MZD - Ep 68 Joy!

“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive you will see it.” ~ Thich Naht Hanh

Welcome to Day 18!

How are you doing today? Is your life going the way you want it to? Are you finding joy in the moment? Or are you wishing you could be a little happier and a little more joyful?

Joy is found in the simplest of things, a beautiful sunrise or sunset, a rushing river or a sweetly babbling brook, dew on the grass in a meadow where a deer and her newborn fawn are grazing, or the dazzling white snow on a majestic mountaintop. Joy comes in all shapes and sizes, colors and flavors, but the most important thing about joy is that it can be found at anytime, anywhere, and by anyone; even animals wild and domestic.

Here in the Rocky Mountains I’ve witnessed elk calves, and even grown bull elk playing and skipping and jumping, and rolling and splashing and pawing in puddles and glacier melt just for the joy of it. Our horses rear up and start chasing each other in a mad dash of joy, for seemingly no other reason than for sheer joy.

You can analyze it and talk about it, but until you’ve experienced it, joy is actually difficult to grasp in tangible terms. More than a mere feeling, it involves a sense of well-being and that all is right with the world. Working closely in conjunction with faith, joy believes that ultimately in the end, everything will turn out the way it should. And yet, joy doesn’t really involve deep thoughts at all…it just is.

As Thich Naht Hanh points out, joy is found in the present moment. Spending that present moment in our natural environment, out in nature is the surest way to go directly to the source and find joy almost instantly.It is a direct hit to the soul.

I believe this is one reason we love to go camping or vacationing in the mountains or at the ocean or seaside. In these places joy is always so readily available, not just because of the place we are in, but due to the fact that when we are there, we can look past the circumstances of our lives and live in the moment. Here, joy just naturally bubbles to the top, reassuring us that it has always been there deep inside. It’s just a part of who we are and how we were made.

Look back at your childhood and try to remember some of your greatest moments of joy.

One of my fondest memories is helping my grandmother pick grapes and blackberries, raspberries and string beans from her simple, home-grown garden in West Virginia. I remember helping her snap the string beans in half and get them ready for cooking. Something about the sensory experience, smelling the fresh-hoed dirt and fresh earthy vegetables; getting the juice from the berries all over my hands and mouth; hearing the crisp snap of the green beans as we broke them in half and placed them in a pile to be cooked. Even just the simple memory of it brings a smile to my face and places me back in the moment of joy as if it were just yesterday.

 

Another simple, free and readily available direct route to joy is by learning to play and explore in nature.

When we are playing, we are in the moment, not worried about the past or the future.

 

Playing king of the hill, climbing construction dirt mounds, throwing dirt clods and watching them “poof” in a puff of smoke as they hit their target, climbing saplings as high as we could and bending them over and riding them back down to the ground far below, jumping on the trampoline, collecting spiders and fireflies in jars, scavenger hunts, hide and seek, freeze tag, red rover, steal the bacon, sardines, eye spy, and capture the flag were among my favorite games to play outside as a kid.

Swimming in the Great Cacapon River in West Virginia, camping, hiking, caving, canoeing and kayaking… all of these filled me with a sense of joy and wonder and exhilaration!

Is this bringing back any memories for you? Can you feel the joy of those memories well up from deep inside?

Not only is joy accessible in the doing, but in the recalling of memories.

I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking it’s time to get outside and make some new memories out in the wild, wonderful world of Nature.

So hit the trail today and just have fun!

 

Checklist for Day 18

☐ MEDITATION:Day 18 – “Joy" (Playing in Nature) (You can listen to this meditation on iTunes or here at Mountain Zen Den.)

☐ NATURE WALK: 20 minutes walking, running, skipping, jumping, playing. Search for joy in the present moment. Find joy in everything.

☐ JOURNAL: Spend a few minutes writing about your favorite joy memories as a kid. What brings you the most joy these days? What joyful moments are you most grateful for today?

Post your pictures, experiences, observations and questions, and share them on our 21-Day Nature Challenge Facebook Community Group page.

See you back here tomorrow!