My favourite things (July edition)
Things have a way of simmering over the summer. While lots of plans are brewing in the background, things always have a way of being put on a shelf until fall, until school is back in session (not that I’ve been in school for years, nor so I have school aged children). And, as I was reminded of today, summer isn’t just this landscape where nothing happens. Gone are the frozen in time days of childhood.
And if I reflect back on my life, most of my deep healing has been baked into me under the summer sun. Historically summer has always been a time of growth, of flourishing and abundance.
Which begs the question am I living backwards from the season rhythm? Where am I not living what I’m being called into?
I mentioned in my newsletter this month that (if you’re not already subscribed to that juicy insider information, what are you waiting for?) that I’m currently doing a 30 day summer challenge. And one of the things I’m currently being challenged on is this idea of holding charge.
The model is similar to what I teach when I talk about resourcing. So many things in life drain your battery, or require a lot from you. Your resources are what supports you have to fill you back up. Similarly, in this 30 day challenge we’re examining the “leaks” in our bucket that make sustaining that fully resourced state next to impossible, and how we can hold everything we’re pouring into ourselves better.
A large piece of that for me is found in creation, and gathering inspiration from other people and the world around me. In my morning pages, I have a section I write every day that is something that’s been inspiring me lately. A quote, a song, an idea, a person, a concept… I gather inspiration so on the days I feel heavy I can go back and look at what lights me up.
I thought I’d share a little bit of what’s been lighting me up and filling my cup recently. I’d love to hear yours too.
Kimberly Ann Johnson’s newsletters. I don’t know what it is, but her last few have hit me just right. I found recently the immense value in learning from practitioners you don’t always agree with, or who hold stances different to your own, and I can say I’ve found something so nourishing (and surprising) in learning from practitioners of so many different backgrounds and modalities. (Want a list on my current favourites? Let me know and maybe that can be its own blog post).
Afterhours with Amanda podcast. I’m a big podcast person (my husband and I just had an entire discussion this morning over coffee about the “downfall of the podcast” and how everyone feels entitled to start a podcast now days and all these streaming platforms are putting out video podcasts which are really just talk shows) and I recently discovered Amanda Bouldin’s podcast after having loved her tiktoks for a long time. I find her voice very soothing. They are so encouraging and upbeat. I also admire the way she talks about her life and her career and her kids and how she just speaks life over it, which is something I’m aspiring to do more of.
I just finished Yesteryear. I saw mixed reviews on it when it first came out (I’ve literally been on the library wait list for this book since before it was released) but I love the Diabolical Lies podcast so I was so excited to dig into this. If you haven’t read it yet, I would say it lived up to the hype. It was a slower burn kind of book, one where everything only makes sense at the end, which I personally love. And it’s definitely one I’ll be thinking of for a long time. (I am making an effort to read more Canadian authors this year so this was my one and only exception to that rule so far this year.)
My outdoor office. I don’t love the heat (there’s a reason I live so far north in the world) but I’ve been trying to spend more time outside this summer. While I once would have found it hard to imagine getting more than an hour outside on a consistent basis, I’m now spending up to 5 hours a day outside just having moved my office space. The trick is to start early and I rotate. So I’m on our patio, which is shaded from direct sunlight for the morning, and then I’ll transition to our side yard in the afternoon when the sun moves to hit the patio. Also spending so much time outside has served as a reminder to drink more water, I’m getting blonder in the sun and covered with adorable freckles
Writing the Deeper Story summit. I first discovered this summit because one of my old writing teachers is a speaker. I took a course in medical narratives with Emily Rapp back in 2021. Newly transplanted, trying to figure out what my story would look like and how I wanted to exist, that course stood out at this moment in time where I first believed I could be a writer. My first draft is finished and saved to my hard drive currently, and something about this summit and hearing other writers speak and share about memoir offered me a glimmer of inspiration that maybe I should revisit that second draft.
I’d love to hear what’s inspiring you lately. What are you filling your cup with?
