we’ve done TRADITIONAL lists for as long as I can recall.
We’d already created our 2016 Summer Bucket List when a friend mentioned to me the idea her Mindful Summer List.
It sounded heavenly.
We’d had no trouble finding new and LOUD activities to fill our next few months, but I admitted to her looking at our list (on the heels end of school May-mayhem) made me feel exhausted.
Actually, not exhausted, I clarified for myself as much as for her. Overstimulated.
Our Summer Bucket List, replete with music festivals and fireworks, was all sound and no silence.
My friend’s tip about a mindful list (which Google indicates she may have discovered here) seemed the perfect balance to our planned cacophony.
Our Summer ’16 Mindful Bucket List:
- Make a Summer ’16 only gratitude jar.
- Go for a leisurely walk with no destination or agenda.
why YES this did take me by *surprise*
- Choose one day each week for Wave to a Stranger Day.
- Print out blank calendars and designate a kindness (big or small) for each day of summer.
- Create and draw a sidewalk yoga sequence around our ‘hood.
- Spend time with people who make us happy.
- Write in our mother/daughter journal consistently.
- Sleep outside on trampoline and stargaze.
- Play the clarinet more.
- Light the Shabbat candles every Friday.
To my delight the Child was as intrigued by the mindful-idea as she was by our other annual list.
Whether it’s nature or nurture she, too, seemed to realize summerΒ by default would be filled with an abundance of sights, sounds, and activity, but mindful and slow might not happen unless we planned ahead.
With the exception of #11 (the Child *thinks* she can play the clarinet. her squawks are anything but calming) each of our 12 list items are endeavors we can do together, apart or with other companions.
Today is the official start of summer ’16 around here.
We’re boisterous. We’re rowdy.
We’re enthusiastic. We’re energized.
We’re centered. We’re calm.
All concurrently.
Or so is our plan, anyway.
- Do you create a Summer Bucket list?
- Had you heard of a Mindful Summer Bucket List before?
Allie says
June 6, 2016 at 4:31 amI love this idea and I could not agree more about planning for “mindful and slow” since otherwise they may not happen!!! YES! The boys are also at a perfect age for listing π
Angela @ happy fit mama says
June 6, 2016 at 4:38 amThis is the first year we’ve done a summer bucket list. Although we still have 2 weeks until summer vacation starts. Still time to prep for a mindful list too!
Bea says
June 6, 2016 at 4:45 amI have two sets of twins this summer (one mine one cousins) and I nees this.
Just for me.
Susie @ SuzLyfe says
June 6, 2016 at 5:16 amAnother fabulous idea. I adore the sidewalk yoga sequence, lol
Rachel says
June 6, 2016 at 5:48 amI totally love this idea. I’m going to make mindful bucket lists with my kids today! Thanks for sharing this.
Wendy@Taking the Long Way Home says
June 6, 2016 at 5:50 amMaybe this would help me get back on track–after all I did make being more mindful my goal for the rest of the year. It’s like you knew I needed this or something…
MCM Mama Runs says
June 6, 2016 at 6:10 amMy younger son has tons of camps and trips – yes, the extrovert apple did not fall far from the tree. My older son has very few activities and starts high school next year. I’m going to seize this summer and make a bucket list of things for him and I to do together while he still likes me and I’m only kind of stupid. I’m sure both of those things will change soon. ;o)
Carla says
June 6, 2016 at 9:57 amA friend said to me last night Id better get to doing alllll the things with her this summer while she will still spend time with me. Whether that’s true or not—it is SO SO SO FINITE they will be around us enough to DO STUFFS. <3
Lizzie says
June 6, 2016 at 6:12 amOh! I love your wave to a stranger day idea.
Id missed that before.
messymimi says
June 6, 2016 at 6:39 amWhen my children were young, we had the activities, and we had the just hang around the house reading time (especially in the rain), but no specific lists. It’s something i’d like to try for me, though.
Paula Kiger says
June 6, 2016 at 6:58 amI love that! Happy (mindful) summer!
Roxanne Jones says
June 6, 2016 at 7:00 amLove this concept, Carla! Isn’t it a sad commentary that we have to schedule mindfulness into our crazy lives, though? But at least we have the presence of mind to do so instead of never stepping off the treadmill to reflect and just be. Ah, life!
