Pausing with the Sun
The invitation of Summer Solstice
Looking back through the Smaller and Deeper archives, it seems that it’s a habit to share this piece on Sunday closest to the Summer Solstice, not because it’s the best piece, but because it’s a timely invitation to pause as the sun pauses this week. I’ve updated it, and since it felt fresh and new to me, I’m hoping it will land softly and right for you this week.
“Allow the sun’s energy to illuminate your being by taking some time to really appreciate all that is positive and joyful in your life right now. Becoming aware that this time too will pass reminds us of the importance of stopping now and then simply to enjoy the good things that we have created in our lives.”
― Danu Forest, The Magic of the Summer Solstice
This week we will mark the summer solstice (in the western hemisphere). Wednesday, June 21st (at 7:57 a.m.) is when one of the earth’s poles has reached its maximum tilt toward the sun1 -the longest day of the year for those in the Western Hemisphere.
Interestingly, it will appear for three days after the solstice as if time stands still- those three, the human eye can’t detect any change in the length of the days. It’s as if there is a pause before we begin a long slow journey toward the darkness of the winter solstice. We are entering a week that, to our eyes, the sun and length of days will appear to pause. Also, radiance-the sun’s light is at its peak.
"Solstice is taken from two Latin words, sol which means sun, and stitium, to stand still. The summer solstice is the time of year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the equator, a time when it appears that the sun has stopped moving higher in the sky. On this day, the length of time with sunlight is the longest."
-Joyce Rupp & Marina Wiederkehr The Circle of Life: The Heart's Journey Through the Seasons
Solstice is a time when the sun appears to stand still. As I read about sol and stitium, it causes me to pause and consider what the solstice might illuminate for me. What parts of my life are in the sun for light and growth, and what places are standing still? Both sun, growth, ripening, and standing still are part of the natural rhythm of the year, which feels like a grace worth remembering.
Pausing to notice something as simple as daylight and the lengthening, pausing, and receding is an easy entrance to living with a contemplative posture. This week's summer solstice is an invitation to pause and reflect on the deeper events and meanings.
What does the length of days mean to your soul?
What does the pause at this turning point invite you to this week and beyond?
What is the season of your heart?
Over weeks and months, the days will slowly grow shorter. If we notice and pause for reflection, the ebb and flow of light can serve as a reminder of the ebbs and flows of life. The light and darkness, heat and coolness, the lengthening and the shortening, all things are changing all the time. Sometimes it’s apparent, and most of the time, it’s so subtle it’s hard to detect unless we pause and really look.
The flow of one season to another brings new physical realities (Longer days, shorter days, warmer days, cooler days, greener days, and browner days). Also, it carries more subtle "heart invitations." The contemplative life pauses to notice deeper invitations in the small moments; one might say it’s a smaller and deeper invitation.
Summer is a season of potency.
Where do you have the power to influence or make an impression?
Summer is a season of abundance.
Where are you experiencing abundance?
Summer is a season with an innate energy for growth.
Where do you feel or sense energy for growth and expansion?
Summer is when roots grow deeper.
Are you feeling an invitation to deepen your roots?
Summer is a season of light.
What needs to be brought into the light in your life?
Summer is a season when the tilt of the earth starts to shift. One journey ends, and another journey begins.
Where are you experiencing a tilt, and ending and beginning?
Summer is a season of ripening.
What is ripening in your life?
The rhythms of the earth and seasons invite us to slow down, notice and consider how we might join the dance of radiance, growth, grounding, abundance, rooting, and blooming happening all around us.
Where are you being invited to join what is happening all around you?
A Blessing For Summer Solstice
May you fully experience the radiance of the sun. May the light of the longest day of the year be an invitation to light, potency, growth, rootedness, and abundance. As the sun seems to pause for a few days in the sky, may you, too pause to feel summer's abundance. May you be surprised by light and radiance when we have the sun's fullness and carry that light forward.
Pause in the next few days and notice the sun and the length of the day.
Notice the tilt of your heart—the invitation of energy.
Enter the season of summer with intention and purpose.
Some {SMALL} ideas:
Draw, write, paint-create something to mark the beginning of the summer season.
Summer is a season of growth, deepening, and abundance. Look for growth, deepening, and abundance in your own life.
Get up early and watch the sunrise.
Watch the sunset.
Eat a piece of fruit and appreciate the present moment.
Some {DEEP} ideas:
Reflection Questions (from The Circle of Life-Summer Solstice Celebration Ritual)
What is your life’s passion at this point in your journey?
Is it still hidden, or has it made itself known to you?
Is it waiting in the wings?
Is it alive and active?
How would you name it?
How do you feel about it?
Are you living it?
What is your approach to it?
What do you need to do to have the flame in your soul leap with life?
Thirty Days in Paris by Veronica Henry
This was a perfect summer read. It’s a light book about Juliet, a middle-aged woman who returns to Paris to find herself after raising her family and a mutually agreed-upon separation from her husband. She is a ghost-writer who gives herself 30 days in Paris to write her own book and revisit a pivotal time in her life when she lived in Paris as an au pair in her early 20s. It wasn’t the best book that I’ve ever read, but it was enjoyable and made one want to live in Paris, eat meals in cafes, and have breakfast from Parisian pastry shops.
“Back inside, she made a coffee, put her pain au raisin on a plate and settled herself at the desk in front of the window. She read through what she had written the day before, resisting the urge to spend time making changes-if she did that, she would be fiddling forever. Forwards was always the key.
-Veronica Henry
On Reading Well: Finding The Good Life through Great Books by Karen Swallow Prior
I really enjoyed this book. Karen Swallow Prior is a college English professor, and I felt like I was getting the best of a college literature class as I read this book. The book is framed around virtues. Each chapter features a classic virtue with a novel that she believes illustrates the virtue. I learned so much as she unpacked each virtue and then illustrated how great works of literature, both modern and classic illustrate these virtues. If you are a person who reads, I would add this one to your reading list.
“Reading well adds to our life—not in the way a tool from the hardware store adds to our life, for a tool does us no good once lost or broken, but in the way a friendship adds to our life, altering us forever.”
― Karen Swallow Prior, On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books
I’ve selected some quotes from Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. She seemed like the right guide for noticing the changing light and gifts that nature, plants, and lights offer us daily. If you haven’t read her book, please, make sure it’s on your list. It’s a must-read for everyone. (I’ve heard the audiobook is lovely too.)
As always, read each quote slowly, and notice if a word or phrase shimmers or catches your attention. Pause to re-read the quote and let it sink deeper into your soul. Maybe jot it down on a piece of paper and read the words daily this week.
“We are showered every day with gifts, but they are not meant for us to keep. Their life is in their movement, the inhale and the exhale of our shared breath. Our work and our joy is to pass along the gift and to trust that what we put out into the universe will always come back.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
“Sometimes I wish I could photosynthesize so that just by being, just by shimmering at the meadow's edge or floating lazily on a pond, I could be doing the work of the world while standing silent in the sun.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
“Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
