When Spring begins each year, I try to get outside every day for a walk. I love doing this, especially at the end of my work day. As I walked past my neighbor’s house this spring, I would see their dog looking longingly out the window at me, sending me vibes to take him with me. Finally, one day I saw his owner out in the yard and I offered to take him along. As the mother of four boys, she was happy to have someone besides her take the task on. But for me, it quickly became not a task, but a joy.

This dog, Jack, personifies the simple Joy of appreciating Life. He has taught me to embrace the moment in a way that that no meditation class has done before. He responds to my arrival each day with a joyful, but quiet, howl. Then he grabs the leash and brings it to me. I put it on him, and we take off with him holding the leash in his mouth to pull me along more quickly. He cannot wait to get out into the forest.

Once out there, I take him off the leash, and he bursts off in a run down the trail to rival any 100-yard dash. He disappears around the bend and I keep walking. Soon, I can hear him roaring down the trail back to me to make sure I am still there. As I round the bend I see him bearing down on me going as fast as he can run with the happiest look on his face, a smile from ear to ear. He roars past me in the other direction, makes a u turn that looks like it belongs in a cartoon, and comes to walk beside me looking up at me with a satisfied expression.

We have a route we take which brings us eventually to a creek. He runs on ahead of me and gets to the creek first. He comes tearing back to me dripping wet, as if to say, “Hurry up!”. We spend the next hour wading in the creek, throwing and fetching sticks, and sitting in the sun. It is the most peaceful time of my day.

Jack usually runs up and down the creek canyon, exploring every nook and cranny, or running straight down the creek bed with glee, water splashing in all directions. But when I sit down on a log to soak up the sun, he comes over to put his head in my lap, and we sit in silence, listening to the bird song, or watching the butterflies go by. The stillness of the forest takes over and I can’t help but live in the moment.

I tell you my story of my daily walk with Jack in the hopes that it will convey the joy that I have had the privilege to experience this summer. My boyfriend jokes that “he has been replaced by a dog”, but the truth is I am so drawn to be out in the woods with Jack because of the immediacy of the moment out there. I realize that I don’t pay enough attention to that immediacy in my everyday life. Jack has reminded me that joy is in the simple daily things that we do, in appreciating what we have. It is in the shared moments with another. It is in nature, in a small wildflower along the path. It is in stopping to notice what is there, in listening to the sounds of the birds, or feeling the cool mountain creek on my dusty feet.

May you find your own experience of the joy of summer this year in discovering the immediacy of your moment, in small daily things, and in noticing what is there.

Much love and peace,
Viki Markham