Share the joy

I don't know about you, but for me the words "Field Trip!" have been a sort of siren call ever since I was young enough to go on one.

So despite the driving wind and rain, I joined a few other intrepid souls on Monday for an excursion to one of my favorite parts of Washington State: the Skagit Valley.

I did this particular trip (an annual event) a few years back, but this time -- despite the rain (which did eventually stop) -- was even more wonderful.  I came back with a lovely new painting (now hanging by the front door), a new friend, and a camera full of photos -- including this one.  Doesn't it look like I've just been back to Italy?

Joy, I think, is where you find it.  And where you find it is pretty much wherever you choose to look; it's more an attitude than an event. 

And this morning, in my reading from Pema Chodron's Comfortable with Uncertainty, I was reminded that one of my most important jobs is to share what joy I find.  "The joy that you feel, the sense of being able to open up and let go, also becomes a way you connect with others.  On the out-breath you say, 'Let me give away anything good or true that I ever feel, any sense of humor, any sense of enjoying the sun coming up and going down, any sense of delight in the world at all, so that everybody else may share in this and feel it.' "

I've been so tangled up lately in concerns about what I am or am not called to do and be in the world, whether I should be in school, whether I'm on the right path, whether or not I still have or still could or should use leadership skills.  It's lovely to just step away from all that worry about the future; to step back into now, enjoy the moment, and share.

Yes the economy has gone to hell in a handbasket.  Yes, all of my household is still unemployed and our savings are dwindling.  Yes, I should be considering returning to work.  Yes, I should maximize my skills and experience.  But yes: now is good, too, and while I'm here and feeling it, I can share the joy.

Whew!  Let's just try and take it one day at a time, and let the rest fall into place in its own time. 

Trust, my friends.

Just trust.