A Revolution of the Heart

Choosing Joy Over Despair

Writing about joy right now feels a bit incongruent These are difficult and violent times. The headlines are heavy, the stakes are high, and many of us carry a great weariness. And a righteous rage.

How can we possibly speak of joy in such times? Especially with the injustice around us? When so much is broken?

And yet… what if joy is at the very heart of what we need to sustain us through the difficulty and the grief, as fuel in the work of healing our world?

On a personal note, grief hit home for Loretta and I this past January, when we lost our beloved dog Millie. We buried her beneath a tree and I planted a few seeds on her grave. For a long time, I avoided visiting that spot—I was busy. But mainly I didn’t want to feel sad.

But one sunny spring day, I wandered over… Merry little sun rays filtered through the trees and danced on her grave, which was now filled with flowers that had burst into bloom. I felt overcome by joy and gratitude. What an unexpected gift.

I felt the paradox: grief and joy share the same soil.

I wonder…. what if the very existence of joy is grace — a sign of the divine?

I do know this: joy is promised to us!

PSALM 30:5 says: Our sorrow may endure for the night, but Joy Cometh in the morning.

This is a promise! Joy WILL come –maybe when we least expect it in the midst of our grief.

Speaking of grief… A couple weeks ago, humanity lost our beloved teacher, activist, and deep ecologist Joanna Macy. Over twenty years ago, I had the opportunity to learn directly from Joanna while studying at the Center for Creation Spirituality—the Sophia Center,.

Her central message was this: We must be fully present to the pain of the world in order to transform it. And we must do so from a place of LOVE.

While this made sense to me at the time, I confess, I did not fully understand it. Greater understanding would come later.

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That same year, I completed my Eco-spiritual-education at Genesis Farm — an Earth Literacy center. There I met Harvard Professor Larry Edwards who taught a course in genetics.

We students learned that human DNA carries the entire evolutionary story — 3.9 billion years of life transforming--all replayed in the human womb over just nine months. From single cell to multicellular creature, from tail to no tail, our DNA remembers it all.

Fascinating right?

I thought so too—and then suddenly--an epiphany: It is a story –A SACRED STORY--written in our very DNA. OUR story!

And with that insight , I was suddenly overcome by a huge grief. unexpected for sure. I realized how fragile life is, and how easily and arrogantly we humans disrupt it through our technologies, our extractions, our tampering. This realization broke me wide open, so much so that I needed to leave the room and just weep

Larry found me after class. He said something that I will never forget:

“This happens to all of us when we first see. We grieve!

It’s a moment of grace.

And we are never given grace without a path forward.”

We are never given grace without a path forward. I’m not sure I believed him.

But it didn’t take long for a glimmer of that path to become apparent. That very same day, I wandered into the common room at the farm. A video was playing.

John Seed, a deep ecologist who worked with Joanna Macy, was being interviewed. He spoke of the state of the world. I don’t recall the whole of the interview, but I distinctly remember that while he was talking about us hurling toward destruction as if on autopilot, John Seed was beaming with joy.

I remember thinking How the heck can he be so joyful?

Here I was laden with grief and filled with anxiety over the state of the world and he’s all joyful.

The interviewer, finally asked him the question that was on my mind:

"How can you be so joyful, knowing what you know?"

And John replied:

“You know, I’m doing what I’m meant to be doing. I’m part of the story; I’m part of the evolution. I am exactly where I’m meant to be.”

And that was enough . He chose to live in that JOY of being a part of it all.

And I thought –WOW I want some of THAT.

I got to thinking… WHAT IF JOY IS A SIGNPOST? What if these glimpses of joy signal that we are on the right path?

As many of you know, these days I’m investing my energies into our work at Indivisible Lake County CA—fighting for our democracy with others—with any tools we can.

And wouldn’t you know --John Seed was right. There is joy in doing what I’m meant to be doing! The key for me is to not take it all on—and focus on process not outcome.

As it happens, Joanna Macy has some advice for that as well. She said:

“You don't need to do everything. Do what calls your heart; effective action comes from love. It is unstoppable, and it is enough.”

Oh, Joanna.

I believe this is a deep part of many faith traditions — showing up for justice not from a place of despair, but from a place of love.

We live in a culture that tells us we have to earn joy — that it’s a reward for success or security or happiness. But I think that’s backwards.

Joy is not the absence of struggle. Joy arrives in the midst of it.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, Author of Braiding Sweetgrass said:

It is not enough to weep for our lost landscapes; we have to put our hands in the earth to make ourselves whole again. Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair.”

My Friends, by virtue of our sensitivity, our compassion and our being here at this historical moment, we are this lifeboat together, doing this work.

Honestly--I don’t know if we will prevail. I believe that we will, but I don’t know it. I’ve decided that this isn’t mine to know—I can only do my part.

There are days when the stakes feel impossibly high, when hope seems fragile. And yet, there are also moments when joy breaks through.

In June, at our #NoKings rally — hundreds of us gathered, chanting, laughing, dancing together. We were told there would be counter-protestors. In the face of fear and uncertainty, we were BRAVE, by golly. there we were — singing and dancing---alive, connected, and yes, joyful.

Work from a place of LOVE sparks joy—which in turn gives us the strength to keep fighting for what matters.

What if JOY IS RESISTANCE?

Let’s remember the promise:

May we embrace the moments of grace that arrive unannounced. A flower in bloom. A song rising up from a crowd.

May those moments nourish us. May they remind us of what matters, why we keep showing up — for one another, for this fragile planet, for the possibility of something better.

May we consciously choose joy over despair—Experiencing our very own revolution of the heart.