.  We can see what the child means.  But as grownups we can choose our waking and sleeping.  The hours are ours. 

Most of us know about forest bathing, but another intention could be to take a scent walk.  A forest is a good place to start, but we can also begin the moment we waken.  If the windows are open the scents flood in.  Night or early morning air, cool and possibly damp.  Flowers or vines outside the window, maybe even sweet gardenias, that headiest of blooms.  Then the aroma of coffee or tea or a drink of cold juice and head outdoors.  We can walk in any weather that doesn't present a danger just by dressing right and enjoying the fresh feelings on our skin.  Remember how it felt to play in the rain as a child?  In summer my brother and I would put on swimsuits and make dams in the driveway with piles of gravel. 

Dew has its own scent, so does the fragrant earth, turned or mulched or redolent with leaf litter, the worms and beetles and thousand leggers having done their work. The cedars in our meadow have a camphorous odor (remember mothballs?) with balsamic undertones.  

I like it that all these good intentions are free and bring benefits even with just minutes devoted to them.  Microadventures, good for the soul.  

                                                                                    Nina Naomi