I like living. I have been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorry, but through it all I still know quite certainly just to be alive is grand.
What is your joy factor right now? More joy than you can handle, or barely enough to keep you alive? We live in a time of a tumultuous combination of terror, grief, constant anxiety andthe realization yhat life is fragile. There is little time for outright JOY! What better time than now to refill your joy tank? The dictionary defines joy as a feeling or state of great delight or happiness. Here are some thoughts on how to reconnect with your joy. Remember, joy is primarily an inside job. You can start the joy bubbles flowing by focusing on joy. In the process, you will stumble across books, quotes, experiences and people to add to your joy factor. Be ready and open to joyful opportunities. Joy and gratitude go hand-in-hand. We are not grateful because we are happy, rather we are happy because we are grateful. Start a new habit: five minutes a day practice gratitude. As you look around in gratitude and remember how much you have to be thankful for – freedom, faith, an extraordinary standard of living, friendships, family and the list goes on – you will discover the world which only yesterday seemed drab and joyless is now suddenly bursting with beauty and possibility. We usually set aside Thanksgiving on which to be grateful but every day can be a wonderful day to indulge in gratitude. Dig in! Do something kind for someone else. In the extraordinary movie and book by the same title Pay It Forward the teacher challenges his students to come up with a project to change the world. In response, one student devises a plan whereby doing just three kind deeds for three different people, each of whom do the same, the world as we know it will be dramatically transformed. As people began to connect with the boy’s dream, the power of this model made miracles happen Be fully present. I have discovered my greatest block to experiencing joy is ruminating about the past or projecting into the future. Both of these rob me of the present moment. Joy can only be experiences when you are operating in the now. Stop reading for a moment, now smile, take a slow easy deep breath, and realize everything you need is right here for you… in the present. Reconnect with the moment and watch joy bubbles start flowing like champagne at a New Year’s celebration. The more present you are, the more joyful you are. Last, but not least, spend some time with a child – yours or someone else’s. We adults forget how simple joy can be. Watching kids ride bikes in a vacant lot, play hide-and-seek or tag at a park, or enjoy any childhood activity is sure to rekindle the child in you. Who knows, you may find your joy-meter climbing into the ten range, again. Make it a top priority to rediscover and share your joy. However, do not make the mistake of pursuing it as a goal. If you do, joy will be like the butterfly when chased, drifting higher and higher, always just beyond your grasp. Instead, slow down, take in the present, and let the joy come to you. Remember, the reason angels fly is because they take themselves lightly! Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
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AuthorMusings from Gammon Irons. To desire and strive to be of some service to the world, to aim at doing something which shall really increase the happiness and welfare and virtue of mankind - this is a choice which is possible for us all; and surely a good haven to sail. Archives
February 2020
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