Summer plans and long days have arrived. 

When it becomes more reasonable to watch the ladybugs meander across the blades of grass than to stay with the previous goals that seemed important during the long winter months. 

It’s as if I can push a button and I enter that mode to get through the day then I find flow.

The goals to achieve something on paper or lists that can be checked instead of watching a cloud go by. 

Or snip at rose bushes as more buds find their full bloom while watching brilliant paprika red pop out along a rock path. 

Then someone asks: So, how’d it go with your professional development goals? And you roll back into a mode of being that must somehow coexist with that outside world of growth. 

Can both be in place together? 

There is a space of work and of being in summer mode while sitting next to a loveliness of ladybugs for me. 

It involves being able to reflect on the moments while I’m in them. 

Letting memories come and sit with me, especially when summer plans are in the mix. 

Good, difficult, grief, joy filled memories. 

Being in the moment, remembering that summer is the time of year that brings me things that go together. 

Those things that go together for me are like a pool and splashing.

Like a horse and one more trail ride.

Like watching the clouds go by high overhead and then going inside to clean with the favorite vacuum.

I anticipate every summer beginning with a splash coming again, but how can it ever be the same.

My grief calendar works backwards as I watch the clouds go by and walk a new trail.

Summer and anticipatory grief.

They walk side by side now with me.

Let’s walk together this summer.

So, how’d it go?

Have you found that being in the moment, reflecting on what summer mode is for you, is a time for you to ask that same question? 

So, how’d it go? 

A question to think about as we are with people and ourselves each day. 

Watching the sun roll across the sky or a clock tick off the hours as another project is completed. 

When a time in our life seems to be never ending or suddenly at the end when we least expect it. 

This is when others may pop up with deep looks and ask more probing questions. A time when we may desire complete stillness or nearness as new mode comes upon us. 

It could also be the time to wait. Wonder and lean in for more while listening to what may be coming. 

This is when I love to pause and wait again. 

There are times when I want to keep talking and give more reasons for the ‘work’ that happens when all that is needed is for me to stay in summer mode.

It’s as easy as pushing the button to enter into the needed mode.

Wait. Listen. Pause. 

Watch the loveliness. 

Each of these times has come to me over many years. 

One time included watching a sunrise as I gathered with one other person as the true love of our life was escorted from our presence for a time. 

The air grew thinner in that moment and all we could do was stand, listen to the morning chirps of beloved birds and wait. 

There was no talk about how still the world was as it had completely changed in such a way, at such a time. 

Anticipatory grief had become complicated grief in a blink of an eye.

And then the question was asked: How’d it go? 

The loveliness that came with a look was astounding. Truly, some questions can come with grace and compassion. 

It was then that reflecting brought it together, again, for me. 

‘Summer will be on its way soon’ I thought at the time.

Splashes of water would somehow return with the summer mode of wonder along with watching clouds go by overhead. 

There would also be other modes to find, create and flow in and out of for the coming years. 

Yes, even modes to complete the goals with professional development when needed.

Summer mode is here now and continues to be one that gives me the pause needed to walk through my calendar of life and grief. 

Joy and loveliness. 

To watch for the pop of color and the blades of grass with more surprises. 

That is what I now know. 

Summer mode and goals as the question is asked: So, how’d it go?

Summer mode and goals can be together as the question is asked: So, how’d it go? 

The time to reflect on what this can be for you is now, or in ten minutes or when you are creating a splash with those you hold near. 

Find what is part of your loveliness today.

Summer is in full swing. The seasons have made their transition, and it is time to look around you. 

I’ve done this and I’m bound and determined to create beauty for the soul in spaces around me. 

It can be done in many ways this time of year where I am. 

Did you take a long gander? What do you see?

Here is where we can start.

Beauty could be a new vase you put on a table, or a bright new padded bench cover you place on a patio chair outside the door. 

There are also times when you create beauty by planting it for others to see as they pass by. 

Beauty for the soul can be like this bush of white roses.

That sort of beauty for the soul can be like this bush of white roses with many perspectives to be seen. 

From this angle there are layers of petals in full bloom and others waiting to come out of a bud soon. 

The jagged edge of a leaf balances the scene and what can be seen in the current view. 

Is there more to know here? It’s time for me to stay in curiosity mode as the thoughts meander along. 

Yes. There can be beauty if it is desired. 

It also brings the saying from Confucius to me: 

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

Let’s see what else comes when beauty is thought about like this in a few areas. 

We can do this by going back to the white rose.

We can do this by going back to the white rose. Alongside the jagged leaf are thorns and older branches. 

When I saw these as the rose was growing, I thought to avoid each piece until I took a closer look. 

Did you know that the older branches have served the rose to help it grow to what it has become now? 

The thorns were what kept some of the critters away from the tender bud and petals. 

Each one that I had not understood before were each able to now bring beauty to my soul as I saw them in a new light. 

Go to what you had in mind earlier. 

Do others think of it as something beautiful? This could be the vase, the patio cushion or something that you’ve planted in your space. 

Think about beauty in a new way.

Now think about beauty in a new way. 

Can beauty come in the people around us? 

What if that is another way to think about beauty that others may not see. 

I’ve met many people who bring with them the beauty of life. 

It’s as if their soul comes ready for adding to life.

When I was younger, I knew someone who was kind, generous, calm and joyful. They were open to learning about everything that life brought to them and always had a smile to greet you with. 

They were beautiful and I remember watching them from across the room as they touched my heart with their beautiful goodness. 

This person did add to life with their beauty.

It turns out they were a friend that helped me reach for the sky from that day forward. As if their influence was a way for me to pull back into my memories and also move along to who I could become. 

It was years later, when I saw them again at their end of life. They had come to a joyful peace with how life had brought them full moments with their family and friends. 

How did this friend of mine know how to bring beauty for the soul?

How had this friend of mine know how to bring beauty for the soul to me for decades? 

Did they strive for, or had it grown in them as easily as a petal opens from a bud into a full bloom. 

My heart seems to tell me that they were beautiful in their soul throughout their life. 

It may not have been understood and yet it is one way I look to go with for my life now along with the rose and the vase. 

Perhaps the thing that I’ve learned the most about beauty for the soul is that it can come with anything you choose. 

That is what I learned with this white rose and my friend. 

Take the piece that you need from the beauty around you. It’s there for your soul.