“such singing’s going on in the

streets—

the people look like flowers

at last”

~ Charles Bukowski

Is there anything as exquisitely full of possibility as an early summer evening?

Even the grass is smiling at me as I slip my shoes off and sprawl on the grass, child-like.

The season gives us freedom to be a little silly. The sensation of the warm earth beneath my body will always be a comforting one. I turn my face to the last rays of sun, feeling it kiss my skin, smooth the worries from my forehead and stroke my bare arms.

I watch the glorious colours sweep across the evening sky. Sounds are poignant—birdsong, crickets, children playing in the distance. I feel the summer dusk creep into my body, bringing a heavy calm to my busy heart and mind.

I let the summer night engulf me. 

Alone, on a summer evening, with a good book and a cool drink in hand, I have watched the sunset and felt completely at peace with the world. Equally wonderful, but completely different, is a summer evening sitting around a bonfire, watching the flames dance their magic and capturing snippets of other’s lives in the tales they share, smoke tangling in my hair and lingering on my clothes.

There is a quality to the nights of summer that never seems to change, a timelessness. A camaraderie develops around near-strangers once they are gathered under a starry sky around a fire. A guitar perhaps is passed around, voices, some tuneless, join in song.

Summer is luminous. This lightest of seasons, where we are free, unencumbered by winter’s heavy clothes, dark skies and dreary burdens. Fruit is plucked off the trees and bursts into pleasure in our mouths, the days trail out with time for extra everything—more adventures, time to linger loving, hours to extend playtime.

A gathering of clouds after a few hot days brings a much needed explosive burst of rain. The thunder and lightning of a summer storm is always an exciting and much needed release. The world is washed and emerges anew, shiny and smelling rain-luscious.

I have spent too many long days and longer seasons of my life caught up in the glorification of busy, rushing from one task to another, failing to recognize the beauty that surrounds me.

This summer, I am here: eyes wide open, palms reaching toward the sunlight, bare feet firmly planted in the glorious earth.
~

Relephant Read:

5 Compelling Scientific Reasons to Learn Mindfulness Meditation.

~

Author: Keeley Milne

Editor: Travis May

Photos: Wiros/Flickr, Flickr