The importance of summer vacation and renewal
This is a time of completion, and also a time of renewal. It’s a time for closure and a time for new beginnings. It’s a time to stretch for what’s possible while shedding memories of the past. It’s also an opportunity to set up a lifelong practice of reflection and prepare for the next big adventure, you and your young adults’ future life.
What I seem to be learning again and again is that life isn’t just about what HAPPENS, it’s what we LEARN from our experiences. And these experiences are a direct result of how we reflect, examine, and explore what we’ve learned about (and for) ourselves and our young adults.
Graduation is the perfect opportunity to open the door to possibility and invite your Leader Within to accompany you and your young adult on this new journey. Yes, you as the parent AS WELL AS your young adult. It’s never too early nor too late to begin exploring your Leader Within.
What is the Leader Within, and why and how is it important?
The Leader Within is all the parts of you that are accessed at full permission, all the time. In other words, the full breadth of your leadership capacity. This destination is where you fully excel by creating the life you want.
Why is this important? Because life’s possibilities are endless, even though these possibilities are literally grounded by who you are, your accomplishments, your internal and external purpose, and the way you choose to live all these elements.
And how is it important? Great question…
This Summer, I suggest you spend time each morning by yourself, and with yourself, in nature. No distractions, no technology (mobile phone), no companions, just you and yourself for 5-10 minutes each morning. Perhaps bring a notebook and pen to write down your thoughts, perhaps not. Perhaps simply focus on nature in its rawest form, without judgment nor naming conventions, noticing what comes to mind when you focus only on a cloud, a blade of grass, a bird, or a tree. If you notice your mind becoming specific, making a list of what you see, or anxieties about the future (e.g. college, empty nest, etc.), just return your thoughts to nature, which much like you is both simple and complex all at the same time.
So, that’s it? Hopefully, with time and patience, you will begin to feel a sense of ease, of connection, of peace. This is the access point to your Leader Within.
