I really like looking at this idea of the wheel of the year, and the different seasons, and the feeling that each of the different seasons has throughout the year.
And right now this is the high summer feeling.
This is the heatwave feeling.
There’s been a heatwave here for the past several days.
And it seems like this weather has taken over the whole feeling of this time.
And the heatwave, I find, you know, of course, most of us, we’re inside with some air conditioning.
I just have very basic air conditioning here with a portable air conditioner that is not ideal.
But you know, we spend a lot of time inside air conditioning, anyway.
So some people notice it more than others.
But having this level of heat, it does something to me that’s almost like it puts part of my brain to sleep.
Like it slows everything down that I’m doing.
It makes me feel like I just want to lie down in the shade under a tree, you know, and just nap.
And it’s almost like that, you know, if we look at the the wheel of the year, and looking at the year like it’s a day, then midsummer, the solstice, that’s noon.
So we’re just in the early afternoon.
Summer is like the early afternoon of the year.
And so this feeling is like you have lunch and then you take a nap.
This is the siesta time.
Siesta comes from the word for six, the sixth hour of the day, meaning noon, and this is your early afternoon, your after-lunch nap.
And that’s kind of what I feel like doing these days.
Just I can feel the slowness in my body, the slowness in my mind, my wit is partially melted, and I don’t even know if I am making sense entirely.
I have to question the words that are coming out of my mouth, since I don’t seem to be entirely in full faculties.
And this is- in this heat, it just makes me want to do very little.
So it is a strange time and a paradox, in a way, because this is the middle of the daytime of the year.
This is the daytime.
This is the summer, the time of all this activity, all these things going on.
Life is in full force.
And everything, you know, it’s in bloom, it’s green, it’s warm, and everything’s happening.
And yet, when it reaches beyond that certain point to heatwave territory, then it is the time to take a break.
So when the heatwave first hit, I tried to fight against it, and I didn’t want to let the weather determine what I’m gonna do, and you know, I’m not going to use weather as an excuse.
But then after a few days, I decided to let weather be an excuse, and let the heatwave- simply to let my state of mind simply reflect the weather and be OK with that, and simply accept that I am going to be very slow and arguably very lazy during this time.
And I found something: there’s a certain comfort in being able to accept that.
Instead of constantly fighting against my own laziness, to simply allow this to be a time of vacation, a mental and physical vacation, where it’s OK to just take a break.
And this heat wave phase seems to be the ideal time to just take a break.
So that’s what I’m doing now, and then when the heat wave passes and we just get to regular summer, then we can get to all the work, regular summer.
But these heatwave times: it just causes- it’s like a nap during the year.
And maybe it’s good to do this every year.
It’s good to have a break whenever- it’s good to have a break at a regular interval.
Instead of trying to force our way to work like an industrial machine, it can be very effective to simply let ourselves take a break.
Say “I’m gonna stop forcing myself to be productive.
I’m simply going to reflect the current moment, the current weather, and allow myself to do very little.” So even this video itself: I wonder whether I’ve said anything useful, because I’m partially on vacation, but I would be curious to hear how you feel about this whole idea of the heatwave and the idea of simply letting the weather call for a break.
#summersiesta #heatwave #wheeloftheyear