Community

8 | Wednesday, May 10, 2017 | The Record-Courier

editor@recordcourier.com

A happy gardeners What brings you joy?

spring observations J
oy is an under-utilized emotion.
Most times it is felt with caution.
Words associated with joy are Bridgette
delight, happiness, felicity and
DeBoer

I
thought sitting outside in
the shade on a beautiful
spring day would be a fun
way to write my article. Now
that Im writing, Im not so sure.
The temperature is 77 degrees
and the birds are chattering and
singing. Since my binoculars are
right here too, Im doing more
bird-watching than writing. But
I couldnt bear to sit inside on
such a perfect day.
I have been observing the
plants on our property, both the
desirables and undesirables, for
a few weeks now as I work in the
yard. When the torrential rains
and flooding were occurring, I
worried that trees and shrubs
might have received too much
water and that I would lose
branches or plants this spring.
Fortunately, at our house, the soil
is decomposed granite and sand,
so even though there was occa-
sional standing water, it never
remained for long.
Not all our deciduous trees
have leafed out completely yet,
JoAnne
Skelly
In the
Garden
but the evergreen trees pines,
cedars and spruces are look-
ing spectacular. All that winter
precipitation made them very
happy.
I often write in the fall about
the importance of watering
trees all winter. Seeing how
well not only the trees, but also
the shrubs and groundcovers,
are doing after what seemed
like a life-threatening amount
of water, I realize how import-
ant winter moisture is to plant
health. My dwarf Alberta spruce
is almost six inches taller than
last year already and is covered
with lime-green buds of new
growth. The color of my bur-
gundy barberries is practically
vibrating with life. The Amur
maples leaves are so dense, I
almost cant see the wood of the
branches. My violets and vinca
are blooming prolifically. I can
practically measure the growth
on the irises each day. Even the
dragons blood sedums succu-
lent leaves are all puffed up and
thick over the ground.
I have made a commitment to
myself to weed at least an hour
every day. With two and a half
acres, you can see what a myth
that is. Im spotting weed species
I have never had on the prop-
erty before. Weedy grasses are
thriving and I suspect the war on
weeds will be ongoing from now
until fall.
I would love to hear what you
are observing as you explore your
yard this spring.
JoAnne Skelly is Associate
Professor & Extension Educator,
Emerita at University of Nevada
Cooperative Extension. She can
be reached at skellyj@unce.unr.
edu.
desire. A moment of joy can be induced
by simply receiving a hug from some-
one in your life. Sharing an embrace can
bring about great connection. Insight
into your ability to allow this emotion
to be felt fully is how you hug. Do you
enter in with great abandon and fully feel
each moment or are you less aware of the
experience and just going through the
motions while waiting for the release of
embrace and moving on to the next part
of the interaction?
We experience a heart opening with
joy. Its a moment of happiness and this
can feel dangerous for some. Many of us
treat joy as if there is only very little of it
in the world and we have to conserve it
so there is some for later. Or we feel joy
and then the fear comes in suggesting
something bad will happen. Waiting for
the other shoe to drop during a joyful
moment does not allow for the full em-
brace. Worrying that joy is followed by
catastrophe keeps you armored up. This
relationship can be very subtle if youre
not paying attention or being mindful of
your process.
There is an unlimited amount of joy to
be experienced for all of us. The best part
is the more you embrace and allow it in,
Along Our
Journey
the more there is for you. Its created by
your allowance of it. The more you re-
lease the fear around it and relax in to the
idea that life can be what you choose it to
be in the moment then that is what you
create for yourself. Trying to hold on to
joy is the opposite side of the same coin.
This has a fear energy as well. Simply
allow joyful moments to be experienced
like a cool sip of water on a hot day. There
is no need to hold on because there are
many more to come and they arrive in
many different shapes and sizes. Posing
the question of what would bring you
the most joy several times a day is a great
way to practice. It may be a long stretch
before you get out of bed in the morning
or maybe to take a short stroll outside
during a work break. The possibilities are
limitless when you bring the choice of joy
to the moment.
Bridgette DeBoer M.A., is a licensed
alcohol and drug counselor, marriage
and family therapist. She can be reached
at 450-6632.

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