"There is an alchemy in summer that melts, merges and melds — it is not one thing or the other, it is everything, both/and, and then a little bit more."
This is absolutely lovely, Lyndsay. So magical and so relatable to me. I adore how you speak of summer as the still point, which I also see as sitting opposite the winter solstice and the still point of winter. Both times to bloom inwardly and draw inward, respectively.
What a magical, transitional time of unfolding you must be going through in your life as a mother and a woman. I can feel your presence in each moment, savoring and tending to your soul as you care for your wee ones. Thank you for the endless inspiration you share with us all. xx
Thank you for reading dear Liz, I am so happy to hear you found my musings relatable! And yes that’s exactly what I realised that the feeling of deepening is similar to the depths of winter but with an entirely different light-filled lens.
Thank you so much for seeing me as I move through the next threshold, it feels like times are a-changing, it’s tender and exciting all at the same time (of course it couldn’t be one or the other!) I do hope you’ve had a wonderful summer so far, I do feel as though there is something special about lingering late summer days ahead xx
I just love the idea of blooming inwards over blooming outwards to become more of ourselves… our truest most deepest selves. As always your words spark soul rememberings for me in the most soothing of ways. Xxx
Thank you dear one. And yes that is so it, blooming inwardly! Always here for becoming more in a world that seems to want us small. Thank you for reading, I am so happy to hear it sparked something for you xx
“ mothering is a radical act of hope” IT IS!!! We have to believe in a better world constantly, for our children. And yes. You hold so much value. We all do, we are raising the future, everything to our kids, not much to the world around us.
But we keep going in spite of it. Mothers are incredible.
It is and yes we have to carry on holding all of it, joy and despair on both personal and global scales. Thank you, and yes a reframe of mothering is so overdue, we are raising the future of society, it does seem strange that this often deemed as not contributing… anyway we keep going! Thank you so much for reading and sharing your heart here xx
Wow Lyndsay, this was beautiful to read. Such a lovely reminder about the hopes of summer and the beauty of what actually meets us there. Sometimes there is disappointment to hold amongst all of the joy. I feel like I am finding this to be true for all seasons.. always a leaning into the both/and as you have shared here. I love your seasonal reflections so much xx
Ah thank you for reading Emily. Yes summer feels so full of everything, it is often a lot. I’m realising that things I once considered entirely opposite can exist at the same time, like in summer. So glad you have enjoyed reading xx
Every summer I seem to ramp up to high expectations of what we will do, where we will go and lots of the intensity you mention so well.
Because we home educate we are out of step with timings that others follow which gives me interna permission to be out of step with seasons.
Seraphina, one of the triplets declared she is going to start listening to Christmas songs soon which made me giggle - she grabs a blankie and snuggles under it even if we are officially in Summer.
Our children so often already know about the wholeness you write about 🌿
Thank you so much for reading Danusia. Yes it’s hard not to feel some pressure to make the most of summer days. How nice to not have to adhere to term times and to allow things to flow a little more on your own terms! I love your daughter’s festive enthusiasm and commitment to cosiness. You’re right, children most often lean into fullness and their own wholeness more than we do, how can we help them to preserve it for as long as possible (and remember it ourselves?) xx
What a beautiful read ❤️ I am loving slowing down this Summer, we've had more slow mornings than fast ones. I absolutely love how you talk about holding it all, the physical too. I had a hand massage recently and how wonderful it was, as I am always using them to care, hold, feed my children. Wishing you all the best from school in September 🙏💛
Oh thank you for reading Natalie. I adore hearing that you have had a higher proportion of slow mornings this summer. That is such a good reminder about our hands, they do both physically and metaphorically hold so much. I am so happy you had a massage and felt nourished by it. It can’t be long until your French trip, enjoy when it comes! xx
How wise, comforting and refreshing your words are! I do feel the pressure of summer and I think that the answer to this feeling is exactly what you said: deepening into our wholeness and from there , tending the glow that comes from within. Thank you, I am going to read your words again and again and savour them, they are a balm to me.
