Here's one of Dr. Holstein's articles that I wanted to run by all of
you. It has a beautiful sort of poem at the end. It brought back
great memories of my own seashell summers. I was wondering if any
of you had some great summer stories to share--or even some summer
inspired poetry of your own.

Have a great day!

Rebecca

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Seashell Summer

Summertime is when most of us yearn to take a vacation. Some of us
have the opportunity to go away on vacation, while others must be
content at home, trying to commit more time to relaxation and fun
activities. Actually, there are so many ways to replenish our minds,
bodies, and spirits. One of the most powerful ways, often ignored,
is our own capacity to retrieve and re-experience positive memories.
This type of 'vacation' requires 'going fishing' in our minds for
those wonderful images that serve to replenish rather than lower our
spirits. THE ENCHANTED SELF encourages you to give yourself
permission to 'go fishing,' in your own memory bank, reeling in
pleasant happy images from the past.

To help do this pleasant type of fishing I bring you a beautiful
list of summer memories to reawaken your senses, created by Emily
Doherty. Her memories, many universal and some unique to her growing
up years, can serve as your personal gateway to summer's
enchantment. Let these wonderful filaments of summer 'light' bring
to your mind sunshine days, both out of your past and days you would
love to still experience.

Pick up your mental fishing pole and 'go fishing' using Emily's list
to help your mind wander and roam. Do this in two stages. First,
mentally relax, drift and respond to Emily's words. Take at least
five minutes three times a day to indulge in the pleasures of these
personal summer snippets.

Later, go back to this list and use it to brainstorm a list of at
least five experiences that you would truly enjoy doing this summer.
They may be as simple as walking barefoot on your front lawn or as
complicated and involved as traveling to another continent.

Go over the list and choose at least three items to work on this
summer. I guarantee that your summer will be filled with more
positive states of well being if you permit yourself to enjoy the
pleasure of using positive memories to stimulate again and again
what is rightfully yours -- an Enchanted Life with the wonders of
good times enjoyed again and again.

Seashell Summer --- by Emily Doherty

Imagine the following list of words swirling around and creating the
image of a snail-like seashell. This is how the words were
originally intended.

Mint … pinwheels … frozen snickers … beach bon fires … pink toe
nails … taffy pulls … lemonade … root beer floats … merry go rounds
… air conditioned matinees … collecting license plates … new chintz
on old porch wicker … double rainbows ending the storm … hastily
charred marshmallows … watching dragonflies parallel park …
watermelon seed contests … catching fallen stars … new postcards
from old friends … butter anointing the first fresh corn … bare toes
making patterns in the sand … rivulets of peach juice on your chin …
the melting sweet of cotton candy … the smile on the Kool Aid
pitcher … roadside blackberries rescued from the bramble … billows
of Wyeth-lit curtains … fireflies punctuating velvet night … waves
tatting lace upon the sandy shore … cicada bands serenading the moon
… ruffling long skirt hems … the surf spray … listening to shells
retell the oceans tasks … generations strolling new memories
together … soft rain drumming a lullaby on the roof … blue heron
sentries guarding the marsh … the last walls of castles left by the
tides … sandpipers turning the morning over to the gulls … taking
evening ice cream strolls … mountain peak panoramas … finding the
evening star … wildflowers patrolling the highways … sand
bookmarking a new novel … fresh blueberry muffins … beach ballet
arabesques … tomatoes awaiting sauce … sandy bottoms … running
through the sprinkler … bicycling barefoot … sleeveless dresses …
rolled up tent flaps … citronella candles … strawberries for dinner
… garlic and frying peppers … opera under the stars … the hot whine
of the arcade … monopoly marathons … tin can telephones … tree
houses … the first leaf turned prematurely red … seagulls chasing
the tide … water lilies … choirs of worshipping sunflowers … new
straw hats … cascading window boxes … cool sheets … cheeky
chipmunks ... aloe soothing sunburned noses … bright plastic visors
and jellies … second floor porches …