August, the month with warmth and time to be still

Well this is the hope so often. August is the holiday month, schools are out, the sea is warm enough, just to dip your toes into and you can usually guarantee your ice cream will melt if you don’t hurry up and eat it.

In August we get to have time, the days are still long enough even after work to sit and take time.  For me growing up, August gave the best of memories, hours out walking the dog, hours out riding my bike with friends thinking we were in a motocross event on the army ranges we lived next to. Time spent sitting watching cricket with family, a bag of crisps and a bottle of fizzy each. More time spent down the local river fishing with other friends or making dens and spears—who could throw the farthest?  Whilst we did lots of things, we allowed time for doing these things, time to really make and fall out with friends, time to discover who we were and what the real world was all about—after catching the grasshopper, just how long can you hold in in your hand before it jumps?

A recent body of work is raising alarm bells about the under 25s of today, who it seems can’t sit for long, can’t spend all day on one thing. The post Tic Tok generation seem to be living a life made up of short burst experiences,  conversations, expectations—it is as if each day is a series of dots and dashes and the fear is these folks will ‘burn out’ or break down because everything is so full on, and when it isn’t they are left worried and fearful they are missing out or worse they spiral into depression and anxiety. They stumble from experience to experience, which has become quite addictive for some. These are the ‘doing’ generation!

But we are not ‘human doings’, we are human beings!  Being takes time, takes spending time with yourself in contemplation and reflections, with others in conversation and relationship, and with the world about us in awe and wonder.   August is the month that gifts us the time for all of these, for September brings change—shorter day light hours, chilly temperatures and the overtures of autumn around the corner.

Take time this month—for time to reflect, to be with friends and family, to breath in the air and to simply be, there will be enough time in the autumn and winter to run around! And remind yourself each day, ‘I am a human being’!

Blessings Bruce