The Tao of Summer

In the pursuit of learning one knows more every day; in the pursuit of the way one does less every day. One does less and less until one does nothing at all, and when one does nothing at all there is nothing that is undone. – Tao Te Ching, v. 48

In my house, hardly anything slows down during the summer months. Sure, we’re done with school obligations for a few months, which includes extracurriculars that also come with the school year.

However, there are still plenty of activities that take place now that school is out: private lessons related to several school extracurriculars will be ongoing, for instance. One kid may not be attending Girl Scout meetings this season, but she’s going to several Girl Scout camps instead. Our oldest will start marching band camp in mid-July (remember when kids actually could relax all summer long? Get off my lawn).

Of course, work doesn’t stop for my wife and I, either. And the UCC’s General Synod is this summer, which has come with a lot of planning and will come with a lot of responsibility during the event itself.

So when many people comfort themselves the rest of the year by telling themselves “at least things will calm down during the summer:” reader, things will not, in fact, calm down.

Due to this and a few other factors, it’s been a while since I’ve viewed summer as the relaxing season many others do. The exception to this is our annual beach trip, which to me exists outside of reality.

This summer, I’m trying to take intentional steps to address that. I want to reclaim summer as a time of rest, peace, and in the spirit of my word for the year, healing.

I even made myself a list of ways I hope to do this.

Note that none of these are ground-breaking. They’re all things that I tend to do anyway this time of year. My issue is that I don’t do any of them as often as I’d like. Rather than defaulting to crashing on my couch in the air conditioning after a day of sitting at my work computer or running the kids around, reclaiming activities that I’ve enjoyed but neglected will help me take advantage of all the gifts that summer has to offer.

The more I devote to these things, the more I can regain summer’s invitation to relax and restore. It will help me find a proper balance between the ongoing busyness of these days with the many opportunities to sit and rest. As the Tao Te Ching says, the less you do, the more likely you are to be on the right path.

I can report that I’m off to a good start, and I can sense positive changes already happening in my spirit. I look forward to continuing to doing less and less in order to do more.