vegeater.com

Living Joyfully

June 17, 2008 – 6:27 pm

Went driving around our city today. Had to cross the river. So many businesses are flooded. So many homes damaged or ruined. Cropland swamped. Roads and bridges destroyed. Lives and careers set back.

I feel beset. Our economy is faltering (it is built on lies. see the book: Deep Economics by Bill McKibben), our nation is at war, our climate and environment are in crisis, natural disasters occur regularly. Is this new or am I just now noticing it? I keep wondering about the future, and having mini panic attacks, and thinking Do we have enough insurance? And Am I crazy? I just quit my job, a steady income, in what I perceive to be a very unsteady time.

But, wait. I refuse to live in fear. I refuse to succumb to the culture of fear. So hard to choose joy sometimes. But it’s times like these, when either the world is crumbling or I think it is, that I remember that joy is a choice –living lightly and joyfully is a way, a path I choose deliberately, and must re-choose each morning, and it must not be circumstantial.

So, again, I grab hold of joy, however small. Accepting the imperfections, even the tragedies, I turn my eyes to the joys of the day. Here are some of the joys of this day: The cup of coffee. The fruit. The smell of clover. The bright dry day. The car-ride with Hubs. The phone-call from friend. The falafel. The walk. The dog’s cold nose. The water in the glass.