On nourishing ourselves with joy – for all my activists friends

If we want to be as effective as we can be in our work, we need to be nourished by what is beautiful, by the best things this life has to offer…

The last few weeks I’ve been working on two photographs by my father, Frank Espada. These are two I have up in my room. I think his former students will appreciate these, as they haven’t been shown before.

Such things as the beauty of that child, and your smile, and so much more, feed us. They sustain our souls and make them healthy and robust.

Especially in these times, we need the strength that can come from art, from our extraordinary natural world, from friendship, and the inspiring work of our allies.

When they talk about ‘the ten-thousand joys, and the ten-thousand sorrows’ in Buddhism, practically speaking, the ten-thousand joys have to come first, or we may not get to the rest of it.

Nourish yourselves well.  Joy is the food of the bodhisattvas.