Summer Solstice 2026

Summer starts now ( well, not if you are in Australia)

Tonight I will sleep with the blinds up and rise in the morning as soon as it is light. I think that will be about 4am. I am not that kind of early riser usually, but there are times when it feels right, perhaps I mean holy, in the real sense of that word ; set apart, not given over to the laws of ordinary life. Actions, attitudes, specific dates and times, that we allow to be valuable in a way that marketplace metrics never do. I often rail at our for-profit world that leaves so little time for anything else. And humans need time for ‘anything else’.

I’m not at a sacred site today, or going through a specific ritual. On the other hand, my garden is a sacred site to me. Here, there’s a not-for-profit self, a not-for-public self, that is vulnerable, able to suffer, able to delight, able to consider without the need for conclusion and find myself in some way met, or so it feels, by the lovely place that I care for, home to birds and animals, so many bees and butterflies, so much teeming life that is non-human. And I am both part of it, by my presence, and set apart from it, because, after all, I am human, and therefore never fully integrated in Nature. But when I have done the watering and whatever needs to be done, in this heat, and seen the blackbirds and thrushes managing their nightly wash and brush up at the edges of the ponds, and seen the deer come to drink, and when evening starts to fall, I will light some candles inside and outside. I will read poems, because poetry is for the soul, and let’s see what thoughts come to mind.

Thoughts coming to mind are like creatures coming to water to wash or to drink. Thoughts are not the same thing as random low-level anxiety or mental distraction or rowdy nonsense that keeps your mind at bay. Sometimes we live with a mind that is like a bar full of drunks.

I find it helpful to have thought-pauses throughout the day.

A thought-pause is where you stop any mental noise or conspiracy-theory one-drink-too-many blubberings… that’s usually when you/me decides that everyone hates us or we’ve had a rough deal/or we’re not paid enough/loved enough/ admired enough. I mean the crap that passes for thinking so much of the time. Cheer up, it’s NOT thinking. But we can all think if we want to…

And so, I take time to make sure I am thinking and not noodle-doodling, whether that’s trivial or negative or even silly/benign. I want to think because thinking is much more interesting than non-thinking. Note, I didn’t say, NOT thinking. It is wonderful and necessary not to think at all - when you are meditating or praying or even on the Peloton, or swimming or painting or whatever it is that lifts you past Mind. That’s real. The bad stuff is non-thinking. The internet is full of it and it’s a dirty drug.

So, today is the Solstice, and a good time to start a new habit. All you have to do is choose something to think about and do just that, and return to it when your mind starts playing pinball. For me, it’s best to be trying to learn about something or understand something - and therefore I need to keep thinking about it. Or it might be a phrase or an idea, and I don’t know if I agree or not. Or it might be some held belief of mine and I ask ‘why do I think this?’ That’s always useful.

Once you get the sound of yourself thinking, then you can sit down with a glass of wine, or a cup of coffee, no phone, and hover in a meditative place between thinking and NOT thinking, and see what real and interesting thoughts come to the surface. Be attentive.

Times like this Solstice are times where humankind has marked, and noted, the change of the seasons for millennia. And it’s far more than the tilting of the earth towards the sun. Our ancestors were practical. They had to be. They were spiritual too. They chose to be.

There’s wisdom there and energy here. Tap into it

Yes, it’s a good idea to take a walk maybe, or go sit by the river or in the park or wherever you can have some external space and peace and connect with the bigger energy that surrounds you. This isn’t woo-woo. We live in energy fields and we are energy fields. Take what you can. Align with the positive. Notice negativity too, and learn to deflect or avoid.

In reality, or do I mean totality, there is no distinction between the sacred and the secular. In flow, in Tao, we are attuned to self and world and our thoughts and actions are impactful and positive. We are, I suppose, fully conscious. But that’s hard to come by, and our modern life favours brashness over reflection, noise over silence, activity over stillness, ignorance over study, vanity over listening, mindlessness over awareness. Power over cooperation. And money over everything else.

So, religious or not, we have to make our own rules for a better life.

Observing your own ‘rules’ is like any other commitment. You have decided to do this thing - stay in the relationship, show up for your writing, play the piano every morning, sketch from memory, learn French, whatever, and of course you don’t have to do it - you’re a grown-up - but you do it. So, making time to think is a commitment like that. Setting aside time to step out of the flow of life is a commitment. It’s what a Sabbath Day used to be for. It’s the same idea as set-aside land. or re-wilding if you prefer.

Cultivating your mind starts with re-wilding your mind.

And we know it’s a crazy freaky terrifying fascinating time to be alive. Life needs you!

Humans have always known that a ritual is a reinforcement. Habits of mind ingrain faster if we have some physical observance too - like rosary beads, like lighting a candle, like a prayer mat, like breathing before/during meditation, like spreading a cloth, like cutting a flower, like making a special meal, like a garment we ( and priests) wear to symbolise that we are now doing/representing more than ‘ordinary human’.

A theatre is a symbolic space just as a church is. We don’t go there for everyday life.

This movement from one register to another is good for our mental health. It’s good for our spiritual health. You can decide how you want to do this in your own life. And when. And why.

Here’s my old-fashioned cottage garden where these things happen for me. Nature loves colour. And I am on the 3-mow routine. One rectangle gets left completely. Moths especially love this. The verge round the rectangle is mown later but on a high cut, so clover, buttercups, self-heal, vetch, herb Robert and long grasses fill the space. And there’s the usual short mow for walking around. I was resistant to this, but a Cornish friend, who is also a Healer, persuaded me. She is right! So much more insect life ( and I had a lot because of the wood but this really helps the bats and swifts with their insect-load) And yes, the low building with solar panels is my writing studio.

Friends! May the Solstice Be With You.