“It’s a smile, it’s a kiss, it’s a sip of wine, it’s summertime, sweet summertime!”
Kenny Chesney
When the warmer days of August finally roll around, I start feeling anxious. I get the feeling summer is almost over before it really has gotten a chance to even begin. I plan on changing that anxious feeling this year by changing my attitude. This is my choice and I intend to create a summer island of calm. On my summer island of calm there is no end until I say so, or perhaps I give into the musty smells of fall days as they gently pull and coax me into the next season.
My summer island of calm includes some of the very best of summertime:
- A nap or two in a hammock swinging in the breeze
- Reading a book I cannot put down
- The flavors of mint and basil in my morning smoothie
- Many helpings of fresh seafood
- An obscenely large ice-cream cone
- The smell of a barbeque hissing and spitting away
- Flashes of garden color and scents so sweet they fill me with sunshine
- Gliding along on a paddle board or kayak
- The crack of a watermelon as I begin to cut into it
- Lounging in the warmth of the day
- Gentle breezes billowing the curtains within my home
- A chorus of bird songs playing in the background
- The taste of a juicy tree ripened peach
- An ice cold drink of whatever stirs my fancy
- Time lost in the company of friends/family
What will your island of calm include? Choose for yourself and create an island of calm today. You must start your day with the intention: I intend to create an island of calm. Let the invocation surround you with calmness each day this month. Bask in the endless days of summer.
Water Nymph photo courtesy of Steve Jurvetson