In the 2nd half of summer, when gardens are laden with squash sitting on the ground, sunflowers going to seed, tips of sweet corn rocketing through their husks, and branches heavy with peaches, there’s an obvious theme of abundance.
As our beloved Earth begins to slowly tilt us away from the extreme angle of Summer Solstice toward the balance of Autumn Equinox, we pause.
So, we pause in the way the we’d stop half way through a road trip to enjoy a picnic lunch, or an intermission mid way through a performance. These mid-points have their own plot.
What’s the plot at this seasonal half-way point? Why pause?
We pause to appreciate our harvest.
European ancestors paused to celebrate this mid-point because it coincided with the grain harvest, which meant bread for families and food for livestock to last through the dark months.
Since we can just roll down to the store and get bread anytime, our reason to celebrate isn’t as literal. We have to be a bit more intentional about celebrating abundance, much less survival.
Think about the year so far. Nature has done nothing but climb, increasing day length and growth since Winter Solstice. We’ve been reflecting that, gaining ground all year.
So now we have a yield, some hard won prizes, a harvest.
Visit any farmer’s market. There’s a TON of yield right now.
It’s time to give thanks for the ground we’ve gained, the harvests we’ve reaped, the abundance in our lives.
Why is it hard to pause and feel gratitude for what we have? Sometime it feels a lot easier to pout and only notice what we don’t have.
That’s only because of time.
If you time travel back about 3 years and look at what you’re harvesting now, there’d be high fives all day long and maybe a few “hell yeah’s” (and if you’re not, that’s a theme for another time).
But the right-this-second-you is evolving by the second and has sights set on future harvests.
So we pause to invite these two selves into the present moment, when the table is full of fresh corn, peaches, and squash. When they’ll never be fresher than right now.
Tomorrow is the moment to pause and appreciate what you’ve gained. It might be a harvest decades in the making, from this year, or the day.
For example, about 5 years I ago I sat on my friend’s front porch and told her I was ready to write a book. She said, “don’t just write a book, create a course”. So I did. Fast forward to today, I have a course and a book. This friend and I had lunch today to discuss getting it published. Harvest, baby. High fives!
So I invite you to pause, celebrate your wins, your gains. Appreciate your bounty.
Like a ripe tomato warmed by the sun and plucked from it’s vine, it’ll never be fresher than right now.
love & waterfalls,
kv
