Letting Go

My Spiritual Practice for this Summer and Summer Soul Session dates

Every summer, as I anticipate the July days off, I make the mistake of optimistically imagining the days will somehow hold more hours. I dream of outdoor adventures, playdates, catching up with sorting in the house, getting time to myself. The desire to ‘make the most of the summer months’ becomes a pressure driving me to fill our days with plans, when what we all need is room to breathe.

Much of life continues for me: I’ll still be at work a few days a week, the home care tasks move up a notch with everyone home all day, parenting in the holidays requires a different kind of energy and each day remains at 24 hours. I’m winding down my Spiritual Accompaniment work for July though. It feels like a relief to lay down one part of the juggle, but I’m already looking forward to August when I will restart (hopefully recharged) and get to share this time and space again. Both things are true: spiritual accompaniment is one of my great joys, and I am also ready for a little break.

I’ve been wondering about what I would like my Spiritual Practice to be this summer, and what I might even want to invite you into.

For me, I’m looking to lay things down rather than pick them up in these months.

When I was marathon training, the routine that Paul created for me had a ‘deload week’ every fourth week or so. In these weeks I would still run the same number of times, but I wasn’t pushing things on further. My Saturday long run didn’t have to increase in mileage, the midweek runs were shortened by a few kms. I was surprised by the difference it made mentally, to not be pushing myself onwards to the next distance. It felt like a break for my brain as well as my body.

Zooming out a bit we have been in a drawn out discernment about moving house (or not!). I have recently noticed that my brain is not making reasoned sense of this discussion anymore. After viewing one (perfectly adequate) house Paul asked me what I thought, and I could not see past my immediate exhaustion at that moment. ‘I think I’m allergic to house hunting’.

As I spoke about this recently in counselling, it was suggested to me that perhaps this whole decision has become so distressing to me (for whatever reason) that I’ve shut down to it and am now reacting from a freeze/fawn position. My counsellor’s suggestion was that I do a reset, a circuit breaker. To pause looking at houses and talking in circles about our options in the hopes that when I re-engage and pick up this decision again, it will be a new more fruitful conversation. And that sounds good to me.

So this summer I am setting some things down, not forever, just for now. It will be wonderful to get back to Spiritual Accompaniment in August, and I trust I will know when I’m ready to re-engage with the house conversation. Perhaps I’ll play with letting go of other things too: social media, reading books I don’t adore, filling my schedule too full, people pleasing!

I wonder what in your life is asking to be set down just now?

Perhaps not forever, maybe just for a time.

And what could that look like for you?

---

Summer’s Soul Sessions

The Wash House Garden

My Soul Sessions are a time for quiet reflection, playful creativity and warm conversation. We will be back in the Wash House Garden in Parkhead for our Summer Soul Session on Sunday 26th July, 7:30-9:30pm. In July we’ll play with the theme of whimsy and take time to rest in the garden together. We’ve had lovely sunny evening the past two years, but there’s a canopy we sit under, so we’ll be fine in the rain too. Read more about the previous Garden Soul Session here.

Mentored by Nature's Rhythms

My online Summer Soul Session will be on Monday 27th July 8pm-9:30pm, playing with the same themes. Everyone is welcome to these, if you’re a paid subscriber here, the online Soul Sessions are included in your subscription. Folks who’ve been along to both the in-person and the online session have been pleasantly surprised that attending online offers a similar kind of soul space.

If you’d like to book in to either of these please send me a message:

---

Motherhood Retreat Letterbox

School broke up for the Summer Holidays yesterday here in Scotland, and after the summer my eldest will be in his final year of primary school. As I noticed all the feelings present around the kids growing up ( the gratitude, fear, delight, worry) I was reminded how helpful it is to give time to these feelings. My twins’ teacher is heading into the summer holidays ready to have her baby, so I gifted her one of these letterbox retreats. She said she felt her shoulders going down as she read the introductory letter. If you or someone you know would benefit from a pause to notice the landscape of their parenting life, I still have some of these boxes available. Postage may not be as quick due to summer adventures, but I’ll get there in the end.

Transitions: A Motherhood Letterbox Retreat

Summer for the Soul by Kiran Young Wimberly

If you’re looking for an ‘add something in’ kind of spiritual practice to play with over the summer, I see that Kiran Young Wimberly is offering ‘Summer for the Soul’. Kiran is a Minister, Spiritual Director, Musician and Podcast Host, I previously attended and enjoyed a workshop she hosted about ‘Crafting a Resilient Rhythm’. She’ll share weekly podcasts with restorative spiritual practices, and host a co-read of The Book of Alchemy; A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life by Suleika Jaouad (which looks wonderful).

If your soul needs a place to rest, start here

---

As the wise Anne Lamott said in her Ted Talk

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

―Anne Lamott

I hope we can all find some unplug, reset time in the coming months.

With love,

Debbie