Here we are in late summer, a season unto itself according to Chinese medicine.  We are having a most welcome reprieve from the heat and humidity that felt so suffocating.

I notice that while the leaves have not started turning, some of them have started falling down when a gust of wind blows.  The peaches are hanging heavy on the trees, and the gardens are in their glory.

With all this lush bounty, there is a paradoxical feeling that it is going to come to a rapid end.  The days are getting shorter, and impending change is in the air.

For me this sense has probably been heightened by my return from a short vacation to Chicago to visit family.  Stepping (or more accurately, flying) out of the routines of my usual life and then returning to it makes this seasonal shift more apparent to me.  To literally “vacate” one’s life and then return to it makes one more aware of it.

The harvest of the summer is in full bore right now.  Which makes me think about the harvest of my own efforts over the past months.  I have heard other people comment about what they had hoped to accomplish over the summer, so apparently I’m not alone.

I invite you to take stock with me.  We are past the mid-point of the year, and you may look at where you are in terms of the hopes and goals that you set back in January.  Where ever that is, you can take advantage of the natural season and make today count.

Avoid the perfectionistic tendency to criticize, and instead focus on the possibilities of small and meaningful steps that you can take today.  You are not too late for harvest; in fact you’re just in time.

Photo by ARizzo 2010, all rights reserved