How to Live in Joy

Summary

Trista finds joy in daily life during lockdown by embracing nature's lessons, exemplified by a rainy day's reminder to keep growing and flourishing.

Abstract

In the midst of a lockdown in Oregon, Trista embarks on a 30-day journey to find and share joy. On Day 13, despite the typical rainy weather, she ventures outside and draws inspiration from the garden's resilience and growth. She reflects on nature's unrelenting cycle of renewal, likening it to the human choice to either stagnate or continue developing. Trista decides to emulate nature by being present in the world, sharing her gifts, and growing personally and professionally. She encourages others to find joy and express gratitude for nature's teachings.

Opinions

Trista believes that nature's persistence in its cycle of renewal is a metaphor for human resilience and growth.
She emphasizes the importance of showing up and sharing one's talents, akin to plants displaying their flowers.
The author values the act of journaling as a tool for personal growth and understanding the power of words.
Trista finds that simple acts, like posting a photo on Instagram, can bring unexpected joy.
She cherishes the connection between her grandmother and the spring roses, seeing it as a visitation from her grandmother.
The author encourages other writers to join her in a journey of joy and positivity, suggesting a collaborative approach to finding happiness.

How to Live in Joy

Day 13: How a rainy day taught me a lesson about showing up

Photo by Mehdi Torabi on Unsplash

This piece is part of a 30 day journey into living in joy during the month of May, 2020. Each day I find something in my life that brings me joy so that I can pass that on to all of you during this time. We are still in lockdown here in Oregon, so it is of great importance that we keep joy in our hearts while at home! Join me on this 30 day journey of joy! I encourage other writers to join me on this path as well.

Today it was a very rainy, wet and cold day. This is very typical of Oregon spring weather. It is nothing new. Normally we stay inside, cozy, drinking lots of tea while it rains. However, today I decided to go outside in the rain. I have gotten so much joy from my daily back garden walks that I couldn’t skip it today. I put on my raincoat and went for it!

I noticed how lush, green and plentiful all of the plants were in the garden. I noticed the roses almost ready to fully bloom. I noticed the green strawberries ready to grow and ripen. I saw the wildflower seedlings that we planted in early spring starting to shoot up, soon they will form buds. Soon they will attract birds and butterflies and bees!

I was able to take in the immense sea of green before me. I loved how pools of water began to form on the table around my basil seedlings. The rain coming down is a sign of hope. It is a sign of more than enough. It is showing us that nature does not stop showing up for us. These nourishing rains bring growth in the garden. They bring us more flowers, they bring us more crops and more food.

As I pondered the rain outside in the garden today. I thought: Nature does not stop. It doesn’t stay stuck in winter, just developing roots but never springing forth. Nature keeps going in it’s cycle of renewal. It keeps showing up every day, giving plants nutrients, nourishing rains, fertile soil.

When we apply this lesson to ourselves as human beings, we have a choice to keep going as nature does, or we have a choice to stay stuck in winter, to keep growing roots but never spring forth and flourish. I thought about times where I wanted to hide, I didn’t show up in the world as much. The results I was getting were showing me that not showing up is staying stuck.

How to Live in Joy

How to Live in Joy

Day 12: How my journaling ritual has taught me the power of words

How to Live in Joy:

Day 3: How posting a photo of an iris on Instagram brought joy

How to Live in Joy:

Day 8: How my grandma visits me each spring through the roses