As spring greens are popping everywhere and electric green glows even on a cloudy rainy day I feel
Vast Joy
just to be alive.
Every day, I walk out into the world
to be dazzled, then to be reflective.
— Mary Oliver
This morning I read a newsletter from meditation teacher and psychologist, Tara Brach. The subject was joy. How perfect!
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how joy requires me to be present and accepting of everything in life — including the pain, suffering, and violence.
Joy arises when we are open to both the beauty and suffering inherent in living. Like a great sky that includes all different types of weather, joy is an expansive quality of presence. It says yes to life, no matter what!
— Tara Brach
Yesterday I watched a video of a presentation by Maine photographer, Peter Ralston. As I listened to him talk about why he made photographs, I felt that the subject was once again, joy. His description of why he made photographs was the closest to my own experience of why I make photographs. He talked about how when he went out with his camera he entered a different kind of consciousness, of seeing beauty.
This is how I feel when I take a walk with my camera. I enter a different state of consciousness and I see differently—in a way that is expansive and nourishing. Everyone has their own way of experiencing vast joy. I believe that joy is necessary.
More mothering, more joy
On this cloudy Mother’s Day, I suggest that you think about mothering as an activity that anyone can do. We can all tend and befriend family, neighbors, and the earth. And I suggest that we look for ways of experiencing vast joy in the everyday activities of our lives.
May you walk in beauty.
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