Standing Still

The energy of summer enlivens us, the world around us seems to move at high speeds and yet, sometimes we are called to stand still...and to make quiet discoveries

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As I write this on the eve of the Summer Solstice, I am in disbelief that July is just around the corner. Life is speeding by me filling me with a certain amount of unease — I need to get this done, I want to go there, I must experience, taste, try this... But then I glance outside my sweet little cottage window on this VERY hot, sticky day and my nervous system is soothed, quieted, calmed by a blanket of stillness. Summer. My day off.

These are her gifts.

She gently buzzes in the air. Her sunshine makes us reach for her, crave more of her embrace. Enfold me, heal me, help me. Her light reminds us that we are renewed. Sunlight, summer light. We are lighter on our feet, less encumbered by layers of winter, lighter in spirit — playful, curious, childlike.

In this quiet I hear the words of my mother spoken to me as a child whenever I was feeling under the weather, “Go outside, sit in the sun, allow her to warm your chest.” Nancy’s medicine. She was right. She understood the lifeforce of Mother Nature and her healing abilities — even in the dead of bitter cold winter. I smile and feel connected to her as I meander outside to the charming little garden I created.

It brings me such joy.

My abundant flower boxes, bursting with color and growth stretch to the sun like my cats awakening from a delicious slumber. These plantings beautify my cottage entrance and my spirit every time I catch a glimpse of them. My heart smiles as I indulge in these small pleasures.

The summer solstice symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness — an abundance of sunlight, the longest day of the year, the precipice of summer, the awakening of our souls.

I inhale deeply and consider what I want to do with this gift of life-giving energy, what is it that I desire to heal within? Where is this ball of energy needed most?

I sigh.

I’ve been grounded, literally. Last month I wrote you all about walking differently and my gorgeous nighttime strolls illuminated by stars and fireflies — and a sense of adventure. This month my body has called for rest and to heal some inflammation in my foot.

I’m cranky.

Though I love my rest, I miss my walks. I try to surrender and honor the call of my body and bless the feet that I stand upon each and every day, long hours in the kitchen or zooming back and forth through the restaurant.

I wonder why I’ve been called to stand still. Life around me sure isn’t doing the same — it’s moving at lightspeed. Half the year is over and my girls (who were 9 years old when I purchased the Garden Café) are eighteen!

One is graduating high school next week and the other has just moved into her own apartment...where did my sweet little girls go? Life is shifting beneath my feet, and I am left to reconcile who I am in this new incarnation.

I like some of what I see, feel uncomfortable with other aspects of it. On the day of most light, the Solstice reminds me to reflect. As usual, I am called to be present. Yes, the world feels like it’s spinning at high speeds around me, but I will only be able to savor its gifts if I stand still.

We can only savor what we take the time to taste. Maybe we can do less and have more.

I want to celebrate these landmarks with True and Mayra. I want to relish these shifts, changes and new beginnings in all the feels. And I ask for the grace and wisdom to do so.

My prayers have been filled with requests to be more in my body and in this moment right here, right now. Each experience — be it stirring a pot on the stove, or engaged in a conversation with another, or standing in stillness — may it be fully explored and acknowledged as the glorious gift that it is.

It is my prayer for each of us. So much peace is found in stillness. So many answers to all that ails us is soothed there. It is my prayer for the world right now.

Let there be light within you. May it shine where it is needed most, where healing is being beckoned. May we hold hands in this journey.

For now, I’ll keep daydreaming, praying, exploring, questioning...care to join me?

Seize your stillness. 

Solstice blessings you beautiful souls! 

—Lea Haas, Owner, The Garden Cafe Woodstock

“We welcome summer and the glorious blessing of light. We are rich with light; we are loved by the sun. Let us empty our hearts into the brilliance. Let us pour our shadows into the glorious, forgiving light.”

 ~ Prayer by Michael Leunig