Surprised by Joy

“The key to nature's therapy is feeling like a tiny part of it, not a master over it. There's amazing pride in seeing a bee land on a flower you planted - but that's not your act of creation, it's your act of joining in.” -Victoria Coren Mitchell

So often we find ourselves rushing through our day that we miss much of what is happening around us. In your everyday life things can easily become routine and you rarely notice. It becomes a life on auto-pilot. Alternatively, we become so busy and so rushed to get to the next task that we do not notice what is around us. This is living life “in a blur”. Both of these ways of living tend to turn the world dull and grey overtime. There is no place for color, no time to look around.

When you take the time to walk and look around, you will be startled by what you see. This principle was driven home for me one day on my travels. Due to my thrifty nature, and my youth at the time, I would walk everywhere. I was backpacking through Istanbul and met up with a lady from Singapore about my age, but she came from a wealthier background. It was nice traveling with her because she upgraded our hotel rooms (from the hostels I was used to). In turn I encouraged her to join me for walks. After the second day of walking around, she exclaimed “I can’t believe how wonderful this is!” I thought she was going to tell me about the markets or architecture, but she said “You see so much more when you walk around.” It is true. In all of her travels she would take cabs everywhere and she missed so much of the city that way.

Walking is a wonderful way to be intentional and even to learn about yourself. For clarity’s sake, when I talk about walking I am thinking more about an ambling stroll not an 8-minute mile power walk type of walk. When you take a walk, I encourage you to relax and to let your eyes wander and be present in the moment. When you do, I believe you will be surprised by joy.

One of the patterns I have found in human nature is that our attention is often drawn to what we like. We often do it subconsciously. I like plants and animals, so when I walk and allow myself to be present in the moment and alert in my senses, I find my attention is always drawn to the flowers and animals around me. It brings me great joy to see a lizard, or a bird, or a new plant blooming. These joys are unexpected because there is no guarantee that what was present on my last walk will be there again. A friend of mine likes rocks, and his attention often goes to the rocks around the area. Another friend fancies himself an architect and is drawn to the building structures and designs. No matter what the interest, you attention will be drawn to it and you will find yourself surprised and joyful over an unexpected find.

On this holiday weekend, we encourage you to take a walk and be present in the moment. Dare to take the time to be surprised by joy.

The journey continues…

#Intentionality #Paradigm