Stillness for me will be found in letting go. Tomorrow my eldest is finishing school for the summer so the plan is to go as easy as I can around life and work. To keep saying no or not yet so I can save those yeses. I may even pause online activity for the next 6 weeks because it feels like a lot 💛
Yes I absolutely see that — as I was writing I was thinking about how I will have the school holidays dance with next year for the first time. I imagine they are not very conducive with stillness and I think that your intention of letting go is very wise. Nos and not yets are not easy but I hope you can feel empowered by them and know that everything will unfold at the right time. I am sure an online pause will be very restorative xx
I’ve been contemplating the same pause online Sarah… I want to savour moments and the extra pressure of needing to write over the school holidays feels like it might steal a little of my peace!
I am reminded of my ex-clients, a traditional Italian company who would close for the whole of August, no questions. A time for family and travel with no thoughts of work! xx
Ah the jus de pommes ❤️ I took have a strong connyti France and have spent my Summers there siince I was a baby. And now have the joy of taking my own children there. We are going In August and yes it will be chaos, but beutiful. We ll slow right down, swim in the sea everyday, the many pauses we ll take as we climb the never ending stairs (it's very hilly!) Stillness in Summer has always been for me switching off In France and am grateful I get to take the boys
Oh I love hearing that you have a connection to France too. Your plans for August sound gorgeous, it is all about embracing the beautiful messiness! I feel very much like my bones crave stillness in summer, perhaps a memory of school holidays etc. And it feels good to get away to access a slower pace too! Wishing you strength for the hills! xx
Adore this post so much, and still wows me that we have so much synchronicity… that first paragraph about your memories of France could have been mine… the nostalgia… getting married there (for us a crazy 15 years ago almost… how?!) I just love your perspective of allowing the light to infuse a broader sense of time instead of just that one moment, I think that’s such a wonderful way of embracing the season rather than the pressure of it all just being one day. I also read about Selah in that piece and it was such a beautiful reminder. For some reason this is the first year I’ve really understood Summer in the way you describe it… the still point… and it feels such a relief to have landed here. Beautiful words. Thank you xxxx
Ahhh I love that, feel like there are chapters of the France story still to unpick together! And it also feels weird not to know about your wedding! Wow to nearly 15 years, that is crazy wonderful!
Yes finding it so much more easeful to stretch out my experience of the season, it feels more expansive, and deeper in some ways.
Yes the Selah notion is such a gorgeous reminder, I love the idea of gathering ourselves in stillness first.
Thank you too, also for your wise words about remembering to rest in summer, they definitely helped to reframe in my mind. It is beginning to settle for me now too and feels like sweet relief! xx
Wonderful, evocative and thoughtful as always, Lyndsay. I'm drawn to the reflections you offer on stillness at this point in the year when, for me, there's been such a push to move forwards and do so much (when perhaps I need now to be doing exactly the opposite!).
The images and words on your trip are lush too, and - oh - how I remember those days with wee ones. Sounds like you're truly embracing them rather than resisting the changes they've brought to your experience of place. X
Ah thank you for reading Lindsay and yes the realisation of the still point between the phases of growth and harvesting has felt very healing for me! And yes summer is obviously high energy in many ways but it is almost as though the brakes are on in some way too. Hope you can find some places to pause.
Ah thanks so much and yes, the experience is very different with the little ones, they were particularly spirited whilst we were away! It was quite exhausting tbh but gorgeous to be there and special to share that place with them xx
Ps I hope your adventures are going well!! I would love us to be able to do something like your trip one day (though it feels a way off in doability!) xx
The still point. That’s exactly where I find myself as well. Just being. Slow and soft and present. The solstice energy stretches out day after day for me so far this summer, and I am beginning to understand that it will follow me deep into July as well. What that will look like, I’m not sure. But, it will be my way of moving through the days and the main mindset of my soul. xo
Yes it feels good when we can sense the still point, I definitely have felt a release since realising it. And yes the solstice feels expansive in time, I don’t feel anything of the light dwindling yet. Wow in some ways it feels wild that we are so close to July, hope it arrives gently for you xx
Stillness for me will be found in letting go. Tomorrow my eldest is finishing school for the summer so the plan is to go as easy as I can around life and work. To keep saying no or not yet so I can save those yeses. I may even pause online activity for the next 6 weeks because it feels like a lot 💛
Yes I absolutely see that — as I was writing I was thinking about how I will have the school holidays dance with next year for the first time. I imagine they are not very conducive with stillness and I think that your intention of letting go is very wise. Nos and not yets are not easy but I hope you can feel empowered by them and know that everything will unfold at the right time. I am sure an online pause will be very restorative xx
I’ve been contemplating the same pause online Sarah… I want to savour moments and the extra pressure of needing to write over the school holidays feels like it might steal a little of my peace!