Ah Laura thank you so much for reading, I am so glad to hear that you found my words a comfort. Yes to releasing the underlying pressure of summer and melting into being more of ourselves instead. It actually feels quite Leo season when I think about it! Honestly it means so much to know that you have saved my words with the intention of reading them again xx
I feel this so much Lyndsay, I have put some pressure on myself this summer and I decide to start taking that pressure off and just be. This season to me is so much about nurturance and it is hard to nurture and soak in the nurture I am giving myself when I am also expecting myself to keep going as in other seasons.
Thank you Emma and I am so glad you felt something reading it. It is really easy to put pressure on ourselves in summer. I realise I have been placing expectations on myself this year when really it is about being more rather than doing more. And yes to nurturing ourselves within this season, some sort of pause/spaciousness feels essential xx
Summer's a funny one. I feel under pressure to perform and creatememoriesforthe family. We are taking the children camping. Good luck when the little one starts school. The fruits of mothering this season will start to ripen.
Yes I agree! I used to live for summer (with a special place in my heart for autumn), then last summer it began to feel too intense and I was searching for the shadows and edges. Now I am realising it is a chance to release pressure on it and myself and to bask in the depths as well as the blooms! Camping sounds very fun indeed, enjoy! Thank you, we are definitely approaching a new chapter, how smooth the transition, is yet to be seen. Thank you for your kind and encouraging words re: the fruits of mothering xx
Yes, intense is certainly a word I'd use to describe it. Maybe it's the intensity of the light and nature in bloom with an equal sense of the light dying and having to live good life before it fades
Yesss Claire, I absolutely think it is all of this! And perhaps an underlying pressure from our own memories of creating a similar feeling for ourselves (and our children) perhaps xx
Oh yes you are right, they often flow into each other (and back and forth!) with four seasons in a day sometimes! I do find it helpful to look outdoors to how things are unfolding, so often it reveals clues as to how things are unfolding within me too xx
Gorgeous 💓
Thank you for reading Ailbhe! (How do you pronounce your name? I don’t think I have come across it before!) xx
It’s an Irish name so it’s a funny one! Al-va
🙏☺️
Ah yes I thought so. Oh I love it, it is so beautiful xx
"There is an alchemy in summer that melts, merges and melds — it is not one thing or the other, it is everything, both/and, and then a little bit more."
This is absolutely lovely, Lyndsay. So magical and so relatable to me. I adore how you speak of summer as the still point, which I also see as sitting opposite the winter solstice and the still point of winter. Both times to bloom inwardly and draw inward, respectively.
What a magical, transitional time of unfolding you must be going through in your life as a mother and a woman. I can feel your presence in each moment, savoring and tending to your soul as you care for your wee ones. Thank you for the endless inspiration you share with us all. xx
Thank you for reading dear Liz, I am so happy to hear you found my musings relatable! And yes that’s exactly what I realised that the feeling of deepening is similar to the depths of winter but with an entirely different light-filled lens.
Thank you so much for seeing me as I move through the next threshold, it feels like times are a-changing, it’s tender and exciting all at the same time (of course it couldn’t be one or the other!) I do hope you’ve had a wonderful summer so far, I do feel as though there is something special about lingering late summer days ahead xx
I just love the idea of blooming inwards over blooming outwards to become more of ourselves… our truest most deepest selves. As always your words spark soul rememberings for me in the most soothing of ways. Xxx
Thank you dear one. And yes that is so it, blooming inwardly! Always here for becoming more in a world that seems to want us small. Thank you for reading, I am so happy to hear it sparked something for you xx
“ mothering is a radical act of hope” IT IS!!! We have to believe in a better world constantly, for our children. And yes. You hold so much value. We all do, we are raising the future, everything to our kids, not much to the world around us.
But we keep going in spite of it. Mothers are incredible.
This was an absolutely beautiful read x
It is and yes we have to carry on holding all of it, joy and despair on both personal and global scales. Thank you, and yes a reframe of mothering is so overdue, we are raising the future of society, it does seem strange that this often deemed as not contributing… anyway we keep going! Thank you so much for reading and sharing your heart here xx
Wow Lyndsay, this was beautiful to read. Such a lovely reminder about the hopes of summer and the beauty of what actually meets us there. Sometimes there is disappointment to hold amongst all of the joy. I feel like I am finding this to be true for all seasons.. always a leaning into the both/and as you have shared here. I love your seasonal reflections so much xx
Ah thank you for reading Emily. Yes summer feels so full of everything, it is often a lot. I’m realising that things I once considered entirely opposite can exist at the same time, like in summer. So glad you have enjoyed reading xx
This was such a joy to read Lyndsay. Thank you.
