The Dog Days of Summer

Here is a short video of one of my doodles fishing in the pond by my front door.  It makes him SO HAPPY to watch the fish, swim and catch the fish!  He doesn’t get much chance to do more than dangle his feet over the edge now that I have some Koi in there, but he hasn’t given up on his passion.

I hope you are enjoying your summer days and living in passion and joy.

A recent discussion among friends touched on the topic of bucket lists. Most people think of bucket lists as those things you want to do (strive to do) before you die. However, I think it could also be a ‘wish list’, simply things you have identified as joys to experience.  It occurred to me that imprinting individual moments is like living your bucket list every day.

WHAT IS ON YOUR BUCKET (or WISH) LIST? 

Can individual experiences be life highlights that get imprinted in your memory and heart? What does it take to elevate an experience to one that induces joy or bliss?

Bring to mind an experience that brought you great joy.  Let the memory of it fill your entire body and being. (Focus on your breath – in and out – and invite it back completely.) Be fully present with the experience – notice the colors, sounds and feelings associated with it.  How clear is your memory and can you increase it? Is there one quality that stands out to you as being extra potent – like feeling?

For me some of these peak experiences are spent in nature where it is easy to take in the sights, sounds, smells, colors and feelings of being fully present. The memories of experiences that encompass all parts of you are the easiest to recall. As we aim to fill our life with peak experiences, we must be fully present in the moment. So when you have brought back all the details of your experience – commit it intentionally to full memory! Lock it in with joy to your ‘cellular memory’ with joy and hold it in your heart.

We are in the last weeks of summer. Make sure to lock in some peak experiences that you can revisit during the cold weeks of winter, or any time at all!

May the force of summer be with you!

Janna