As the heat of August arrives… I have noticed how easy it is to absorb the external noise around us and begin anticipating how difficult something might be before we’ve even experienced it ourselves. It reminded me how valuable it is to keep returning to our own reality rather than somebody else’s. For many of us, the weather has simply invited a different conversation with ourselves. We may need to drink a little more, seek some shade, slow our pace, or notice that our body tires more quickly than usual. None of those things are a problem to solve; they’re simply information. Our bodies are asking for something different because the conditions around us have changed. I wonder how often this happens in other areas of our lives too. It can be easy to become caught up in the noise around us, whether that’s other people’s opinions, the news, social media, or simply the pace of everyday life. Before long, we can lose sight of our own experience. One of the things I have found most helpful over the years is making time to pause long enough to ask, How am I? Not because I expect something to be wrong, but because