"Somewhere… something incredible is waiting to be known" - Carl Sagan

As the calendar page flips and we move closer to graduation dates and summer’s arrival, students everywhere are abuzz with a palpable frenetic energy. Whether excited to fling themselves out the doors of an educational space, nervous for what lies ahead, or a bit numbed by it all, we’re often met with big feelings as we leap from one comfort zone into a grand unknown. 

“The present moment is the only moment available to us, it is the door to all moments.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

It’s officially spring. The birds wake each day chirping loudly. The sky dips between glorious sunshine and sprinkles of rain, the temperature shifts on a whim. The ebb and flow of winter’s chill transitions to summer sunshine - we’re full on in the mix of it all: the present, the here and now. This elusive space, the one so many of us would like to be able to stay in, often evades us. 

“We need joy as we need air. We need love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share.” - Maya Angelou 

“Hope is the boldest act of imagination I know” - Edith Eger

As a new month unfolds, we get the chance to begin again. 

It’s September. While it may be the 9th month of the year, for many, this time of year holds significant meaning. In the northern hemisphere, it’s the closing weeks of summer and the month of the autumnal equinox, the last days of regular baseball season and the opening ones of American football games. It’s a time when pumpkin spice and apple picking show up on social media timelines, yet we hold fast our flip flop days, and we’re full steam ahead into school’s first term of a new year. 

“Life is amazing. And then it's awful. And then it's amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful it's ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That's just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it's breathtakingly beautiful.” ~ L.R. Knost