As summer winds down (NO!), the days get shorter, the nights just a few degrees cooler, and kids go back to school, I’ve been thinking about “what’s next?” and what that means.
July is one of those long summer months, oftentimes too sticky, too hot to bear (but we do!), and it has it’s sweet moments, the perfect night out with friends, a cold beer, fresh peaches, basil, and grilling outdoors. More often then not, July is the long slog in the heat and humidity, especially if you can’t vacate your life for a little summer holiday. August, though, goes quickly. This is when we realize how much we love summer when the tomatoes are peaking, and we can see the end of summer on the horizon. It’s a bittersweet time.
So what’s next? Well, if we’re lucky a long, gorgeous fall, or better an Indian Summer, followed by that colorful, crisp autumn. Regardless, though, I’d like to make a plan of action for myself. In summer, I’ve let my creative self go a little wild, like the weeds in my small garden, and now it’s time to rein it in and figure out which weedy thoughts and ideas I’d like to keep and which ones I’d like to release.
I hadn’t even realized I wanted to do this until I read my friend astrologer Anne Ortelee’s Weekly Weather for August 12-18. Whether you believe in astrology or not, Anne always offers up some great practical wisdom you can use. Check out the excerpt from this week:
“On Friday, Jupiter trines and sextiles the Nodes of Fate. Jupiter sends his energy and the energy of the Grand Trine in Water into the Nodes. Jupiter is starting to pull away from his buddies Saturn and Neptune. He deposits HIS part of the energy on Friday. Saturn and Neptune will follow in the fall. Make sure you take action on the direction(s) you want Jupiter to expand in your life so he knows what to do for you! The heavens are waiting, listening, and paying attention!“
And even without your buy-in, I think you’ll agree with me that setting a plan, making a few goals, sorting out which of the wonderfully wacky ideas you’ve dreamed up this summer you want to act on, is not such a silly concept. Imagine you or your higher self are Jupiter, and you/Jupiter wants to expand the parts of your life that need expanding, the parts you’ve been dreaming about. Your higher self/the heavens are waiting, listening, and paying attention for you to take action. For me, putting pen to paper and making a little list or a plan of action is a powerful way to begin manifesting what I want next, where I want to go with love, life, work, travel… well, you get the idea. There’s something about a blue ink bleeding my hopes, plans, ideas on the blank page. It’s a palpable way to feel I’ve begun the process of putting thought into action.
So this is what I’m doing today, I’m writing down where I want to go and what I want to be doing.
Keep it general, if you’re not clear on what you want… go with the feelings you’d like in your life. That’s what I do when I know I want a change but I’m not sure what I want. And to quote Anne, “Sit quietly (if that is even possible on such a busy day) and take a few moments to focus on your heart and love. What do you love to do? Where would you love to live? Love to have? Love to be?”
Even though we still have more than a month of summer left and I’m hoping for that Indian Summer, I’m cleaning up the clutter in my mind and getting clear about what I want next. Once the season of summer shifts into autumn and then winter, I’ll have pre-paved my path with great intentions and good feelings. Now, that’s not bittersweet at all, is it?
