We can rest and recreate during the summer months, but how about going a step further? How do we recharge ourselves for the months to come? How can we use the natural gifts of summer to build up our resources?
1. Move past clutter to clarity.
It’s so easy for summer to become the dumping ground for all the chores and projects that have been piling up for months. Sometimes I feel as if the summer months are the valley, and all the spillover of the year just rolls down and settles there. It doesn’t really recharge my energy or creativity or productivity if I wear myself out by wrestling an endless list of tasks. It doesn’t restore me to use up my time with busyness.
This is the perfect time of year to ask, What is most important for my time and energy this summer? Write it down. Commit to the few relationships and activities that matter most. Make them clear to yourself and clear to the people around you.
2. Provide yourself with opportunities to be inspired and awe-struck.
The human creature is built for wonder and for dreaming. If we don’t do enough of either, we suffer greatly. What inspires you? What makes you belly-laugh? What gives you all sorts of ideas that energize you? What knocks you off your feet or takes your breath away? What makes your soul burn with a holy fire that desires all the best blessings in the universe? I often tell writers that they should spend regular time doing whatever fills them with wonder—this keeps the well of creativity full and ready to be accessed. If you want to recharge during these summer months, make room for whatever exercises your wonder and awe.
3. Choose company that nurtures you.
Some people simply move me to dream more, to think better of myself, and to practice gratitude with more ease. These are the people I need to spend time with, because they fill my interior world with love and acceptance and hope and imagining.
We can’t always choose who populates our days—there are our colleagues in the workplace, people who are part of our ministry, family members who require our time and attention, and neighbors who interface with us for all sorts of reasons. We can attend to these relationships with more grace and generosity if we are also spending time with people who build us up, feed us emotionally and spiritually, and remind us of what we value most.
- How do you recharge?
- What practices have helped you fill your well of love and creativity?
![Thanksgiving dinner, 1942, Marjory Collins [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Thanksgiving-dinner-1068x760-1-218x150.jpg "The Relationships That Make Holidays So Difficult")
Thank you Vinita. How does one get in touch with you for possible spiritual direction?
Thank you so much for the inspiration!
I have been seeking a way to take in the beautiful world; the joy of music etc. I also have been praying for help to seek the position of gratitude and thanking God. It is working, but it is not my doing but God’s.
Thank you Vinita. I have spent years using the summer months to complete various chores and suddenly the summer has passed and we are back to work. The brain hadn’t time to shed the non-essentials, because it was all about ‘ getting things done.’
Your suggestions are invaluable regarding moving past the clutter: clutter will always be there. Of course friendships or family members may not and spending quality time with them should take priority.
Being in the company of people who elevate our thoughts and inspire creativity is such a wonderful way to utilise some of that precious summertime. It also reminds us of finding God in those around us and in those who inspire us.
I have to remind myself that I will eventually leave this earth with things left undone, so is it all that important to waste our years struggling with the ‘ clutter.’ “ We need to go for wonder”.
Thanks Vinita. “Go for Wonder” and “Three Ways to Recharge in the Summertime” – are useful tips to deepen one’s repertoire for seeking and finding God in all places, events, and happenings.