It is still summer. But somewhere ahead, autumn is waiting.
For many of us this time of year means that everyday life is slowly returning. Perhaps it can also be an opportunity to pause and think about the summer that has been.
Maybe you have had a wonderful summer, with rest, laughter, closeness and moments you want to carry with you for a long time. Or maybe the summer was nothing like you had hoped. Maybe it held conflict, loneliness, stress or disappointment.
Either way, I would like to invite you to do something that can be both exciting and a little challenging: zoom out and look at yourself from the outside.
We find it so easy to give other people both the credit and the blame for how we feel.
– It is thanks to my new love that the summer was so wonderful.
– It is because of my partner that the summer was so hard.
It might be a partner, a friend, a manager, a child or someone else who ends up carrying the explanation for how we have been. And of course other people affect us. Sometimes a great deal. But if the whole explanation lands outside us, we also risk missing our own part – and with it, our power to influence things.
A few minutes with yourself
So if you feel like it: give yourself a few minutes and look back at the summer. Write down some things that turned out well and some that did not turn out as you had wished. Then ask yourself:
- What in this had to do with me?
- What choices did I make?
- What did I do more of? What did I do less of?
- Where did my choices lead?
Not to judge or over-analyse, but to understand.
When we notice something we did that did not help us, we can put a heart around ourselves, learn something, and choose differently next time.
And when we discover something we actually did well? Then we should not rush past it. We should magnify it, appreciate it and celebrate it. Because whatever we give attention to, we can also do more of.
Perhaps autumn can begin right there. With a little more curiosity about yourself, and about the choices that help you grow stronger on the inside.
If you would like my help along the way, you will find our courses on the website. And of course we are here to meet you live as well.
A warm welcome ❤️
Eva Berlander & Co
