Ingredients Of Joy
Dear Friends,
Social unrest, economic hardship, isolation, fears of illness and natural disasters can take an emotional toll. Even if you are a little bit exhilarated by all this change, even if you are in a safe place in your life, it is still scary sometimes; and many are dealing with high daily anxiety levels and hardships. When thinking about how best to care for myself and my family, I am starting to mull over these two domains:
1) Is there any small (or big) ways we can all move towards more physical safety or security?
This might include activities such as...
- create a rainy day savings account where we throw $20 whenever we can.
- create a bulk food pantry
- grow some greens for the family
- create an emergency response plan, with neighbors
- move to/create a co-housing community, or cooperative-childcare, or collective food purchasing, or even a weekly meeting with your housemates.
- fire-wise your property
- develop a trade relationship with a good mechanic/ plumber /farmer /carpenter /roofer /cab driver/ healer
- move nearer to family
- make yourself super useful at work
- cook
- vote for politicians that encourage public safety nets
- fix your car up with great heating/cooling and tires
2) How can we all nurture more joy in our lives? The experience of joy comes, I believe, from these three ingredients:
A sense of meaning and purpose: What is most important to you, when the day is done? Who are you, really, underneath all the distractions and trends? What can you do in your life to express/move towards these deepest longings and values? How can you rearrange things to put more energy here?
A sense of place, of belonging, of connection: Who are your peeps? Where and with whom do you feel most at home? Who are your touchstones - the people or places on whom you depend, day to day for support, love and connection?
Self-care: positive self -talk, exercise, good food, mindfulness, riding your bike, time in nature, hot baths, walking the dog - whatever blows your hair back and keeps you sane.
So - these are the discussions I am having now with myself and my family. It's going to be a long winter. We have much ground to cover. So every day, I'm doing a little bit of this work.
And here is a cool speaker to keep us thinking along the way!
In solidarity,
Eliza Eller