I usually blog about the restaurants (you'll see more soon) or wineries (always more to share), but today I wanted to share something a bit more personal and compelling for me as Chef and Co-owner of The Inn On First, a luxury bed and breakfast inn in Napa.Annually Jamie gives me one week to go away so that I can spend a lot of time in silence and reflection with my BFF from southern California (Linda, whose husband is also generous in letting her go for one week). We rent a cottage on a 25-acre retreat property, are self-sufficient for the day in terms of breakfast and lunch, and then gather at dinner to cook and share our thoughts about the day. Each day we independently choose our theme for the day: what's on our minds or hearts that is calling for attention? It could be work, relationship, self, family, friends. It doesn't matter. There is no formula. You spend the day however you choose (reading a book of reflection, walking at the beach, going for a hike, sitting in your room, sitting by the river, enjoying the views, swimming in the pool, drawing pictures) and trust your heart, mind, and body to lead you through the silence.My overall theme this year was Joy. It always seems to elude me. I feel love and peace so often, so why not joy? I also know that sometimes I have to work at love: that some days love really is a decision even though I don't "feel" it. That I have to work at peace: taking time to sit for five or ten minutes in quiet and solitude, a moment set aside for my heart to settle down for a bit. So, where is joy in all of this? And how do I go about working at it?Over the week of reflection I realized that I have defined joy as effervescence, a giddiness or happiness that bubbles from within. How wrong I have been! I realized that joy is the simple action of appreciation, a moment when I am awed by nature, or touched by a friend's concern, the deep abiding breath you take when you are simply awed by a view from the mountain top. I came to understand that it is an "ah" (or "aha") moment when you are not necessarily effervescent but simply in appreciation for what you have before you. Thanks and gratitude. Not overflowing, but simply in appreciation and simplicity.
I returned home to The Inn On First from retreat and sat in the garden. I saw the hummingbird feeding from the salvia flowers in the yard, watched the fish swim excitedly in the pond just before I threw in their food, and enjoyed watching a couple sit at a table, conversing and sharing a glass of wine. I thought about all the ah-some moments I have had here at the inn over the past seven years and I took a deep sigh in gratitude. Of course, this is my joy. People, food, wine, nature, Napa. All of it put before me. Not in giddiness. Not effervescent. Simply grateful and appreciative for what was right in front of me.The work of joy for me, then, is to take the time throughout my busy and not always joy-filled day to "look" for those ah-some moments: in the laughter of guests at the breakfast table, in the tenderness of a couple sitting quietly hand in hand in the yard, in the joviality of a couple playing chess over a glass of port, in the sound of a guest playing the piano in the living room, in my surprise at the guests who enjoy throwing the ball for my dogs as much as I do, in the delight of guests who share their appreciation with the morning's selection for breakfast, in the clink of the glass cookie plate cover (meaning someone else has returned to the jar once more for some chocolate love) multiple times over the course of an evening. All of this brings joy to me.So don't be surprised if you find me glancing your way with a smile as you sit in the yard sipping wine, or see me sitting in the yard with a cup of coffee enjoying a moment of quiet gratitude as you return from your day of wine-tasting, or walking by your breakfast table with an appreciative nod as you eat my food with delight. It's just me, working at joy, finding it in every ah-some moment put before me here at the inn, hoping that, maybe, you'll find some too.
