Posts Tagged ‘Summer’
Ahhh…Nothing to Do
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
Summer seemed so exciting as a kid until the day came when I had nothing to do. I became bored on days when none of my friends were around or rainy summer days. I would mope around the house and tell my mom, “I have nothing to do.” Her reply was, “I’ll find something for you to do.”
Translation: house chores. (I was a master with the carpet sweeper.)
In her book, Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put On My Pajamas & Found Happiness, Dominique Browning has a wonderful perspective on the theme of nothing to do:
“Today I am happy to find myself sitting on the ground wanting nothing to do — no, not even wanting it, simply accepting that I am enveloped in nothing to do. I begin to understand how nothing to do is its own state of grace, difficult to find deliberately, near impossible to recognize. Nothing to do means I can sit and look and let my mind wander, then empty, then fill again, with wonder or with grief, with anything or with nothing at all. “Nothing to do” is not the same as “Nothing can be done.” One is hopeless; the other, the place from which hope becomes possible.”
As the summer days start to fill with plans for the beach and weekends away, I long for days filled with nothing to do. I am inviting the adult in me to give myself permission each day to sit and do nothing.
Choose to do nothing and see where it takes you.
Mary Anne
Summer Sun Meditation
Friday, July 2nd, 2010
Sit quietly..with your spine straight…breathe slowing in and out through your nose. Allow the exhale breath to last a little longer. Keep breathing until your whole body relaxes. Breathe through each part of your body.
Allow an image of the sun to come into your awareness. Allow whatever color of the sun come to you that feels really good. Sense it’s presence just above you. Invite the rays of the sun to come into you. Allow the sunlight to brighten every thought and feeling. As you breathe in, sense the warmth of the sun and as you breathe out, sense the light of the sun. Bathe in the sun.
Connect with your own sun – the light that is you. Imagine sending this light out to someone you love so they can also bathe in the light. Spend some time bathing in the sun. When you are ready, slowly let the imagine of the sun go. The light is always there within, ready to shine. Bathe in the light of you in all ways.
Bring the light into your heart. Know that the light is always available, always there, and always ready to be shared with those around you.
Namaste,
Mary Anne