Sunshine-bright Solstice Saultations to you all!

And a bright, sunshiny kind of journal design to go with the day ... I would've liked to have one with the Sun rising over some stonecircle or beautiful landscape ... but ... I couldnt' find one and I'm not skilled in that way to create one - respect to those of you who are!

May you each look into your inner mirror and identify what you need to allow to grow within yourself, what you need to weed out, and what you need to encourage to grow to come to fruition later this year. As this is a time for flowers, may you also enjoy the beauty both within and without, and look forward to the harvest of the fruits of those flowers in the fullness of time.

Yup, tt's that time of year again - the start of Summer as the Sun moves into Cancer ... which happened at 0645BST, and I woke at exactly that moment and was able to complete an in depth meditation, which started out as a journal entry, but deeper meanings, understandings, and explanations just flowed from the pen for the next couple of hours ... so that was how I was meant to mark the point of Solstice this year, rather than in my usual way A very private kind of way to mark the changing of the seasons, to continue to strengthen my awareness of how in tune with nature's cycles I am. And it was also a most apt way to complement the work being done in counselling too - I love it when the flows of energy in the Universe conspire to bring clarity and understanding and opportunity all at once!

Well, the last couple of days have seen me withdraw from the hustle-and-bustle of the 'world out there'. I've not done anything that I thought I would with my time away from school. But, it seems I needed that time out more than perhaps I appreciate. I do tend to push myself to total exhaustion, throwing myself totally into a project, burning the candle not only at both ends but in the middle as well. And sometimes something has to give, and it's usually my health/voice. One of my goals is going to be to learn to apportion my time more kindly to myself wherever possible.

I did spend yesterday researching into the history of the folklore and superstitions and herbal properties and so on of various plants. Something I really enjoy and find fascinating, and don't give myself enough time to do. Of course the words lead to a need to do illustrations/art to go with them, and some of the properties just beg to be included in somekind of story or puzzle ... but that will all come in time I'm sure. One of my biggest faults is wanting to do it all NOW and feeling overwhelmed when I realise the size of the task, and then I end up doing nothing instead of remembering to break it down into manageable chunks.

Anyways, I think my voice is on the mend. It was still very quiet and easily 'broken' yesterday when I had to talk ... but .... we'll see!