Resting from our labor...

Joy! AWM

Covid forced me to rest this past week. On the first day I thought, I got this – I’ll be back in order in three days. Then there was the fourth day, and the fifth… “All you can do is rest” I was told. “Yeah, but what am I getting out of this time,” I wondered. So I moved slower (or not at all). My days were in slow motion – I completed some small projects, finished reading a book, and let go of expectations.

And then the unexpected came from a simple sentence in the book I was reading. “Yet she knew how to bring joy into her daily life.”[1] This one sentence captured my attention and made me wonder about myself. Am I taking myself and the complexities of this world so seriously that I forget to notice the joy…or remember that joy is why I do it (whatever “it” is mine to do)? As I rested, I sat with joy. The word itself, joy, makes me smile – we use it so infrequently. Yet deep within I feel it. Joy comes when I watch the rabbit nibble its way across my patch of yard for its early morning breakfast; when a little person’s arms wrap around my neck in an energetic hug; when I create an especially yummy and colorful meal. And when I finally got out of the house and was greeted with a big hug from a young friend, I let him know seeing him brought me joy and then he seemed to find it, too.

I forgot that why I share, why I am passionate about addressing the inequities in our systems, is because I want to create space where others can experience joy, too. Joy expands when it is shared. Imagine! Imagine a community full of joy even amid the challenges of getting along. My inner critic wants to squelch my imagination – “it’s too big a dream.” Hmmm. Yeah, it is a big dream. But without imagining something new, we will never make a move toward it.

I received a gift from covid after all because there was nothing I could do but pay attention to the moment. Bringing joy into my daily life takes practice – to hush the critic on my shoulder telling me joy is selfish, then to notice joy, take moments to nurture it, and let joy strengthen everything else I do.

Thanks for listening – I need accountability partners! Besides, I smile with joy knowing you are there.

in this together…

[1] Valarie Kaur, See No Stranger: A memoir and manifesto of revolutionary love (New York: One World, 2021), 261.