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March 29, 2006
Joy to the world
Editor’s note: I am filling in for TJ while he is at an undisclosed location without Dick Cheney. Full Disclosure: I am a terrible editor and speller.
"When is the last time you experienced joy?”
I was asked this by an acquaintance (ok my shrink) the other day. What a simple question but what a complicated answer. Or is it?
I am something of a nature freak. I love the outdoors, whether hiking, biking, rollerblading, landscaping, skinny dipping or just walking down the street. As long as I am outside the world tends to melt away and I’m in a state of bliss. I mention this because I really pondered this question of joy and I kept coming back to moments when I was outside. I realized joy for me is not necessarily the experience which is tangible rather it was often simply a small occurrence in my day which had I not bothered to observe, would have simply passed me by.
As you may suspect I have experienced a lot of psychobabble lately and being a thinker I have been thinking a lot and I mean a lot. When I recall experiencing joy, the moments that I remember are not long periods of time, or “significant” events they are all small instances of wonder.
Walking down the street with me can be trying. I am always looking around, observing architecture, trees, clouds, flowers and men (I am gay after all). Just a few weeks ago I saw a red hawk (the second time that week) in the heart of our very urban neighborhood. I stopped on the sidewalk and gazed up at him on his perch above a limestone gargoyle on a gothic church. People passed me, rushing toward there final destination oblivious to this creature above us. In this instant I was sharing a moment with this beautiful bird. He was gazing at me gazing at him.
Now I realize most people would not care about this but I just am amazed at the vitality of this bird here in an urban neighborhood adapting to our habitat. Hell it’s hard enough to live here as a man never mind a bird of pray. In this small instance I was not Rob who has had some really trying moments I was just another creature on this planet. What am I trying to say? I am not even sure (I told you I am thinker) I just know in that moment life did not seem like such an obstacle.
So think about it, “When was the last time you experienced joy?”
Posted by durban bud at March 29, 2006 11:41 AM
Comments
This brings back memories of Clarice... awwwww poor birdie I miss her!
Posted by: TOS at March 29, 2006 09:36 PM
I'm a lot like you, I think. I love hiking. (And skinny dipping!) I love to just go for a hike alone and think and observe nature, especially when it is very hot outside. It really clears my head. I usually take my camera along and snap away at the most random boring (to everyone else at least) things. That always brings me joy.
Posted by: Bubala at March 30, 2006 10:07 AM
I like your posts, Rob. The first time I went to Yosemite, I felt the same way...it was kind of spiritual and I'm spiritual at all...
Posted by: Matt at March 30, 2006 12:25 PM
i think those moments of simple joy, such as the one you noted b/w you and the red hawk, are sort of our innate 'reset' buttons; they stop *everything* else in our lives for a moment and we refexively put *everything* on hold while we focus on nothing - and everything. a beautiful moment of centering, bringing us back, closer to balance. sound like a lot of psychobabble? maybe. but it makes sense to me.
robby rocks.
Posted by: t.todd at April 1, 2006 06:09 AM
can't wait for more.......
Posted by: pam at April 1, 2006 03:25 PM
That's a nice thought, I like how you wrote it. I gave up on shrinks asking me the questions and just started doing it myself. I'm much the same in my appreciation of the world as a form of joy, I've watched a hawk catch a squirrel and I've followed animal tracks to their burrow. To me what makes it great is the feeling on a connection with other life, and a sense of amazement at the multitude of ways to make it in the world. I hope your man is doing well. Keep your chin up
Posted by: Tim at April 3, 2006 01:54 PM