Hi, sorry I've missed you. I've stepped off the planet for a little bit, but if you'd like to leave a message...

It's that time again. I'm headed to another 10 day meditation course, or "silent camp" as my friends call it. It's a chance for me to reboot myself and start anew when I get back in August. I will get back just in time to head back to school, where I will begin my new job teaching Kindergarten (remember my amazing new job and classroom?!), which in itself is a rebooting of my career. I feel like many things are turning over in these last 6 months of my 20's and it's very exciting. I watched my husband play all weekend with my baby niece Lilly, and can't help but look forward to starting my own family soon. So, I feel like this meditation course is the start of many new beginnings. And I'm pretty psyched about it.

One of the benefits of practicing meditation is learning to live in this moment, to observe all the good (and bad) that is now. And so before I get too wrapped up in the things to come, I have to remind myself to appreciate my life as it is today. Writer Terri Trespicio, contributor to this month's body + soul magazine had this to say about this July day:

"There's something slippery about summer. And that's the beauty of it: a season so moody and brilliant, so frivolously sensual and bold that it eludes your every effort to contain it. Instead, it wraps you in abundance, in swaths of sunlight and long, lazy hours- none of which is really ever yours to keep. Therein lies the lesson: While fall inspires nostalgia and winter a longing for warmth, summer has an endless amount to give, if only we can stand still and receive it. This season, resist the urge to control every last vestige of time. Instead, practice letting life spin around you in bright, concentric circles, filling your attention with light."

And so, I wish for you the ability to stand still and receive all that summer (and any other day for that matter) has to offer. Get out of your own way, for even just a few minutes, and observe all the unnoticed amazing moments that slip in and out of your everyday. I will be trying as much when I step off the planet for a bit of perspective and restoration.

See you in a couple of weeks!