Carla says
June 6, 2016 at 9:57 amit IS sad. and yet Im so so so glad I realized I need this before I got to the moment of needing this and…mindlessly snapped? π now at least I have a list to point to and go to for ideas.
cherylann says
June 6, 2016 at 7:31 amwhen daughter was little it was a time to NOT make lists….the lists and “to dos” were for the other nine/ten months of the year. Our summers were (and still are) for naps, going through old photos and putting them in binders, sewing, etc.
Haralee says
June 6, 2016 at 8:10 amGenius! I have not heard of a mindful summer list but I think I will do one for myself. We wait all year for the warm dry long days and before you know it they are gone.
Laurie Oien says
June 6, 2016 at 8:30 amI love the wave to a stranger idea. I think I’ll do that one. I usually try to make a list of things I’d like to do or see for the summer, but I really like the simplicity of the ideas you’ve listed here. Also, I have slept on a trampoline and that was pretty fun, except for the occasional mosquitoes bugging in!
Carla says
June 6, 2016 at 9:56 amIm so excited about the trampoline sleeping—and the CHILD IS NOT!!! She announced this morning she wants to but will need a suit (?) for the ‘skeeters. (I think she meant to keep the SKEETERS *away* :-))
Estelle says
June 6, 2016 at 8:49 amThis is such a great idea. I have to make one of my own now.
pia says
June 6, 2016 at 9:09 amMaybe because I always went away to camp in summer, the most lax camp in the world but still, and come from a family where when there wasn’t anything left to do on the “to do” list they would invent errands to do. And fun was very important but sometimes it felt like it was on the list, as was “travel everywhere, speak to everyone, first take the girls on educational trips,” I love unstructured time.
But I’m as obsessive as my family and before unstructuring my life am renting a dumpster and ridding myself of everything that doesn’t make me very happy.
I also have much company coming and am figuring out ways to get that unstructured time!
I don’t like the term “bucket list” for somebody my age. It sounds so terminal!
Carla says
June 6, 2016 at 9:55 amYES YES YES. I struggled with the words BUCKET LIST as well. I avoid negative thoughts and talk and self-talk and D*MN typing those two words out felt negativeOMNIOUS here, too.
Cat @ Reader/Eater says
June 6, 2016 at 9:30 amI always want to do a list like this and never follow through. We’re such a “seat of our pants” summer family.
Carla says
June 6, 2016 at 9:54 amI so was. Until I realized the seat of our running shorts here meant we bickered and fought like grumpy cats π
Melissa Chapman says
June 6, 2016 at 9:31 amYes to all of these!!! Thank you for the kick in the pants I needed to do this with my two kids ( and we are starting our list with a gratitude jar!)
Carla says
June 6, 2016 at 9:53 amAnd I swear it’s the easiest, least NAGGY’est way to build a habit of a gratitude practice!! And so much fun, too.
Jody - Fit at 58 says
June 6, 2016 at 9:32 amWonderful list Carla!!! Never heard of it…. but enjoy!!!!
Christine @ Love, Life, Surf says
June 6, 2016 at 9:41 amI love this idea too. I have to admit, there’s part of me that’s dreading the crazy, spiraling out of control summer madness. Maybe this is what we need. And maybe this will help to reframe the “I’m bored” refrain to being mindful??
Carla says
June 6, 2016 at 9:53 amIt’s an annoying refrain here Id imagine but when she says IM BORED!!! I say: “OH good!!” And then remind her how boredom is the birthplace of creativity.
Karen says
June 6, 2016 at 9:50 amLove this! Especially in this age where parents feel they need to over schedule their kids and put them in this class or that enrichment program. What beautiful memories you are making and teaching your daughter something more valuable than any “prep class” ever could. Bravo mom!
Beth Havey says
June 6, 2016 at 9:55 amSummer is so awesome when your children are young and you can simply BE WITH THEM. No schedules, if you are lucky. Or the occasional swim lessons. Children love the freedom of spontaneity also. That would go on my list. Enjoy.
JavaChick says
June 6, 2016 at 10:09 amI don’t really create bucket lists, but I have already been consciously thinking that I need to make a point of enjoying this summer. Our season here is so short, and some years it is all to easy to get distracted by other stuff that I think I *need* to do, and I end up wondering where the summer went.
