Luminous Reader:

Welcome to Summer!  This issue is all about freedom.  I am still taking players for my Inner Freedom coaching and there are some (very rare) open spots in my women’s yoga class for July.  Scroll past the message for more details!

Reclaiming Your Freedom

“Olly, olly in free…. Jenny has to go-oh….” my voice sang out into the growing darkness.

The neighborhood kids came out of hiding and we gathered around the pile of tin cans. 

“See you tomorrow,” Jenny waved and dashed off in the direction of home. 

“I’d better go, too,” said Michael.

“Me too,” Janet piped in.

Someone picked up the tin cans and we all agreed to meet back at the same spot tomorrow after supper.   Reluctantly, we dispersed into the dusk, some of us on bikes, some on foot but all of us thrilled that the whole summer stretched out in front of us with nothing to do but play.

Pure freedom!

I was a rock star at Kick the Can and growing up in a very small town afforded all of us the freedom to run through the streets, hiding in backyards, behind fences, in the trees – nothing was off limits including parked trucks and Mrs. Greyson’s flower garden!

Summer has always been my favorite season.  As a kid, everyday was a new adventure – running through the tall grass trying to avoid the sting of nettles, sitting outside the candy store, our arms sticky with popsicle juice, making mud pies, swimming in the river, riding bikes (always standing up), running through sprinklers, reading comic books….

Do you remember when you used to spend the whole day in your bathing suit?

Now most of us won’t even put on a bathing suit!

When was the last time you ran anywhere or skipped just for the joy of moving your body?

How come kids are the only ones who get to chase the ice cream truck, spit watermelon seeds and show up to the picnic with freezie juice on their t-shirts and grass stains on their knees?

We’ve traded our flip flops for sensible shoes and our shorts and t-shirts for pantyhose and neck ties – talk about the opposite of freedom!

Let’s go out and play again!

Let’s ditch the screens and the schedules, the spanx and the diets….

Instead, let’s roll in the grass, stare into the sky and have a chocolate dipped ice cream bar rolled in nuts for supper.  Like the RV commercial says…” let’s reclaim our wildhood”  and create a summer filled with play, delight, freedom and joy.

Wait….what’s that? I think I hear an ice cream truck….
 

Love,