I am reminded of my ex-clients, a traditional Italian company who would close for the whole of August, no questions. A time for family and travel with no thoughts of work! xx
Gosh yes! I had a French client that did the same. How do we adopt this in our side of the world?!?! Zz
Yes. So important to protect our peace!
Ah the jus de pommes ❤️ I took have a strong connyti France and have spent my Summers there siince I was a baby. And now have the joy of taking my own children there. We are going In August and yes it will be chaos, but beutiful. We ll slow right down, swim in the sea everyday, the many pauses we ll take as we climb the never ending stairs (it's very hilly!) Stillness in Summer has always been for me switching off In France and am grateful I get to take the boys
Oh I love hearing that you have a connection to France too. Your plans for August sound gorgeous, it is all about embracing the beautiful messiness! I feel very much like my bones crave stillness in summer, perhaps a memory of school holidays etc. And it feels good to get away to access a slower pace too! Wishing you strength for the hills! xx
Adore this post so much, and still wows me that we have so much synchronicity… that first paragraph about your memories of France could have been mine… the nostalgia… getting married there (for us a crazy 15 years ago almost… how?!) I just love your perspective of allowing the light to infuse a broader sense of time instead of just that one moment, I think that’s such a wonderful way of embracing the season rather than the pressure of it all just being one day. I also read about Selah in that piece and it was such a beautiful reminder. For some reason this is the first year I’ve really understood Summer in the way you describe it… the still point… and it feels such a relief to have landed here. Beautiful words. Thank you xxxx
Ahhh I love that, feel like there are chapters of the France story still to unpick together! And it also feels weird not to know about your wedding! Wow to nearly 15 years, that is crazy wonderful!
Yes finding it so much more easeful to stretch out my experience of the season, it feels more expansive, and deeper in some ways.
Yes the Selah notion is such a gorgeous reminder, I love the idea of gathering ourselves in stillness first.
Thank you too, also for your wise words about remembering to rest in summer, they definitely helped to reframe in my mind. It is beginning to settle for me now too and feels like sweet relief! xx
Wonderful, evocative and thoughtful as always, Lyndsay. I'm drawn to the reflections you offer on stillness at this point in the year when, for me, there's been such a push to move forwards and do so much (when perhaps I need now to be doing exactly the opposite!).
The images and words on your trip are lush too, and - oh - how I remember those days with wee ones. Sounds like you're truly embracing them rather than resisting the changes they've brought to your experience of place. X
Ah thank you for reading Lindsay and yes the realisation of the still point between the phases of growth and harvesting has felt very healing for me! And yes summer is obviously high energy in many ways but it is almost as though the brakes are on in some way too. Hope you can find some places to pause.
Ah thanks so much and yes, the experience is very different with the little ones, they were particularly spirited whilst we were away! It was quite exhausting tbh but gorgeous to be there and special to share that place with them xx
Ps I hope your adventures are going well!! I would love us to be able to do something like your trip one day (though it feels a way off in doability!) xx
The still point. That’s exactly where I find myself as well. Just being. Slow and soft and present. The solstice energy stretches out day after day for me so far this summer, and I am beginning to understand that it will follow me deep into July as well. What that will look like, I’m not sure. But, it will be my way of moving through the days and the main mindset of my soul. xo
Yes it feels good when we can sense the still point, I definitely have felt a release since realising it. And yes the solstice feels expansive in time, I don’t feel anything of the light dwindling yet. Wow in some ways it feels wild that we are so close to July, hope it arrives gently for you xx