How to Cultivate Joy by Walking Around Your Neighborhood

When on your daily walk you hear bees fussing over a clump of hemp dogbane, stop to watch them. 

That hum is what hitting the abundance jackpot sounds like.

Even though the bees move non-stop from flower to flower, they don’t ever look frantic. They do their work, keeping time to an invisible metronome. 

That is what calm and consistent effort looks like.

Watch the black and brown butterflies gathering at this nectar oasis. Observe how they unfurl their proboscis as delicately as a hula dancer moves her hands.

That is what grace feels like.

Notice that the hemp dogbane’s oval leaves march up their red stems two by two, like kindergarteners holding hands on an outing.

Know that you are never alone in the world.

Listen to that hawk cry -- one long screech after another -- and stop to look up. There’s nothing overhead, but keep looking.

The hawk is sitting at the top of a Loblolly pine. You wait for a squadron of crows to come rushing in to save the day like the calvary in a grade B Western. But there is no drama. The hawk takes off and so do you.

This is what peace looks like.

You find a fat green acorn at your feet, shaken loose by last night’s storm. It’s the green of fairy tale woods, where the quest begins.

Remember that big dreams start small.

Now you’ve come to your neighbor’s unselfconscious and gaudy dahlias -- fuschia and pink fireworks on a stem, as big as dinner plates. 

Celebrate being alive.

When you have filled your heart with joy, say thank you and head home.

Illustration: Reed, Chester A., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons