I am not an Oregon Ducks Fan. To tell you the truth, I am not really even a football fan, but I live in Oregon and today there was a buzz throughout the city. The Oregon Ducks are at the Championship Game tonight in Texas. I attended meetings and appointments today where many friends of mine were wearing Ducks gear. Everyone was excited and people were saying Go Ducks all day long. The last time we were in the championship was in January 2011 and the Ducks lost.
Even though I don’t have much of a stake in the game, having not attended this school or really being a football fan, there seemed to be a certain joy that was present today everywhere I went and I wanted to share in it. Call me a joiner but I thought, why can’t I be excited and share the joy that my friends are feeling today? It reminded me of something Sylvia Boorstein, author and mindfulness teacher, spoke about last year during a lecture. She said that if we let ourselves experience the joy of others this allows us greater opportunities to experience joy than if we only noticed our own singular joy. I love that. We all know that when people get older there is much more “kvelling” over children and grandchild. Of course, there would be more joy in our lives if any joy experienced by another was a joy we could experience too. Certainly, when someone I know gets a new job, or gets married, has a baby, or experiences some other joyful event I like to share in their excitement. But expanding that to experiences like our state team being in a championship game or even hearing a story on the radio or reading something in print about a stranger, why can’t we also experience joy in that moment for that stranger as well.
There certainly is plenty of bad news to go around these days and I am choosing to consistently add the good news to my life as well. Even though I don’t have a vested interest in tonight’s game, I can be excited for something that is happening for my friends or my community that is positive and joyful. You also have the opportunity to choose to enjoy others joyful moods as well! Go Ducks!
1,000 Mitzvahs 