Embracing Joy Amidst Sorrow

Curious young robin in the shadows

I am grateful for the soft pitter-patter of rain that breaks a dry spell. Each drop is a gift from the skies that washes away the stress of dryness. We had a drought this spring, and our garden suffered. I had to water daily to keep the vegetables alive. Watering with city water keeps them going, but something is missing. The plants do not look good despite ample water. When the rains finally come, it is such a relief for me and the plants. We are both delighted. They respond with lush new growth. I respond with gratitude and appreciation for the mysterious nature of the qualitatively different water and the ensuing dark green unfurling leaves that emanate health and vigor.

Glorious rain

The rain enters the soil and an ancient alchemy nourishes the plants. My spirits rise as fast as the growing tip of a tomato plant in July. Life is feeding on life in the soil, mutualism unbound, the way of the world. I want to enter into this mutual relationship, play my part, and learn to see and engage proactively. 

Our imperfections and shortcomings can fall away in the garden to be recycled in the soil. Something new and beautiful can emerge, like a pristine seedling glistening in the sun.  

The honeybees fly off with my regrets. Once sour thoughts are now sweet as honey. The Monarch butterflies show me the meaning of hope and perseverance. The chickadees lift the veil over my heart. Their constant cheerfulness is contagious. The house wren shows me how to marshall moxy and protect what is most important. Namely, our capacity to experience joy amidst sorrow.

House Wren

We cannot let the merely clever destroy the world and our capacity for wonder. The richest one percent are leading us astray. They are unmoored from reality, lost in a greed-filled dream. All of their solutions create more problems. They have long since abandoned common sense, and their way of being only works if you ignore the most important things, like our shared humanity. They manufacture cheap goods, precariousness, and scarcity. They expect us to abide by their misguided rules, but there is another way. 

Leaders with a certain measure of empathy, compassion, wisdom, and grace are emerging in response to the challenges that we face. People who understand that nature has limits and that we are not mechanical widgets. We are not here just to take, but also to give. Maybe even to give more than we take. To build connections and community across boundaries between diverse people and species. To widen our circle of compassion and extend care to all of life. 

I know a better way to be. I am a gardener. I know how much food and joy a small patch of land can produce. I know that an organic heirloom tomato is a vastly superior experience for the mind and body compared to an industrial tomato. My taste buds tell me so. My taste buds also revel in the sweet-tart explosion of tantalizing flavor in old varieties of apples. Come walk through my garden, you can eat the apples.

My garden is overflowing with little joys. I pick them and fill up my harvest basket until it is positively vibrating with life. Sharing my harvest with others fosters connection and inner peace. One by one, we can create an epidemic of sharing joy. I take great solace from the friendship of fellow agrarians and the natural world. We share delicious companionship and food that we have grown. Food that has been tended and harvested by berry-stained hands.

Our connection is as tangible and vibrant as a hummingbird foraging in the rain. 

Walk through your yard, open to new ways of being, and look for opportunities to mend the places you can touch. Savor the small things and open your mind to new experiences. Be happy for no reason. Your old thoughts are just thoughts. You do not have to believe them; you can watch them come and go like a butterfly on the wind. Learn to settle into and act upon a deep and abiding sense of security in your own inherent goodness. Act from this place, be kind to yourself and others, and watch that kindness grow. An ever-enlarging circle of kindness that manifests the inherent goodness in people. The more you are kind, the more the world bestows kindness upon you. 

Embrace joy and gratitude that we are alive at this moment. It is a miracle; we are a miracle. There is much to be grateful for; delight is hiding in the shadows.

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that's what God wants.
Otherwise, the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything….

Jack Gilbert

To learn more about how to intentionally bring more joy into your life see Tara Brach’s podcast on Rewiring for Happiness and Freedom. Compliment Brach’s podcast with Kevin Kelly’s Excellent Advice for Living and Ross Gay’s Inciting Joy and The Book of Delights.