Recently, a Patreon subscriber shared that they appreciate reflection questions, and their feedback prompted me to consider which questions feel especially important for this summer (summer 2021).

Spinning off the original Q&A response (shared as part of the Q&A newsletter for subscribers), here are some questions I’m sitting with.

These are influenced by the CHANI app (“astrology for self-discovery, mindfulness, and healing” by Chani Nicholas and team). The app offers three journal prompts each week, and I really love these prompts!

These questions are also influenced by my recent readings, which include Luvvie Ajayi Jones’s Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual; Lama Rod Owens’s Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger; and Susan Weis-Bohlen’s Seasonal Self-Care Rituals.    

This photo shows a late summer afternoon. The corner of a green picnic table points toward a green field and blue lake stretching out to blue-green hills. Leaves hang down, and puffy white-grey clouds float overhead. The scene, hopefully, captures the possibilities of summer: open, outdoor space inviting contemplative practices.

Reflection Questions for Summer 2021

As you read these questions, consider which resonate now—and why those questions might be speaking to you. Then spend time journaling, meditating, or walking with the questions that resonate.

Honoring Continued Re-Commitment

• How am I coming through for myself and my commitments? And how could I come through a bit better—toward building stronger trust, reliability, and integrity?
• How could I come through, show up, and take aligned action more consistently?
• Where am I building or restoring trust with myself and with others? And where do I need to do more trust-building?
• In what ways could I be more truthful? More compassionate? More discerning?
• Who sees me, and what are they reflecting back to me?
• Who and what helps me come home to myself (to get centered and re-aligned)?
• What relations are foundational to build with, from, and for?

Honoring Creative Energy

• What sources of inspiration are in my life now, motivating and guiding me?
• Where, when, how, with whom, and why am I creating now?
• How am I sharing my creative energies?
• What’s getting the bulk of my attention these days?
• Where do I wish more of my attention was going? And why there?
• What rituals could support my creative projects?
• What rituals could support my overall wellness, bolstering creative energy?
• What impacts do I hope my creative projects might have?

Honoring Pacing for the Summer Months

• How do I relate to the concept of pacing?
• How do I practice pacing on a daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally, and yearly basis?
• Who are guides, archetypes, or role models for pacing (from animals like snails to elders and ancestors in the work)?
• What gives me energy, increasing my capacity at this time?
• What drains my energy, increasing my need to recharge at this time?
• What sort of pace to do I need this summer?
• What emotions do I have with recognizing that pace?
• How can I honor the wisdom of pacing, while honoring my commitments?

For more questions, check out these past blog posts:

• “Questions for Honoring Creative Energy and Play”
• “Contemplative Practices for Setting Intentions and Welcoming the New Year”
• “Career Discernment for a Purposeful Career Path”
• “How Do We Build More Accountable Lives?”
• “From Fear to Love: Working with Emotional Overload”
• “Today Resistance Looks Like …”
• “Heart-Head-Hands: A Journal Prompt for These Times”

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This post is written by Beth Godbee, Ph.D. for Heart-Head-Hands.com. If you’d like to connect around reflection and writing, check out upcoming writing retreat days, subscribe to my email newsletter , and join me on Patreon. Thanks!