Joyent.

First off, a big huge shout out to my friend and housemate Madeline Owen for showing me this word, and living out its meaning each and everyday.

Last week, after another wonderfully delicious family dinner that our K-House family shares every Sunday, a group of us had a private yoga class led by the one and only Madeline Owen. Though Madeline is kind enough to lead us in yoga on a regular basis, something about this class was different. It could have been the setting under the moonlit sky, the breeze resounding through the avocado tree behind us. It might have been the friends I was surrounded by, the people I have come to know and love more and more with each passing day, or it could have just been a really really great night. I like to think it was a combination of all these things tossed in with some divine intervention that made this evening particularly impactful.

The word joyent was introduced at the beginning of yoga-a combination of joy and content. Something about the combination of these two words struck me. In fact it hit me so hard that I couldn’t get the word out of my head all through yoga, the next day, into the next week. I began to realize just how apt this word is in describing my experience in Cape Town. It is one thing to be content in a moment, to feel fully present and happy with where you are, who you are with. But it’s a whole other thing to be content AND joyful about the present moment. To feel so present, and so joyful that you can hardly contain your excitement and fervor for life. I experience an incredible amount of joyent people every single day here. I see it on the faces of the people I pass on the way to the store, the woman who sits across the street from my favorite sushi place, who, no matter what time of day it is always hollers “Good morning!” to you when you walk by. I see it in the eyes of the amazingly generous women who work at my service site when I pronounce an Afrikaans word wrong as they teach me their home language. It’s in the children I’ve met here who are more than happy to just sit and play with your hair, or earrings, or really anything else they can get their hands on. And I see glimpses of it in each and every one of the K-House members. Day in day out I am in complete awe of the people I am surrounded by who, by God’s amazing grace have come together in a country thousands of miles away from their homes, are following their passions, from cultivating the seeds of future NGOs, making a difference in the schools they teach at, to surfing/running/hiking/kayaking their way through life with lit up faces in a bright smile. To see so much joy in the people I surround myself with makes my heart swell with happiness and oh so so so many joyent feelings.

Stepping away from the busy life I had created at Santa Clara was something I struggled with more than I care to admit, as I felt like I constantly needed to move, explore, seize the day. If I was sitting with no future plans on my agenda I was doing it wrong. But when I wiped away the persona I had built up at Santa Clara, when I stepped outside of my comfort zone of an always busy lifestyle, I came to realize the power of day to day living. That is to say, the conversation I am having right now is probably more important and life giving than worrying about the plans for tomorrow. In fact I am sure that the conversations I have poured myself into, I mean really poured my thoughts, my attention, my time into have created some of the most life giving moments so far in my travels. It’s in these moments, these conversations (with others, myself, and with God especially) that I feel most joyent. It’s no wonder the people I have met here are so happy, as their lifestyles reflect this day to day living. The term “no worries” is meant in earnest, it’s hard to worry in place as beautiful as Cape Town. My worries are met with a knowing smile and that phrase, and with that my anxiety is put at ease.

So here’s to another month of joyent living abroad, and a lifetime of it when I get back!

Thanks for reading.