1. Truth: I’m on summer vacation!!! Yesterday afternoon, I finished up the last thing on my to-do list, cleaned up my desk, made arrangements to have someone water my plants while I was gone, and put my out of office message on my email. This morning, even though I could have, I couldn’t even sleep in because I was so excited to be on vacation.

2. Truth: This is a very different start to the summer than last year. I had the flu, was really sick with a cough, aches, snuffy/runny nose, fever, and awful fatigue. My foot was bothering me but I had yet to realize it was Plantar Fasciitis, (that would come later in the summer), and I had one other thing going on that I don’t even like to talk about because it’s sort of embarrassing (not to mention painful), even though I really have no reason to be embarrassed about it. And, to add insult to injury (and illness), I was off contract but kept being asked to do more work. I was so depressed. At about six weeks into summer, I had a complete meltdown, scheduled a meeting with my boss, and changes where made that meant leaving this year for break was so much easier.

3. Truth: I expect that this summer will be better. For one thing, we are going to the beach for almost two months. And I have a whole month before we leave to work in my garden, clean my house, see friends, walk my dogs, read, take naps, etc. And don’t worry — I know exactly how lucky I am.

One wish: May we all have a summer filled with ease, rest, and joy, no matter how or where we spend it. And if you are having a summer like I had last year, may you get the healing, the relief and rest you need, and be comforted in the knowledge that “this too shall pass.”

1. Truth: My hunger/eating schedule doesn’t fit the norm. I like a light breakfast around 5-6 am, a bigger breakfast around 9-10 am, and lunch around 2-3 pm, which means sometimes I don’t want dinner, or “dinner” is more like a snack. For a long time I forced myself to to eat on a “normal” schedule, and ended up eating when I wasn’t hungry or not eating even though I was starving because it wasn’t “time to eat,” (I also did lots of weird things where I had to earn what I ate, or what I ate was a punishment, but that’s a whole other truth).

2. Truth: I don’t need to eat as much as I used to. After decades of disordered eating, starving and stuffing myself, and then a period of crazed eating because I was finally letting myself eat and was allowed to eat whatever I wanted and after years of deprivation I was always hungry, I finally feel like my hunger is starting to even out.

3. Truth: I can feel my body. I know that this statement is so strange to some that you might wonder what it even means. What I mean is for years I denied and ignored my body. I lived my entire life in my head. My physical body was mostly an inconvenience, an irritation. I was a hungry ghost. The other day, I was walking across campus, and I realized I could actually feel my body. I was aware of it entirely — feet, legs, torso, lungs, arms, hands, all of it. I also feel where it hurts — that’s the bad news.

One wish: May we honor our hunger no matter when it comes or in what shape. May we honor our fullness, and stop when we’ve had enough. May we honor our body, giving it what it needs, feeding it and letting it rest. “Don’t move the way fear makes you move. Move the way love makes you move. Move the way joy makes you move,” (Osho).