Savoring Late Summer: Fully Experiencing the Season Within and Around Us

Andrea Niedererr
Aug 6
3 min read

There’s a particular feeling in the air during late summer—a golden stillness, heavy with ripeness and richness. The sun feels a little lower in the sky, the days a little slower, and yet there’s still time. This is the heart of summer’s fullness, and it invites us into an essential Gestalt practice: the art of fully experiencing the present moment.

In Gestalt therapy, we understand that deep healing and awareness arise not just from reflection, but from being here and now, in full contact with our sensations, emotions, and needs. Late summer is not yet a time of letting go—it’s a time to pause, appreciate, and fully take in what is.

The Cycle of Experience: A Gestalt Framework

At the core of Gestalt therapy is the cycle of experience, a model that describes how we naturally move through awareness and engagement with our inner and outer worlds. This cycle includes:

Sensation – Something stirs. A bodily feeling, a subtle emotion, a need arises.
Awareness – We begin to notice and name our experience. “I feel tired,” “I’m longing for connection.”
Mobilization – Our energy begins to build. We consider how to respond.
Action – We take a step toward meeting our need.
Contact – A moment of full engagement. We are immersed in the experience.
Satisfaction – We feel a sense of completion.
Withdrawal – We integrate the experience and return to rest.

This cycle plays out in big and small ways throughout our day, and late summer aligns closely with the “contact” and “satisfaction” phases—a peak of presence, followed by a deepening fullness.

Late Summer as a Metaphor for Contact and Satisfaction

Nature at this time is abundant, expressive, and ripe—mirroring the part of the experience cycle where we are in deep contact with life. It’s a time to feel, to taste, to listen, to be fully present.

But how often do we allow ourselves to truly do that?

In modern life, we often rush through or avoid contact. We skip over moments of satisfaction, reaching instead for the next distraction or demand. Gestalt therapy reminds us: completion only comes when we allow full contact with our experience. Late summer offers a natural setting to practice this.

How to Fully Experience Late Summer (and Yourself)

Here are a few Gestalt-informed ways to deepen your awareness during this phase of the season:

Savor sensory moments. Late summer is rich with texture—warm breezes, evening light, the taste of ripe fruit. What sensations are you aware of right now?
Tune into your body’s rhythms. Are you energized or slowing down? What does your body want? More movement? More stillness?
Name your needs. What are you needing from this moment, this day, this season? Connection? Solitude? Creativity?
Make meaningful contact. Spend intentional time with people or places that matter to you. Let yourself be truly present.
Notice what feels complete. What have you experienced this summer that feels “enough”? What can you let settle?

This practice of presence—of truly tasting the season—is what allows us to move through life in wholeness, rather than fragmentation.

Gestalt Therapy and the Wisdom of the Seasons

While the cycle of seasons mirrors the Gestalt cycle of experience, late summer uniquely holds the energy of fullness and contact. There’s no need yet to rush into letting go. Instead, we are invited to linger, to notice, and to fully inhabit what is here before us.

Being human means experiencing life in cycles. When we slow down enough to live each phase fully, we reduce anxiety, increase integration, and deepen self-awareness. That’s the Gestalt way.

Final Thoughts

This late summer, I invite you to pause and ask yourself: Where am I in my own cycle of experience? Am I in contact with what I truly feel and need? Have I allowed myself to enjoy what is, before moving on to what’s next?

If you’re interested in exploring these questions more deeply, or in learning how to stay more connected to your experience throughout the year, I’d be honored to work with you.