This morning I had a treat. While working in my office I noticed a downy woodpecker on one of the feeders that hang outside my office window. And I noticed another downy woodpecker clinging to the pole that the feeder is hanging from. As I watched I noticed the bird from the feeder go over to the bird on the pole, then go back to the feeder, and once again back to the pole. I realized that I was seeing a parent feeding it’s offspring. Though the bird clinging to the pole was the same size as the parent, when it fluttered off of the pole I could see that it was just learning to fly. It was fascinating to see how the young bird still had much to learn about flying.
Watching the birds this morning reminded me about the importance of
Choosing Joy
I am so very happy with my decision to invest in a good bird feeder pole and in my decision to place it right outside my office window. It was one of those joy-bringing decisions that makes me wonder why I didn’t do it sooner. The number and variety of birds that visit my feeders is astonishing me.
Not only are the feeders bringing me joy, they are also providing great entertainment to my cat Gracie, who sits on the table in front of the window watching the birds.
I had been wanting put up a bird feeding pole for a number of years but found multiple excuses and reasons not to. This experience of putting off doing something that I wanted to do and then finally doing it and getting great joy from it is a lesson for me.
Joy is not logical
It does not tally like the numbers in an account book. Joy is easy to put off. It’s also easy to reason away the longings of your own heart.
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
―
I have found for myself that I often put off or don’t choose joy for really stupid reasons. One of my biggest stupid reasons is not wanting to be a bother or feeling that I’m asking too much. And then there is the fear of failure—for example, with the bird feeder pole, what if the raccoons figure out a way to get at the feeders or will the squirrels outsmart me and eat all of the bird food? Another stupid reason that I often get caught up in is feeling that I don’t deserve whatever it is that I think will bring me joy.
Choosing joy is a tricky thing in our culture, because we are taught to want things and stuff that rarely bring real joy. How does one discern between choosing things that are true joy bringers and things that simply distract us from our pain?
I wish there was an easy answer to that question. Usually I find that practicing presence is a key part of choosing joy for me. Listening to my body tells me more about what brings me joy than anything else. But in order to listen to it, I need to get quiet enough to hear it.
Simply swinging on my deck swing and feeling the soft breeze on my skin, or taking a walk in the woods under the tall trees brings me a sense of wholeness. This was not always true for me. For much of my life I was not in touch with my body. It has been a long journey of learning to feel and understand what is going on in my body.
Mr. Duffy lived a short distance from his body.
— James Joyce
I also believe in noticing what brings me wonder and gratitude. When I began making photographs I began noticing that gazing at the natural world fills me with awe and wonder. Looking up at the night skies, listening to the frogs in the pond in springtime, watching the cycles of nature. As I sought out more experiences that filled me with awe I learned more about choosing joy.
You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living.
My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.”
― Into the Wild
How often do you choose joy in your life? I find that choosing joy is not about spending a lot of money on things but on simple decisions that lean into what makes me smile or doing what really interests me. Making photographs is one of my biggest joy bringers but I’ve discovered that my photography is woven into my deep love of nature.
Yesterday I walked from our house over to French Regional Park and down to Medicine Lake with my camera. I found such beauty photographing ordinary things in nature like a cluster of oak leaves or a single flower with leaves.
May you choose joy today.
May you walk in beauty.
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