The Summer of Small Wonders

An Invitation to Slower Rhythms, Simple Joys, and Moments of Meaning

There is so much breaking news these days, sometimes it feels like it is breaking things in me. Headlines, crises, emergencies, scandals… all frighteningly normalized into a mishmash of background noise and silenced buzzed notifications.

So many hard things, likely catastrophes, and important issues delivered in a never-ending scroll of static.

Leaving us frustrated and overwhelmed. Our compassion numbed into a state of fatigue. Our nervous systems conditioned to hang our sense of safety on being plugged in to all the latest news.

That’s why disconnecting from the 24/7 noise cycle is vital. Not forever. Not to ignore current events. But so that we have the inner reserves to respond to them.

I’m thinking about it like this.

Friday, I saw a stranger step out into oncoming traffic wearing a neon-yellow vest and become a human stop sign so that one young boy could cross the four-lane, busy street safely. The signals were green, but no one budged until the crossing guard and boy were safely across the road.

Sometimes we need help stopping traffic to get to where we need to go safely.

That’s what I hope this summer will be about.

The internet is loud. I’m here to create space for your soul to breathe.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

I want to build the kind of summer I dreamed about when I was 10.

A summer of slow floats in the ocean and ice cream pops melting as they are eaten. A summer of deliberate dawdling, road trips, and exploring new states. A summer that savors and slows and shares all the beauty found along the way that would be missed otherwise.

A summer of gratitude that chooses joy in defiance of everything that would diminish it.

A summer where I share the small moments that make life good and kind and filled with hope, even in the face of challenges. Maybe especially there.

I want to build this summer WITH you. A community of wonder seekers, joy spotters, and beauty finders. A community savoring the small and the simple.

A community that reminds one another how brave it is to be soft in a loud world with hard edges.

Welcome to the Summer of Small Wonders

Where we lean into curiosity and presence.

Into being where our feet are… alive in the one precious moment we’re in.

Where we curate the stories of our lives, collect tiny treasures, and cultivate kindness and goodness.

A summer filled with finding the poems hiding in plain sight.

The fine art of paying attention and noticing light and tenderness, where our souls come a little more alive each time.

There is an art of paying attention to beauty that’s so quiet we might miss it if we weren’t looking for it.

Stories spill out everywhere, my friend. Everywhere.

Getting Started

These last few months have been filled with health challenges that slowed me down, and turned my expectations inside out over and over again.

This summer, I need something simple. The world feels big and complex right now, mine especially as I make my way toward moving over 1000 miles across country.

So we’re doing something a little different. Most of our creative challenges have centered around art-making and prompts.

But this time I want to invite you into a practice so simple it doesn’t even have a PDF of instructions.

This is an invitation to notice, record, and reflect. And share if so desired.

Welcome literally to the way I move through the world. It’s how I write and create and see stories all around me.

1. NOTICE: Every day, notice at least one small wonder, simple joy, or micro moment of goodness.

2. RECORD: Write it down. One line, a few words, keep it simple.

3. REFLECT: Sit with it for 30 seconds and write down anything else that comes to mind. Even if it doesn’t feel like it connects. It might later.

4. SHARE: This is of course optional, but share it on Threads or Instagram or any platform you like. Or use it to write longer reflections in a journal or to inspire an art project.

Here’s something I wrote down last week:

I saw a leaf breathing on my back porch and then realized it was a perfectly camouflaged lizard. Some resurrections are found in the most unlikely places.

If I have a creative secret sauce, friend, this is it.

I don’t just want to build The Wonder Habit® into a brand, I want to leave you with a legacy of practices and tools that will take you farther than I ever could.

So here are a few practical tips to get started.

• You don’t need to wait until June 1, but that’s our official start date. We will finish August 31… but by then it might just be a habit to hang on to 😉

• It doesn’t have to be intricate, planned or profound. It will feel unfinished by design. Because it unfolds a little more each day.

• There’s no need to catch up. Just jump back in if you miss a day. You cannot get this wrong.

• I really encourage you to do analog as well as digital if you are thinking about digital only. Keeping a small notebook with you makes that easy. Or go through your digital notes and write your favorite moments into a journal every few days.

• Pick your favorite notes app. I have a running note on Apple Notes. Notion is a good option as well.

• Start to jot things down as you think of them or notice them. When possible, make it a practice to write the things you notice as you notice them because details get filtered out from our memories so quickly.

• Instead of doom-scrolling, start hope-posting to your small wonder, simple joy list instead.

• If you’re more of a visual artist, still write down a line, but maybe snap a picture with your phone as well. This can become a treasure trove of inspiration for future painting, and projects that are 100% created by the way, you see the world. And shaped the world that you see.

• Share using the tag #summerofsmallwonders

I’m already sharing on Threads, Instagram, and will start writing weekly here.

These weekly essays will be a mix of sharing my favorite moments from the week and some longer reflections.

Our paid subscribers will be able to join the conversation in the comments and share their favorite moments from their weeks. There will also be monthly lives on the Substack app for our paid subscribers.

I am so grateful for each of you being here. This space would not exist without you.

If all of us do this together, I wonder how many small wonders and simple joys we can find as a community?!?! Are you in?

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.