{"id":1311,"date":"2017-06-16T06:50:22","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T10:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=1311"},"modified":"2017-06-15T19:29:52","modified_gmt":"2017-06-15T23:29:52","slug":"week-144-be-still-celebrate-the-solstice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=1311","title":{"rendered":"Week #144 – BE STILL! \u00a0(Celebrate the Solstice!)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Manhattan-Henge” (photo credit: Grace Church)<\/p><\/div>\n

Week #144 – BE STILL! \u00a0(Celebrate the Solstice!)<\/b><\/p>\n

Greetings, All — and Happy Friday!<\/p>\n

The longest days are upon us! \u00a0At most latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere the sun is coming up at its earliest all year (5:42 a.m. local time for me) — and will soon be setting at its very latest toward the end of the month.<\/p>\n

Depending on your time zone — the actual solstice will occur late Tuesday night (6\/20) or early Wednesday morning (6\/21) this year. \u00a0This is the moment when the Earth’s north pole is pointed closest toward the sun — and the time in our calendar year when the sun seems to “stand still” (literal meaning of the word sol-stice) in its arc across the sky.<\/p>\n

Of course, we know that WE are moving (not the sun) — and, to blow your mind, it’s to the tune of about about 67,000 miles an hour through our orbit!<\/p>\n

No wonder the ancients worshipped the solstice! \u00a0I would too if it seemed we could stop the world and catch our breath for just a moment!<\/p>\n

Summer is always a bit of a paradox, isn’t it? \u00a0Nostalgia and fantasy (not to mention advertisements and social media) all lead us to believe that summer should be a time to slow down and relax. \u00a0To kick back and take it all in.<\/p>\n

But the reality is, for most people, it just picks up the pace. \u00a0Kids are out of school, summer activities are scheduled, there are camps, vacations, summer reading lists, and endless projects (now inside the home AND outside in the yard!).<\/p>\n

If you are one who gets to feeling run-down and depressed during the summer — please know you are not alone. \u00a0It is not your imagination. \u00a0You just might be BUSIER than you are all year!<\/p>\n

Which leaves little time left for you.<\/p>\n

So take a cue from the sun this week…and BE STILL!<\/p>\n

Your Happyness Challenge for the week ahead: “BE STILL!” \u00a0<\/strong>If you are already feeling frenzied and hectic about the summer months ahead — take some time this week to get quiet and be still. \u00a0I know this sounds like the very opposite of what you think you should be doing — but find some time and a space to tune into yourself. \u00a0Think about how you want to spend these days. \u00a0What experiences you’d like to have. \u00a0How you want to remember the next ten, twelve, or thirteen weeks. \u00a0There is only one Summer of 2017…don’t let it become a runaway train crashing into the start of the next school year. \u00a0Make time for silence…and see if you can catch the world standing still!<\/p>\n

“Summer afternoon – Summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” \u00a0(Henry James)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Spread Happyness — share your thoughts in the comments!<\/strong><\/p>\n

6\/16\/17\u00a0by Grace Church
\n<\/em>\u00a9 Grace Church
\ngrace@spreadhappyness.com<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Week #144 – BE STILL! \u00a0(Celebrate the Solstice!) Greetings, All — and Happy Friday! The longest days are upon us! \u00a0At most latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere the sun is coming up at its earliest all year (5:42 a.m. local time for me) — and will soon be setting at its very latest toward the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1311"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1316,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions\/1316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}