Yesterday, I wrote a Facebook post about happiness. As the day went on, I realized it was more about joy than happiness.
The funny thing about joy is that I have a good friend named Joy and another good friend named Jim. We joke about Enjimming your day rather than enjoying your day. So, joy is a constant in my world.
With that said, Jim, Joy, and others aren’t the ones who create joy in my life. That’s my job.
Joy isn’t a place; it’s a feeling. I can find joy on the coldest day of the year and the hottest day of the year. I create joy, and other people and places can enhance or detract from it.
My most joyful places are being on or by the water, hearing the waves, seeing palm trees, and soaking in the sea breeze and salty air. And that is where I am right now, creating memories on the panhandle.
Regardless of where you are today, joy is there. Joy exists in the storms, sunshine, and freezing and hot temperatures. It’s there for the taking. Some days it might take a back seat to the heaviness in your life, and yet it sits waiting for you to return to gentleness and peace.
Moving forward, I invite you to find your joy by:
Permitting yourself to be joyful. Listen, a lot is happening worldwide and probably in your life. Sometimes it can seem that being positive means ignoring any hardship you might face. Finding joy in the hard places allows you not to get lost in the darkness.
Being of service. Whether volunteering your time, donating financially, or offering a kind word, you will find joy in doing something for others.
Focus on gratitude from the smallest to the most significant things you are grateful for in your world.
Limiting the time you spend thinking, speaking, and acting upon the things you don’t like. When you remind yourself that what you don’t want/like helps clarify what you do want/like, that will help you shift to a gentler, more positive way of being.
Being okay with not being okay. As I mentioned above, the heaviness of life might take over from time to time, and that is not only okay; it’s normal. Joy will wait for you. I don’t know anyone joyful all the time, and the gentler you are with yourself when going through a hard time, the more you will lessen the grip the hardship has on you.
From my heart to yours, I wish you a depth of joy you didn’t believe possible.
Reply here and let me know what brings you joy or where your most joyful places are.
Affirmation:
I choose to create joyful experiences.
Words to LOVE by:
We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. – Buddha
Joy is prayer; joy is strength; joy is LOVE; joy is a net of LOVE by which you can catch souls. – Mother Teresa
Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. – Leo Buscaglia
Sounds for Your Soul:
Joy – Andy Grammer
