TEXT: ADRIAN DE GROOT
COVER PHOTO: MIA MEDAKOVIĆ
Our theme for the July-August issue is fittingly “Summer Vibe”. So, what is a summer vibe, and how is it different from vibes of the other seasons? Do we generally speak of Spring Vibe, Autumn Vibe or Winter Vibe? Maybe not as much, as “Summer Vibe” seems to be most popular Vibe to my ears.
Apart from the obvious answers of what this summer vibe is all about, like the weather with its higher temperatures, the trips to the beach, lakes, swimming pools and other watery places, your lighter clothes or the almost absence thereof, the cold drinks you like to sip slowly or perhaps all at once depending on your thirst, your open footwear or none at all, the windows of your car and home wide open, or closed with the comfortable cooling from a hard working air conditioner; what is really all that different and special about summer and what defines this “Summer Vibe?”
It just has to be a state of mind of course. A different mindset from the status quo daily vibe indeed. Vacation time. Not a time to work and earn money. A time to casually, without too much care, to spend your money instead, on travel, hotels, exotic foods and drinks, on souvenirs and whatever you fancy. All without a care in the world; just all for fun. Perhaps a time to fall in love with someone, or with something, or to renew your love. Perhaps to attend a friend’s wedding, or have one on your own. To send your kids to a summer camp, and enjoy time for yourselves. Paint or redecorate your home, or finally finish some other amazing project. Read a book you always wanted to read.
For others, it may be a time for spiritual renewal, attend a lengthy retreat, go on a pilgrimage somewhere, all to grow and refresh your spirit. To raise your own vibes. Or a time for a family reunion in a special location. To do something special with your kids, like taking them to a theme park.
Wow, so many possibilities of things you prefer to or can only do during the summer. All of this of course in a lighthearted spirit, to have fun, to be happy, to lift your arms into the air and shout out those ecstatic words like “I am loving this!”
The bottom line, and this counts for every season naturally, is to be grateful, to expand your heart, to experience new cultures, raise your vibes, make new friends, go see places you have never seen before, and to dance your way through all you do and experience. If you could travel to another planet, you would do it.
A time not to be logical or too rational at all, but to soak it all in without judgment, and of course to stay away from anything not serving you. To experience new levels of freedom, learn a few foreign words and phrases, daringly try some “weird-looking” foods, and do things you have never done before, like go up in a hot air balloon, or put on a parachute and let a boat drag you through the air alongside the beach. Whatever. White water rafting. Climb a tree. Go on a safari. Or real parachute jumping.
Learn a new skill or uncover a hidden talent. Not so much to get good at it, although that might happen, but to have fun with it. To raise your self-confidence, of course. Painting, pottery, photography, poetry, playing a (different) musical instrument, sing, or get into gardening. Or take summer courses in some intellectual new field or refresh and update your knowledge in your own field. Try new software.
Some may want to spend time doing something to help others, such as doing volunteer work in their neighborhood or even in another country. Altruism never gets old. To grow our awareness of the situation of others and thereby grow our compassion. Something you can do anywhere. As the wisdom goes: whatever you seek in life, provide it for others first.
So, we can talk about summer vibes, as a plural, as we just read many of the myriad possible vibes you can get involved with or generate yourself.
The whole point of an effective summer vibe applied to yourself is of course self-enrichment, raising your vibration to a higher level, by growing your heart, your love, your kindness, your forgiveness, your compassion, your awareness, and raising all those noble attributes of the summer vibes in your soul, while also gaining tons of new insights, wisdoms, knowledge, know-hows, appropriate tolerances, and of course physical and mental health as the direct proportional result of all those stress free summer vibes you have set for yourself to experience. Finding that inner peace.
True, some of these things can be done anytime. Just as some people talk about Christmas in July, we can regenerate, relive and reenergize the summer vibes when it’s snowing outside. When you live in Australia, summer and winter are the mirror of ours here in Serbia anyways, so, does the when of it all really matter? Of course not. Just as age is just a number and a question of how you feel and think about yourself, a summer vibe is ‘re-permitted’ anytime of the year.
In conclusion, it’s so good to be alive, and we can be so grateful for all these possible summer vibes to be experienced especially during our free time summer vacation periods and then can be relived anytime of the year.
So maybe you won’t even see this article, because you’re too busy living out your summer vibes. Good for you!
