The Joy to Create
The definition of joy is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. But what does joy really feel, look, or sound like? To me, the way I describe joy is it’s like having a small sun inside your body that slowly grows and glows allowing you to shine inside out and sometimes even shine and share your light with others. Your body feels warm, safe, and enlivened and your eyes and face are somehow both relaxed and at great attention. Joy is both the sound of a deep exhalation and a giggle. Joy isn’t just happiness, joy is a journey. The journey of not always completing the task well but wanting to try again, it is the thrill of leaning in to learning and improving. Joy is the process with all the mess not just the successful end. During this week’s Creative Arts and Culinary camp learners have been consistently joyful and I believe they are joyful and investing in the process because they have trust, choice, and perhaps a little golden light pixie dust.
What do I mean, how are trust and choice manifesting joy? Camp is an opportunity, an opportunity for Guides to tinker and for learners to explore boundaries and trust. This week Guides gave learners more freedom to flow in between rooms, activities, and to take risks. Fun is the main ingredient in the camp recipe design. Fun typically needs trust and we are trusting learners even more with taking care of their school and taking care of one another.
Learners always have choice during school but the rotation of theatre, visual art, and culinary activities seem to balance and generate a thrill of choice. The excitement of what options will come next is special.
So, what is the pixie dust accompanying trust and choice? Surprises! It’s the surprise of earning your chef apron and hat, it’s the smell of freshly baked scones filling the school, it’s the great idea of a friend to create props of poison and pretend blood for your scene.
Perhaps you’ve noticed, even more than ever, learners do not want to leave when the day is done. In fact, even though we expanded outside time to start the day and during recess learners are choosing to stay in. Even when the weather warmed from Monday’s bitter 20 to 40 on Thursday! Why? It’s because learners want to create more props for their play, practice stage combat for their Tybalt and Romeo duel, take another crack at a recipe, add designs to their apron, or continue to create artwork inspired by modern and impressionistic heroes. They don’t want activities to end, they are interested. This is joy! Interest, desire, support, camaraderie, and compliments are just parts of the intense emotion of joy and your learners are boundlessly raying with it!
To share, the most joyful gem was Thursday morning’s drop off. Scones made the day before were cooking in the oven and each learner that entered the building inhaled then exhaled and smiled ear to ear. One learner said “mmmmmm…it smells like happiness”. Thursday morning everyone shined with joy, not of perfect scones (they were very crumbly) but of the journey of the joy of baking.
How do you feel, see, smell, or experience the journey of joy? If you’re not sure, ask your learner, they certainly will share their recipe!