Cooler Days, Cooler Ways

The weather here has been unbearably hot for many, but with Wednesday’s entrance  of our new season it gave all here a taste of cold.  It’s nice for the kids who started school this week, but from the looks of it the weekend and on into the week we are returning to the heat.

I’m not complaining.  It has been a good summer and I am ready for the cooler days of autumn.  Things get busy and many who can are beginning the season of days that are full of washing and packing jars and getting them ready for winter.  Try doing that with a full time job, something some of my friends and family do every year.

I love fall with it’s wisps of winter with frosts some days and warm Indian summer days for others.  I also love the long walks through leaves that seem to do a jig with each gust of wind.

Fall and winter are my seasons.  I revel in the way those seasons can actually slow us down a bit and find a change of pace in our busy lives.  Not too much though and that’s good thing.

I am going to enjoy our last days of heat and revel in a few more moments of lazy fun.  We’re lucky in Michigan to have the seasons.  It gives us many ways of seeing beauty whether dressed in a twinkling snow cover, or the many shades and hues of fall.

Quiet Days

When I’m home from cancelations for meetings, or just needing a way to refresh myself and regroup for the coming days I take a day to practice peace. I have no exact way to find my center but a few habits definitely help find my center again.

The first practice is always listening and taking in music.  All kinds of music!   It is a beautiful way to refill my emotional tanks.  I have always wished that I could have been a musician but it wasn’t to be so I listen sometimes simply absorbing the tunes, and inhale them when I’m down.  It is then I can begin to relax once more.

Another way is to do deep breathing and focusing to let go of the hurts of the days and weeks and the mindfulness can get below the surface and encase my heart in a peace.  This is a new practice for me and I’m slowly getting better at it, but it has already given me joy and with it I can begin to step back into my life’s rhythm again.

The most tactile way to reach outside to calm that inner beast is by taking walks in nature whether through absorbing beautiful pictures on rainy days, or walking when I can. Exercise has never been fun for me, but walking is a meditation of its own in my life.

Finally, when I am calm and centered and mostly unflustered I can pray.  I tend to only pray for people not their needs and often do a form of doodling to keep me focused and write first names along the lines and patterns I draw and sketch.

Life is not contentment in every step for me,  but I still can find my joy. Its still there and a smile is seldom far from my face, or my thoughts with these practices.