Discover five intentional pillars of summer wellbeing—including books, podcasts, films, faith, stewardship, and nervous system healing—to nourish the whole person.
Curating a Summer That Nourishes the Whole Person
If June was about slipping into summer, July feels like learning how to live inside it.
The softness has settled in now. The novelty of the season has worn off, and what remains is something quieter, steadier, and more intentional.
I’ve noticed that my habits—what I read, watch, listen to, and even the small rituals I practice—have shifted again.
Not away from summer, but deeper into it.
Where early summer felt like easing into softness, mid-summer feels like discovering a rhythm within that softness. A gentle framework that supports the life I’m trying to cultivate.
Lately, I’ve found myself reading in sets of five.
It wasn’t something I intentionally planned. It simply began to happen, and once I noticed the pattern, I realized it reflected exactly what I needed this season.
Each reading cycle now includes five areas of wellbeing:
- Fiction to nourish imagination
- Emotional wellness and nervous system healing
- Spiritual growth
- Financial stewardship
- Physical health
Together, they remind me that true wellbeing isn’t found by focusing on just one area of life. It grows as we care for the whole person.
1. Fiction: The Doorway Into Story
Fiction is where I begin.
It loosens something in me. It opens my imagination again. It reminds me that life is larger than today’s responsibilities and tomorrow’s to-do list.
Stories invite wonder.
They create space for possibility.
Sometimes they gently remind us that healing doesn’t always arrive through instruction—it can also arrive through imagination.
2. Emotional Wellness: Learning to Regulate, Not Just Endure
The second category turns inward.
This summer I’ve continued exploring nervous system healing, emotional regulation, and the patterns we carry without always realizing they exist.
These aren’t necessarily easy books.
But they are deeply nourishing.
They invite me to move beyond merely surviving toward learning how to feel safe, regulated, and at home within myself.
3. Spiritual Growth: Re-centering the Inner Life
The third pillar brings me back to spiritual grounding.
These books help reorient my heart toward faith, hope, wisdom, and the quiet presence of God in ordinary life.
Not every page offers answers.
But many offer perspective.
They remind me where my true foundation rests when everything else feels uncertain.
4. Financial Stewardship: Reframing Enough
Financial wellness has taken on new meaning for me this year.
Rather than focusing primarily on investing, wealth building, or stock market strategies, I’ve become more interested in stewardship.
How do I wisely care for what I already have?
How do I practice generosity?
How do I cultivate contentment?
How do I define “enough”?
These questions feel far more life-giving than constantly pursuing more.
5. Physical Health: Caring for the Body That Faithfully Carries Me Through Life
The fifth pillar is physical health.
This summer I’ve become especially interested in foot health.
It may seem like an ordinary place to begin, but our feet literally support us every single day. They carry us through our homes, our work, our walks, our adventures, and all the ordinary moments in between.
I’ve been learning more about strengthening my feet, improving mobility, and caring for a bunion in hopes of slowing—or perhaps even reversing—its progression.
Caring for the body—the vessel that faithfully carries me through life—has become another expression of stewardship.
Sometimes caring well begins at ground level.
Current Reading
My reading stack has grown throughout the summer, but nearly every title finds its place within one of these five pillars.
Fiction
- The Sum of Our Days
- The Wind Knows My Name
Emotional Wellness
- The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy
- Tools to Regulate Your Nervous System
Spiritual Growth
- A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23
- Soul Mastery
- Sacred Self-Care: Daily Practices for Nurturing Our Whole Selves
- Sacred Self: A Journey to Embrace Feminine Wholeness Through Nurturing the Body, Mind, and Soul
Financial Stewardship
- Enough: True Measure of Money, Business, and Life
- Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity
Physical Health
- Foot Health Practitioner
Taken together, these books feel like they’re all participating in the same conversation:
Safety in the body.
Peace in the mind.
Grounding in the spirit.
Wisdom with resources.
Stewardship of the body.
They are not separate pursuits.
They are different expressions of the same journey toward wholeness.
What I’m Watching
My viewing has continued to lean toward stories that feel emotionally restorative and, in many ways, quietly magical.
I’m still making my way through Jane the Virgin—all 100 episodes of it!
I also revisited Encanto and Coco while some little visitors were in town. Although often thought of as family films, both beautifully weave together memory, family, identity, and magical realism.
Other recent favorites include Field of Dreams and About Time—two stories that gently explore love, time, legacy, and what truly matters.
Apparently my subconscious is still enjoying its Summer of Magical Realism.
Music
One unexpected discovery this month has been Luis Blasi Reggae on Facebook.
I stumbled across his music almost by accident, drawn in by lyrics that felt encouraging, grateful, hopeful, and life-giving.
There’s something refreshing about music that quietly lifts your spirit.
An unexpected bonus? His music isn’t available on iTunes, so there was no temptation to purchase it during my No Buy July.
Sometimes contentment shows up in unexpected ways.
Podcasts
I’m nearly caught up on Spirit Outspoken, which has remained one of my favorite companions throughout the summer.
As my reading expanded into financial stewardship and nervous system healing, I also began looking for podcasts that echoed those same themes.
Two newer discoveries have been:
- Get Good with Spending
- The Nourished Nervous System
I’m looking forward to exploring both more deeply in the weeks ahead.
Small Seasonal Rituals
One of my favorite discoveries this summer has been homemade mango sorbet.
Making it myself is something new.
Mangoes are plentiful this time of year, and learning to enjoy what is seasonally available feels like another quiet practice of stewardship.
Simple.
Refreshing.
Enough.
Sometimes those three words belong together.
What I’m Noticing
What I’m noticing most is that I no longer consume books, podcasts, music, or movies simply for entertainment.
I’m becoming much more intentional.
Each one nourishes a different part of me:
- Story for imagination.
- Emotional healing for regulation.
- Spiritual reading for grounding.
- Stewardship for financial wisdom.
- Physical health for caring well for the body.
It feels less like consuming content.
And more like cultivating a life.
Closing Reflection
If June was about giving myself permission to slip into summer, July has been about learning how to stay here.
Not through striving.
Not through productivity.
But through rhythm.
Through gentleness.
Through practices that quietly support the person I’m becoming.
Healing doesn’t always arrive through dramatic breakthroughs.
Sometimes it comes through small, repeated acts of care.
A good book.
An encouraging podcast.
A meaningful film.
Music that lifts the spirit.
A bowl of homemade mango sorbet on a warm afternoon.
Perhaps stewardship isn’t only about managing our money.
Perhaps it’s also about stewarding our attention.
Our habits.
Our health.
Our imagination.
Our souls.
This summer, that has become one of the greatest gifts I’ve received.