The SPARK of JOY
This picture encapsulates what JOY feels like to me...
...Heart open.
Fully surrendered to the moment.
Splashing waves toward the sky.
...Freedom.
I believe that this Joy lives inside of each and every one of us.
It's is woven into our DNA and as natural as breath...specific to each one of us and our singular spirit. For me, it has shown up most often on a ballroom floor or in the notes of a song, or on a road trip with windows down and the Indigo Girls blasting. It has also shown up in quiet ways, when I've stood on the deck of ship and marveled at the ocean, hugged a soul sister, or read a book that made me feel like I could fly.
"...FIND OUT WHERE JOY RESIDES, AND GIVE IT
A VOICE FAR BEYOND SINGING.
FOR TO THE MISS THE JOY IS TO MISS ALL."
-Robert Louis Stevenson
I would love to tell you that this is how I have been living year after year, and yet the edges of many of these moments are blurred by time. They are from a past me that made time to discover and embrace delight and that did not embrace the subtle signals of a world that told me that living in a state of joy is unrealistic, a bit selfish, and only the privilege of the young or the wealthy. If you can relate, it's a shame how often we've honored those signals over our own.
It's certainly a shame how often I have honored them.
"JOY IS A POWER. CULTIVATE IT."
-Anonymous
I have been on a journey back to Joy in this most recent chapter of my life. I am focused on intentions to choose to craft and create a life that includes my joy. I am also releasing the habit of using someone else's joy as a place holder for my own. The more joy I experience and express that is wholly mine (from me and for me), the more joy I feel, the more joy I have to share with others. Everyone wins.
It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be to step onto this path.
It just takes one spark...one invitation to reconnect...to remind each and every one of us that we deserve Joy, we are worthy of Joy...
We are JOY.
If you are ready to splash into the ocean and send waves of delight into the sky...heart open...I hope you will allow me to support you as you reawaken your Joy. Let's find that spark together...
