I've been sitting here for a
while, hands on my keyboard ready to write and instead listening to the birds sing. The morning air is almost too chilly as it comes through the open window. It is the soft coolness of early spring so I don't grab for an extra layer, instead I let the gift of its sensation awaken me.
Joy.
Not something to chase, something to welcome. It found me on this almost too chilly morning. I only needed to take a moment to say hello. It is from this space I share some words and thoughts about joy and other things with you.
Please enjoy!
1.
We hear a lot about living/finding/being/seeking our joy as if it were an achievement to attain. Joy is more of a communion. Meeting the beauty and oneness of life, the awe of bring alive, inspiriting and expanding us by letting us see, feel, taste that we are included in the miracle of living.
2.
Joy arises in moments when our attention is softened and expands,
expands, expands the magnificence held in a moment. It is grand, but does not need grandeur. It sneaks out from the most mundane moments, like sitting in front of a keyboard and noticing the birds singing. It is ever so intimate and vulnerable so requires trust to embrace.
Feeling the softness of a baby's back. Tasting a still warm from the oven chocolate chip cookie Smelling redwoods on a warm day Hugging of a
dear one after a long absence
Chalk drawings done by neighbor children
One must be brave to hold joy and be willing
to be undone, at least a little bit by it.
3.
And when it wanes, as it must, we are left more whole and more experienced with the wonder of life, resourced to meet what comes next. To be in the palm of joy is to trust you can live with out it
when the encounter ends.
Some questions from the ever wise Karla McLaren to help integrate joy rather than trying to trap it to do our bidding or be our protection:
What brings me deep
connection and infinite expansion? How do I integrate this radiant experience?
4.
From one of my favorite Instagram accounts @worry_lines.
Not about joy per se, but how we feel many things at the same time. We can be in deep sadness about the harms and tragedies of the world and feel joy, hope, and love. Our emotions are quantum, as are our hearts. Without our quantum, feeling hearts joy would have no place to be welcomed into, no place to grow.
How is joy finding you these day?
If joy seems a stranger at the door of your heart, where is communion with beauty calling? How is the quantum workings of your heart letting you feel all the ways you do?
I would love to hear anything. you wish to share. Just hit reply.
5.
A blessing for your week:
(Plant Ally Deck by Lisa McLaughlin)
May you be surrounded by gentleness and gifted with ease of joy in ways unexpected and timely.
Until next time, Sandi
(If you found this helpful, insightful, or enjoyable, would you mind sharing it or passing it along to someone you think would like it? I would be so grateful.)
