JOY
Through out the year our Guide team has been consistently discussing and pursuing the topic of joy. We’ve been asking one another where joy lives in our day, what activities and interactions light us up with joy, and we have been experimenting with observing the many ways learners exhibit joy as they learn. Finding joy in the simple and the complex journey has been our team’s pursuit and top priority. As models of life long learning, we know that when each Guide exhibits joyful work there is a ripple effect of learners engaging and investing in themselves and their community.
This week, as we began the first few days of camp, the word joy just kept coming up. I overheard one Guide tell another, “Camp is just pure joy, I’m so glad you get to be part of it this time!” I listened closer and the Guide continued to share the ways that camp feels like the magical days during the year when learners are immersed in flowing happiness, immersed in their passions. Both Guides’ eyes lit up with wonder and excitement for the journey ahead of them. Then, as I listened like a fly on the wall, my eyes lit up too!
Yesterday, I decided to chat with one learner who I believe perpetually lives in joy. We hung out at the circle rug and I shared with her that I think she may have a great answer to a question I’ve been wondering about. She was game and so I asked “What does joy look like?” She shrugged with a smirk and then thought. “Joy is being really focused doing what you love.” I shared my thanks and then asked her for greater details. “If I were to take a picture, how would I know someone is joyful?” She replied, “hmmm…I guess it looks like what we’re doing when we are cooking at camp…when we’re working on our plays..and whenever we are playing.”
Oh how wise this joyful learner is! She reminded me of the definition of joy that Acton co-founder Laura Sandefer shared with our Acton network last year. “Joy is the intersection of passion and truth…Joy is knowing you are on the right path even though you know you will suffer.” Joy is not always smiling, joy is the journey of engagement. There is a mix of highs and lows where meaning and purpose can be found.
To help give you a clearer picture of the perpetual joy of camp here a few vignettes. Learners are joyful as they take care of our chickens, especially when a chicken goes rogue and is difficult to catch! Joy is the magic of two learners discovering solid ice outside in a bowl and then smashing it on the patio. Joy is fluid as learners create leaning towers of magna tiles and all come crashing down. It is the thrill of creating, the risk of failing and falling, and the renewal of the tower that invites joy.
Joy isn’t just sight it is the smell of freshly baked scones and the smell of a burnt batch that excites learners to try again. Joy is heard as the argument of who will play Theseus in Shakespeare’s play and the thunderous applause of completing the journey and capturing the 5th version on film. Joy is the movement of one learner joining another in yoga practice and then a ripple of ten learners joining and at the end a handful falling asleep on their mats.
In case you haven’t realized, joy is a process and not an emotion. Another fun fact is that the common word enjoy means the act of putting in joy. So, my final ponder is “How do we put in joy? How do we take action to pursue and live in joy more often?”
Inspired by our learners, I hypothesize that simply we must open our eyes and engage. As parents, instead of focusing on what isn’t good enough, or what needs to happen, or how we desire something to be different, perhaps we need to honor the process and engage with what we see, hear, smell, and feel. How can you enjoy your child? I wish you beautiful joy on your journey!