Following

Over the weekend, we saw our kids from Palo Alto.  Sunday morning was one of those perfect times, when everything seemed to just flow from one wonderful experience to another.  First, our son made crepes for breakfast.  They were wonderful, no matter how they were eaten.  Liam filled his with sugar, then carefully folded it over in half, adding more sugar, then in quarters, adding even more sugar.  I filled mine with fresh fruit and yogurt.  Then Liam and Grandpa worked in the shop (their favorite thing) fixing up the water bottle rockets for launching.  There were so many adjustments made so carefully and Liam can talk about each new change.  He’s really into explaining the recently added parachutes.  That flowed right into shooting off the rockets from our patio.  It’s fun to see Liam be such an expert with such a technical looking apparatus.  He totally owns it and still gets great joy out of every part of the experience.  As the clouds parted, we left to go explore the nearby Botanical Garden and have a picnic there.  At the Garden, I followed Liam around.  The Garden is at its best, if you’re a kid, just as a place to explore.  There are lots of hidden paths, secluded by lush vegetation’s and bright flowers.  The paths go up and down the hills, with many steps and a creek that meanders through.  Liam looked at the newts, ran down the path into the redwoods, walked over the bridge twice and generally followed his father’s mantra of “exploring new areas.”  I followed.  It

gave me great pleasure to do so, gently guiding him back to where Grandpa and Arne were waiting for us to eat the picnic lunch in the Bamboo forest.  He’d never eaten a picnic lunch in a Bamboo forest before.  When you’re six, lots of things are new.

Remembering

I’ve been remembering the many Easters I’ve celebrated in my life.  Growing up, Easter meant family dinners, candy and joyous church celebrations.  As a child, it was a special family day.  Dad would order orchid coursages for my grandmother, my great aunts, my mother and once in a while, for me too.  We’d all wear them to our home church, the Alhambra Church of Religious Science.  I remember feeling very special with my beautiful flower and new clothes.  We’d have a big fancy ham dinner with all the relatives.  Later, my grandmother’s friends, Walt and Helen Linsky, would visit bringing chocolate eggs for us.  Later after I married, I remember enthusiastically inviting friends over for special Easter brunches with heart shaped waffles and fresh strawberries and whipped cream. As our children arrived and grew, we hid Easter eggs and had a special big Easter dinner, very often with friends.  Now, I appreciate the meaning of Easter.  It is a day to celebrate bright renewed hope and the power of love overcoming even death.  Even though  I don’t believe in a physical resurrection, today I celebrate the Easter mystery by working in my garden nurturing new life.

Cultivating Joy

I’ve been ruminating about joy recently.  I encountered an extremely joyful person at church recently and I can’t stop thinking about her.  I’m wondering if one can cultivate joy or does it just appear at random moments?  Joy is different from happiness.  I think of happiness as dependent on pleasure especially getting what one wants, e.g.  I am happy I have a new garden.  Joy is a state of being, deeper than an emotion and not rational at all, but rather flowing from some deep well within us.  Joy isn’t dependent on circumstances or even on one’s will.  The Bible explains Joy as a fruit of the Spirit.  But can one cultivate joy?  I know joy when it when I see it in others and it is very attractive.  When I recall joyful people I’ve seen and I know I want what they have.  If joy is a spiritual gift, can one cultivate joy by cultivating one’s spirit?  I think so.  One can meditate daily (a practice I’m trying to begin, bit by bit) and only time will tell if it provides nurture for joy to appear.  One can read spiritual books or articles or even the Bible.  One can stop focusing on negative news and do the best one can in controlling the input to one’s mind.  I alone am responsible for seeking spiritual gifts, for seeking joy and cultivating it through positive practices.  Let the joy flow!