🫠 Impossible to eat melting ice cream slower

Marinating in the feeling of the end of summer.

I lingered in bed a little longer. Swiped through the photo album on my phone to recall the past 9 weeks, grasping for emotional snapshots and sensory glimmers…

What did we do?
Who did we spend time with?
Did I make it matter? aka was I fully present.
Could I have done more?

I wish I could remember the details of every special moment.

I’m thankful for the visual reminders and I regret the times I forgot to take a picture or record the sound of us being together.

My phone has become an insurance policy for an unreliable memory.

I scroll and plead, “How could I possibly have slowed down and savoured this more so I never forget, while also letting it unfold?”

Impossible as eating chocolate mint ice cream on a hot day, as it drips down the cone, and makes my fingers stick. That’s all that remains…a sugar high, stomach ache, and an until-next-time.

Waving bye to another summer gone by. I want more. I know I had enough. And I’m too full to take another bite.

🌸 The Japanese have a term, mono no aware, for the profound awareness of life's impermanence and the gentle sadness of its passing. How beautiful it is to acknowledge that nothing lasts forever.

🎶 One Song

If Spotify did summer wrap ups, this track would be on it for sure. I added it to my monthly playlist early July and little did I know it foreshadowed how I would feel by end of August. Being is the ongoing relationship between human and time.

Like Jean-Michel Basquiat said, “Art is how we decorate space; music is how we decorate time.” 

✍️ One Poem

Edgewater Beach, 2019

〰️ One Move

You’re not wrong or broken for having contradictory feelings. It’s being human. (See how I’m connecting back to the One Song? 😉)

Our energy is better spent validating the feelings rather than judging and trying to resolve them. They don’t need to be fixed, just felt.

Watch this video for a 1 minute move to acknowledge the endless loop of wanting to hold on with gratitude and let go with trust...simultaneously. 🤍 

Follow along and do it with me. This simple exercise is an embodied way to honour the cyclical nature of seasons and memory as they flow in and out of each other. The constant return to heart centre is a coming back to presence even as everything else is in motion around you.

What it does:

• Releases “hope molecules”, scientifically known as myokines. Tiny proteins that act like natural antidepressants and make you more resilient to stress.

• Repetitive rhythm calms the chatter in your head and brings you back into your body.

• Triggers a hit of feel good endorphins from all that overhead reaching (your body’s natural mood elevator).

• Grounds you when emotions are emoting and you want to escape. Stay present with your experience.

Let’s call this move, Infinity Reset. ♾️

🫶 An Invitation

In Toronto, there is no transition from summer break to September. You wake up the day after Labour Day and it hits! Kids go back to school. Routine rushes back in. The city hums with TIFF, cultural festivals, and concerts…

It’s fun, but it can also be a lot.

That’s what Soul Care Sunday on September 14 is for. A mid-month moment to exhale in the midst of full schedules. A grounding reset to prevent the season from carrying you away.

Come as you are. Bring the fullness of your September-self…busy, tired, joyful, curious. What else?

✨ Soul Care Sunday: a sacred space to breathe, soften, and recharge
🗓️ Sunday September 14, 10:30am-12pm
🎶 Cello by Rosy Zhang & Piano by Michelle Lau
📍 Society Clubhouse at 967 College St, Toronto
🎟️ Reserve your spot here

Psst…Did you know that a Balm membership will save you money, make it easier for you to share the experience with friends, and get you into a rhythm of rest and connection?

May you find peace in holding contradictions.
May you trust that wanting more and having enough
can coexist.
May you flow through holding on and letting go.
May you let yourself be complex...and simple.
You are whole, exactly as you are.

😍 Karen

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