Pockets of joy
Colourful zinnia's
It is easy to succumb to feelings of despair and to wallow in the slough of despond. Finding the pockets of joy in amongst it all is necessary to sustain oneself. This year, I am hoping to include these pockets alongside the posts on social issues, in the hope of sustaining both myself and all you wonderful readers and subscribers.
A local public school invited members of the community to pick zinnias from the school garden, ahead of a scheduled trimming the plants. The school gardener was due to trim the plants back to encourage a second flowering, and community members were welcomed to bring secateurs and buckets and pick zinnias to their hearts content.
I do like flowers so I duly trotted down at the allocated time and picked zinnia’s to my hearts content.
The subsequent colourful abundance did indeed bring me joy for quite some time.
A foolish indulgence, perhaps, but I felt very fortunate indeed to be able to enjoy the blooms each day.
What about yourselves? What has brought you joy this past week? What pockets of joy are sustaining you and bringing you hope?
All the above are what makes life enjoyable.
I was thinking recently, that this modern quest to rush and accumulate before its all gone; to get on a rung just above your neighbours, climbing over the top of others, is obviously so unsustainable and is going to end in tears. I grew up in the 1950s and there was striving, but we all had relatively little and still managed to enjoy life without international travel and ostentatious houses that take a lifetime of work to pay for on two incomes.
There were dogs and zinnias and the sun rose every day. That seems better than the alternative coming.
Thanks Bex.
Joy comes in the small moments: holding my wife’s hand; helping her pause to feel a leaf on a tree, and noticing how soft it is; hearing her read a four word sign, which flashed up on TV out loud, when completing a simple verbal sentence can be hard.
Joy is her taking me on a walk to explore her residence and see what others are up to. Staff greet her by name, with warm smiles. We share a laugh with others living with dementia, and I try to honour each person by addressing them by name. Sometimes we meet other people’s whānau, and you can see the love in the ordinary time they’re spending together.
These are the little moments of joy when your partner lives with advanced Young-onset Dementia.
Away from that: more green time, less screen time. Noticing the fledgling bird is revisiting with more adult bloomage showing.
And good chats with friends, celebrating their wins.
Reflecting on all of this, it wasn’t such a bad week after all. It really does help to notice the joyful moments we can be grateful for. I’d love to hear about others too.