Carla says
June 7, 2016 at 4:17 amTHOSE LAST EIGHT WORDS. Here as well. I don’t want them this summer. xo
Nancy M Horn says
June 6, 2016 at 10:12 amI love this. Exactly what I need to do with my kids. It gets so crazy with camp and trying to work at home.
AdjustedReality says
June 6, 2016 at 10:30 amI think your bucket list is my project spring. π (link to that specific on on my profile)
Beverley @ Born to Sweat says
June 6, 2016 at 10:35 amthese are such positive and uplifting ideas! i’ve never heard of a mindful bucket list before, but i am glad to have learnt about it! wish i had a golden doodle to cuddle, but my fat cat will have to do π
liz says
June 6, 2016 at 11:02 amThis is a great idea!
This is my son’s last summer before kindergarten. I wish I could be with him more. π
Any ideas for doing this when your child and you are apart during the day?
Carla says
June 7, 2016 at 4:16 amWhat youve said reminds me of so many friends who have littles and are divorced. It seems all of them remind their children WE ARE BOTH HERE UNDER THE SAME SKY. LETS STARGAZE AT XXX’O CLOCK AND WE WILL KNOW WE ARE CONNECTED THEN type thing. I wonder if that would work at all for you? commit and plan but execute solo?
T.O. Weller says
June 6, 2016 at 11:11 amGreat idea, and I’m not surprised your daughter was pleased.
I have often wondered if we have become a little too obsessed with filling their days with a constant bustle of activity; children need down time to just play, imagine, and savor the world around them, just like we do!
I hope your summer is as beautiful as your bucket list suggests that it will be.
Carla says
June 7, 2016 at 4:15 amSO SO SO TRUE about the bustle and the busy. We are raising our children to glorify those B-WORDS just as we’ve somehow slipped into doing, too.
Rena McDaniel says
June 6, 2016 at 11:28 amWhat a great idea for a fun summer, I want to make one of my own now.
green diva meg says
June 6, 2016 at 1:24 pmwhat a great idea! starting my list now!
1010ParkPlace says
June 6, 2016 at 3:53 pmI like the concept of a mindful list, one that’s educational, entertaining and makes you think about someone other than yourselves. What a wonderful tradition that inspires kids as well.
Lisa @ RunWiki says
June 6, 2016 at 4:08 pmIt’s the first official day of summer and I can honestly … I need to find my zen or I’m not going to make it. I think I kind of over booked us for this first month and that we need to get into our summer routine, but damn it, my kids have so much energy…. she says in a whimpering voice. Help! haha!
emmaclaire says
June 6, 2016 at 4:13 pmThis is our first true “no-kid” summer, as Buddy goes off to his Air Force adventure and The Princess is staying in her college town, taking a summer class and working. The schedule seems to be filling up with other people’s stuff (the summer of weddings…), so I have been loath to schedule *anything* at all. A Mindful List sounds like it would be a great alternative, and benefits from not requiring any shopping, wrapping, mailing or even getting out of pajamas for π Thanks for the idea, Carla!
Carla says
June 7, 2016 at 4:14 amAnd after reading your comment a couple of times it has sparked me to think about how LIFE can become that as well. FILLED UP WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S STUFF. If we dont seize control and make it our own. <3
Michelle @ Running with Attitude says
June 6, 2016 at 7:21 pmI make a bucket list with my boys every summer – though it’s harder with my oldest away for overnight camp now for a good chunk of the summer. I love seeing the ideas they come up with – it’s so nice to have the unscheduled time together.
Laurie @ Musings, Rants & Scribbles says
June 7, 2016 at 1:03 pmI agree that big bucket lists can make us feel exhausted and inadequate, not to mention guilty! What if we don’t get to everything? I love a list of small, doable goals, which make us feel so much better. Wonderful advice. Thank you, Carla.
Lisa Orchard says
June 11, 2016 at 11:29 amWhat a great idea! I’m going to make a summer bucket list, too! Thanks for sharing with all of us! I’m stopping over from the Sits Girls!
GiGi Eats says
June 21, 2016 at 5:40 pmI need to go for a leisurely walk with no agenda or end point. It’s hard to do in Los Angeles though because walking outside here isn’t ALL that pleasant (at least where I live) because it’s all city streets. Now the hills are a different story, but I will wait until the temperatures get back to 80s and under! HA!