Summer is more than half over. But don’t panic, and don’t rush to cram in as much as you can. In fact, do the opposite: Slow down and savor the time you have left in this season. Get outside. Get together with friends and family. Enjoy these final weeks of summer as fully as you’re able. And as you’re enjoying them, take the time to really savor each of the unique joys your experiences bring.
Because I’ve been doing exactly that, I’m letting other folks do most of the work this week. First, I’m offering up this beautiful poem called “Slow Dance” by David L. Weatherford:
“Slow Dance” by David L. Weatherford
Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
or listened to rain slapping the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight,
or gazed at the sun fading into the night?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.
Do you run through each day on the fly,
when you ask “How are you?”, do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.
Ever told your child, we’ll do it tomorrow,
and in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a friendship die,
’cause you never had time to call and say hi?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere,
you miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
it’s like an unopened gift thrown away.
Life isn’t a race, so take it slower,
hear the music before your song is over.
Savoring, Gratitude, and Joy
And second, here is Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast, speaking with Krista Tippet about the intersection of savoring, gratitude, and joy in a lovely episode of the podcast On Being:
“Well, for me, this idea of listening and really looking and beholding — that comes in when people ask, ‘Well, how shall we practice this gratefulness?’ And there is a very simple kind of methodology to it: Stop, look, go. Most of us — caught up in schedules and deadlines and rushing around, and so the first thing is that we have to stop, because otherwise we are not really coming into this present moment at all, and we can’t even appreciate the opportunity that is given to us, because we rush by, and it rushes by. So stopping is the first thing.
But that doesn’t have to be long. When you are in practice, a split second is enough — ‘stop.’ And then you look: What is, now, the opportunity of this given moment, only this moment, and the unique opportunity this moment gives? And that is where this beholding comes in. And if we really see what the opportunity is, we must, of course, not stop there, but we must do something with it: Go. Avail yourself of that opportunity. And if you do that, if you try practicing that at this moment, tonight, we will already be happier people, because it has an immediate feedback of joy.”
In other words, slow down, notice what good things there are to notice in the here and now, and let yourself appreciate them. Savoring, gratitude, and joy are inextricably linked.
Savoring can inspire gratitude, and savoring can produce joy. Feeling joy can make you grateful, and you can savor the feeling of joy. The practice of gratitude journaling can bring forth joyful memories of things worth savoring all over again, and you can even savor the feeling of gratitude.
Lastly, here are two quotes from Ingrid Fetell Lee’s excellent TED Talk about joy:
“We all start out joyful, but as we get older, being colorful or exuberant opens us up to judgment. Adults who exhibit genuine joy are often dismissed as childish or too feminine or unserious or self-indulgent, and so we hold ourselves back from joy.”
“Each moment of joy is small, but over time, they add up to more than the sum of their parts. And so maybe instead of chasing after happiness, what we should be doing is embracing joy and finding ways to put ourselves in the path of it more often. Deep within us, we all have this impulse to seek out joy in our surroundings.”
To make the most of your final weeks of summer, you don’t need to go fast and cram in as much activity as possible. You need to slow down and truly enjoy the moments you find in the activities and relaxations you choose. Like the juicy peaches that will soon be at their peak, summer is meant to be savored.
And when the season does turn to autumn, you can savor that too.
