Woof Woof

The Dog Days always catch me by surprise.

It happens every year around this time, usually in early August, though most of July is included. I think the early part of August is particularly intense, perhaps, because it's been going on so long and we're ready for the heat and humidity to break. 

The Dog Days of Summer get their name from the bright star Sirius and its annual time of rising with the sun from July 3 through August 11. The summer solstice and its longest day signals the coming of the sultry days of summer a few weeks later, with their heat and humidity and their effects on people. 

By the time we get to August and a month of this weather, summer has become intense and stifling, and the heat and humidity leave us feeling lethargic, inactive, and indolent. 

In the ancient times of the Greeks and Romans, the Dog Days were associated with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck. For the ancient  Egyptians, the star's return to the night sky was the precursor for the annual flooding of the Nile River. 

Bright points of light in the night sky were often guideposts in the ancient world. They helped people to define cycles and to prepare for the things people felt they needed to prepare for.

Medieval European medical guides point to this time as a time to refrain from heavy activity, sex, and heavy meals. Early American farmers put stock in this time of year as well and preferred a dry season to a wet season. 

Reading over the folklore around these days was as illuminating as the star itself, one of the brightest in the night sky.

I've noticed a lot of people talking about the weather lately and joking about how some months from now the cold weather will be as difficult to contend with then as the hot weather is now. 

I'm thinking about the first line of this post and how the Dog Days always seem to catch me by surprise. It's not that I don't notice the heat and humidity before the early weeks of August. I think I simply hit a tippling point with them around this time. Until I looked it up today, I did not realize that July was included, and that most of the "dog days" fall during July. Our temperatures are in the 90s this week, except for the days that we're expecting thunderstorms. Last week the temps were in the 90s. I can't seem to remember when the temps were in anything but the 90s and I find myself laughing at myself in this realization.  

I think the more powerful realization for me as I'm thinking about all this is how temperate and moderate a person I am. I thrive with balance. With moderation. Extremes are difficult for me to tolerate. 

The question, then, becomes -

How do I bring myself back into balance when I am affected by extremes, my own or others'? 

And how do I capitalize on the times when balance is the norm? 

Perhaps my questions are the same as the ancients' - perhaps they noticed these patterns so they could plan for their greatest effectiveness and so that the times when there were extremes did not catch them by surprise. 





The Summer of Self-Love is a daily writing practice created to harness three months for thriving. The goal at the end is to host a dinner party. Sounds like an odd Hero's Journey, doesn't it? Most of them usually are. 


Photo: Kevin Key