Late Summer
Late Summer
I have a snapshot in my head of a perfect late August evening. We were celebrating Brian’s parents 40th wedding anniversary and had just eaten a delicious meal – the carrots, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, raspberries all picked and dug and pulled from the garden that day. The early evening light was a warm golden pink, so different from the bright days of high summer. There was an ease, a slowness, a lingering to it, and to us. My son sat on the back wall and watch the combine harvester cutting the hay as we wandered around the garden, the air still warm, picking plums and gooseberries off the trees to snack on. The earth felt bountiful, generous, kind. And we felt sated, safe and looked after. There was a calmness and peace to that evening I remember so clearly.
For the ancient Chinese, this period of Late Summer was seen as a season unto itself, with its own powers and unique characteristics. It was seen as both a time of decrease, of slowing down after the intense activity and light of high summer and as time to reap the rewards of this period of growth. A time to collect, to gather, harvest and prepare for the winter ahead.
Here at home we are cutting wood for the winter fires, picking blackberries, pulling carrots, eating apples from the trees and working out how to preserve as many of them as possible. I spent a warm Sunday morning clearing the vegetable and flower beds of plants past their prime, clipping back the raspberry canes, collecting the French beans. We also collected the seeds our nasturtium plants had dropped and laid them out to dry so that we can plant them again next year. I have put on a pair of socks for the first time in months. We are getting school books, bags and coats ready for the return to school and to routine after the freedom and structure-free months of the summer holidays.
The Chinese regarded the Earth element as a nurturing, grounding, secure force. One that brought with it a sense of feeling ‘at home’ anywhere. If our larders are full from the harvest – both literally and metaphorically – we feel safe and secure. If we have received the love and compassion we needed as a child we have a strong and firm base form which to reach out in to the world.
The emotion related to the Earth element is sympathy. In balance this brings compassion and empathy to our interactions and relationships. Out of balance however, this sympathy can become something other; either a constant insatiable need for attention and validation, or a refusal to be helped and supported in any way. Out of balance, we may also not be able to ‘digest’ or process our thoughts properly and may find ourselves churning and obsessing about matters or to be simply unable to stop thinking about or coming to a conclusion about something.
This is one of my favourite times of the year – take a look at my tips and recipes for how to embrace this wonderful season to the full.
Tips
GET MUNCHING
Go to a local farmers market and take a look at what is on sale. Take some time to enjoy the abundance of fruit and vegetables on offer. Enjoy the different smells and tastes and textures – juicy tomatoes, crisp lettuce, crunchy carrots, earthy beetroot. If budget allows, bring something home to bake or cook. Or go for a walk in the countryside and see if you can find some blackberries to take home. Enjoy the picking as much as the eating! Here is a handy website to help you work out what to keep an eye out for.
GET YOUR TOES OUT
We spend a great deal of our lives with our feet wrapped up in shoes and socks. A great way to ground yourself and connect with the earth beneath you is to whip off those socks and go for a stroll barefoot. I’m not talking a hike here, just a simple quiet stroll around your garden or in the park. Try and be aware of how you are walking, try and ground yourself as you move, enjoy the feeling of the soft sand or the cool grass or whatever surface you are walking on. Here are some interesting studies about the benefits of walking barefoot.
WORK WITH YOUR STOMACH
The Chinese gave each major organ in the body a peak functioning time in the day. For the Stomach this is between 7 & 9am and so this is a great time to eat a hearty breakfast and fuel up for the day. Think of warm, nutritious foods (versus raw, cold foods) that will get you through until lunch. Poached egg on wholegrain toast, porridge with cinnamon and topped with banana, warm berries, poached pear.
The Spleen’s peak time follows between 9 & 11am, which are good times to avail of the Spleen’s ability to process and understand and get things moving. A good time to get some work done!
NOURISH
Is there a way that you can care for someone, offer them some nourishment? A hot meal dropped to their door, an unexpected phonecall, a kind word? Similarly, is there a small way you can find to offer yourself some nourishment? A slow walk on your lunch break, a foot rub with something nice before bed, a break from social media for a few days….?
WHAT CAN YOU LET GO OF?
In preparation for Autumn, which is all about letting go of everything that is not needed, take a little time to consider what you can let go of in your life, what is overgrown, weedy, unneeded. What is distracting you, draining your energy, getting in the way? What can you decrease or turn the volume down on in your life? Letting go of these things, be it old clothes, old thoughts or an addiction to your mobile phone can be extremely liberating.