The importance of small steps

Happy Summer Solstice! 🌞

Happy summer solstice, friends! Today is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. As a kid, I was confused as to how a day that still had 24 hours in it could be “longer” — in reality, it’s the day with the longest amount of sunlight. The brightest, most energetic day of the year.

Photo by Lotte de Jong on Unsplash

The equinox occurs because of the tilt of the Earth; in our planet’s 365 day (ish) complete trip around the sun, this is the day where the Northern Hemisphere achieves its maximum tilt toward the sun. It’s a culmination and celebration of how far we have come.

In late December, we reached the shortest day of the year (the winter solstice); the one with the least amount of sunlight. Following the winter solstice, each day adds a few minutes of additional sunlight. Bit by tiny bit, the world builds upon this darkest day until it culminates into the brightest day of the year.

Today is the height of what we’ve been working toward since the winter solstice last December. The solstice is our reminder that small steps can add up to something big.

On the summer solstice, we reach a crescendo and climax. It’s the brightest and most energetic day of the year, but that also means the energy slowly begins to fade following it. How do we want to take advantage of that energy? What do we hope to capture?

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Some themes for the summer ahead:

• Commitment — dedicating yourself to the ideas you’ve been experimenting with.

• Action — doing the actual creation of your work (as opposed to brainstorming, tinkering, or reflecting).

• Interaction — being social, speaking about your work and ideas. Shouting from the rooftops what you’re excited and passionate about.

A common overarching theme of these ideas is that of confidence. In order to take action on your ideas, they have to be ones you have conviction around, and you feel the most inspired by. What are those ideas for you? What’s burning a fire within you?

Within summer, we aim to honor these larger seasonal themes, while also observing the zodiac cycles within the three-month season. Just like how we observe rises and falls of energy within our weeks and days, we can see this rise and fall within the season at large:

• ♋ Cancer (June 20-July 22) is about jumping into the season feet first.

• ♌ Leo (July 22-August 22) is for firing up your action-taking.

• ♍ Virgo (August 22-Sept. 22) is about rooting your actions in realism.

To consider your intentions and goals for the summer ahead, download my (free!) Summer Intentions guide. Part educational resource, part workbook, and part accountability journal to help you create the summer you desire.

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On this longest day of the year, I’ll leave you with my favorite words about the sun — a poem by Mary Oliver:

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful

than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone–
and how it slides again

out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance–
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love–
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure

that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you

as you stand there,
empty-handed–
or have you too
turned from this world–

or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?

— The Sun, Mary Oliver