Every summer I seem to ramp up to high expectations of what we will do, where we will go and lots of the intensity you mention so well.
Because we home educate we are out of step with timings that others follow which gives me interna permission to be out of step with seasons.
Seraphina, one of the triplets declared she is going to start listening to Christmas songs soon which made me giggle - she grabs a blankie and snuggles under it even if we are officially in Summer.
Our children so often already know about the wholeness you write about 🌿
Thank you so much for reading Danusia. Yes it’s hard not to feel some pressure to make the most of summer days. How nice to not have to adhere to term times and to allow things to flow a little more on your own terms! I love your daughter’s festive enthusiasm and commitment to cosiness. You’re right, children most often lean into fullness and their own wholeness more than we do, how can we help them to preserve it for as long as possible (and remember it ourselves?) xx
What a beautiful read ❤️ I am loving slowing down this Summer, we've had more slow mornings than fast ones. I absolutely love how you talk about holding it all, the physical too. I had a hand massage recently and how wonderful it was, as I am always using them to care, hold, feed my children. Wishing you all the best from school in September 🙏💛
Oh thank you for reading Natalie. I adore hearing that you have had a higher proportion of slow mornings this summer. That is such a good reminder about our hands, they do both physically and metaphorically hold so much. I am so happy you had a massage and felt nourished by it. It can’t be long until your French trip, enjoy when it comes! xx
How wise, comforting and refreshing your words are! I do feel the pressure of summer and I think that the answer to this feeling is exactly what you said: deepening into our wholeness and from there , tending the glow that comes from within. Thank you, I am going to read your words again and again and savour them, they are a balm to me.
Ah Laura thank you so much for reading, I am so glad to hear that you found my words a comfort. Yes to releasing the underlying pressure of summer and melting into being more of ourselves instead. It actually feels quite Leo season when I think about it! Honestly it means so much to know that you have saved my words with the intention of reading them again xx
I feel this so much Lyndsay, I have put some pressure on myself this summer and I decide to start taking that pressure off and just be. This season to me is so much about nurturance and it is hard to nurture and soak in the nurture I am giving myself when I am also expecting myself to keep going as in other seasons.
Thank you Emma and I am so glad you felt something reading it. It is really easy to put pressure on ourselves in summer. I realise I have been placing expectations on myself this year when really it is about being more rather than doing more. And yes to nurturing ourselves within this season, some sort of pause/spaciousness feels essential xx
Yes, more being and less doing!
Summer's a funny one. I feel under pressure to perform and creatememoriesforthe family. We are taking the children camping. Good luck when the little one starts school. The fruits of mothering this season will start to ripen.
Yes I agree! I used to live for summer (with a special place in my heart for autumn), then last summer it began to feel too intense and I was searching for the shadows and edges. Now I am realising it is a chance to release pressure on it and myself and to bask in the depths as well as the blooms! Camping sounds very fun indeed, enjoy! Thank you, we are definitely approaching a new chapter, how smooth the transition, is yet to be seen. Thank you for your kind and encouraging words re: the fruits of mothering xx
Yes, intense is certainly a word I'd use to describe it. Maybe it's the intensity of the light and nature in bloom with an equal sense of the light dying and having to live good life before it fades
Yesss Claire, I absolutely think it is all of this! And perhaps an underlying pressure from our own memories of creating a similar feeling for ourselves (and our children) perhaps xx
I think there is fluidity in the seasons, we move gently from one to the other quite often unconsciously.
Oh yes you are right, they often flow into each other (and back and forth!) with four seasons in a day sometimes! I do find it helpful to look outdoors to how things are unfolding, so often it reveals clues as to how things are unfolding within me too xx
Yes, we can’t change the weather or the season just how we feel about it…embrace it all xx
Yes! Exactly this! xx