How do you preserve summer’s bounty? In jars, art, dance, or other forms? And when are you most likely to seek its nourishment in the dark months?

Neither of us had “time” to get together last night, yet this is the trick of summer. When the sun goes down, it’s gone. If we do not harvest, we do not receive. Out of our imaginations, inspired by the gifts of Mother Earth, Nancy and I made time. We gathered abundance, we found each other, we found ourselves.

Using practices from the Core Alignment with Joy series, Lavinia primes herself for discovery, connection, and more as she prepares to meet a new family. After months in the Joy Collective weekly, Lavinia reports finding freedom and flow in her work and greater connection and meaning in her life.

Such is the natural rhythm of things — some collect the windfall while others move on for a meal. We all have our seasons.

Out of the chaos, clarity emerges. Persistence is fantastic — and perhaps it could be easier. I could have let some things go, closed a few windows.

Taking time to imagine the best case scenario and joyfully FEELING through my plan for the day pays off twice.

Slowly, I develop an ear for my animal family. I begin to hear, see, and sense how I can support their well being. The more I place my attention on them, the more I recognize their kinship to me.

After reawakening my passion with a foray into making fresh fruit shrubs, I return to the office for a productive evening. We do our best work when we feel excited and alive. Period.

Is there someone dear to you who is growing and changing in ways that provide an opportunity for welcome shift in your relationship?

Looking to our natural world for cues, we can deepen our practice of joy. By embracing that which at first appears to be disease, we deepen our awareness of and focus on that which is whole and thriving within us and in the world around us.

I refocused my breath and attention to feeling the skins of these beautiful fruits and roots in my hands, over and over, as I washed, chopped, and arranged.

In mid-life, play seems barely an option in our busy schedules. And yet, play keeps us limber, loving, and free.

Sun-burnt, tired, and happy, I reflect on the price that fear exacts whether or not danger is actually present.

How I received sundry gifts by priming myself for awe and wonder, focusing on needs met, and harvesting positive momentum.

Lugging chunks of concrete bigger than my head and ragged 2 X4’s to the curb, I had a felt sense of flow. How can we be open to receiving the items that are best suited to our present-future if our storage space is full of the past?

Between summer adventures, I fall in love with my home and garden. It’s a place of relaxation, restoration, and at times hard work. I clean with deep appreciation. I make time to touch, look carefully at, and smell objects around me. Most of all, I open my heart to enjoy it all.

Catnappers and bad gas meet personal empowerment.

In the midst of canning elderberry juice, I pause to explore the difference in how I feel when I value getting stuff done vs. valuing being in the flow.

Making more space for joy allows less for worry!