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Posts from the ‘joy’ Category

Jun 11

Bits and Pieces

“The path to a greater life is not “suffering until you achieve something,” but letting bits and pieces of joy and gratitude and meaning and purpose gradually build, bit by bit.”― Brianna Wiest, 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think

“The key to finding happiness in this life is realizing that the only way to overcome is to transcend; to find happiness in the simple pleasures, to master the art of just being.”― Brianna Wiest

May today be enough.
Overflowing.
Ebb and flow.
Fun, laughter, play.
Delight in the art of being.
Space, margins, pause, praise.
For what already is.
Fresh eyes.
Grateful heart.
Chasing joy.
Being caught by it too.
Bits and pieces.
Abundance of presence.
Spectator and participant in this day.
Simple delicious pleasures.

“It’s not about getting over things, it’s about making room for them. It’s about painting the picture with contrast.”― Brianna Wiest

May 17

Accept the Invitation to Joy, Daily

“Life is filled with invitations to experience joy and goodness.”― Laurie E. Smith, Leap With Me

Invitation by Mary Oliver

“Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude—
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.”

For sheer delight and gratitude
Walk lightly with rapt attention
Your path this day
Accept the invitation to joy whenever and wherever offered, without delay
To pause, praise, savor
And, of course, chase a tennis ball or two.

“if you see for yourself, hear for yourself, and enter deeply enough this seeing and hearing, all things will speak with and through you.”― Jane Hirshfield, The Heart of Haiku

May 8

1 Comment

Spring Dance

“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.” – Rabindranath Tagore

“Why was she dancing? No reason. Just alive, I guess.”― George Saunders, Tenth of December

Out of your own head
Holding back, holding out, waiting for things to change
Apart from circumstances as they are but not chosen
Find and be found by joy amid messes
The imperfect and unplanned
To dance with delight, joy, wonder
For no reason but being alive
Awake to the here
Rooted in the now
Days are passing
Do not miss them because they are not what you planned or expected
They call this life
Join the dance

“These are the words I want on my gravestone: that I was a helper and that I danced.” – Anne Lamott

May 2

A Coat of Joy

“Joy is the best makeup.”― Anne Lamott

“Joy is the best makeup.”― Anne Lamott

“Rest and laughter are the most spiritual and subversive acts of all. Laugh, rest, slow down.” – Anne Lamott

Turtle slow
To see beauty at your feet
To breath in fresh spring air
To witness the earth being born again, cloaked in color
Pause, rest and laughter to transform ordinary days
Into peace rooted, gratitude deepened and joy dancing the polka.

“Peace is joy at rest. Joy is peace on its feet.” – Anne Lamott

Feb 16

Joy Hunt

“It’s a rare gift, to know where you need to be, before you’ve been to all the places you don’t need to be.”― Ursula K. Le Guin, Tales from Earthsea

“To everyone out there
trying to keep going,
Don’t look too far ahead,
this day is all you need to
partake in, right now.
Take it one step at a time,
remembering to find the sunlight
and the beauty in each moment.
Cast out the darkness and
celebrate the light that is
always present when you
open your eyes and your heart.
Cherish this day as a gift
not given to everyone.” – C.E. Coombes

To remain in this day
Partake, receive, steep
To be here
Fully present in now
On the hunt for joy, ease, delight on the path
Gratitude, grief, grace
Woven together in the tapestry of this day

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

Dec 17

Stay Alive, Very

“Silence is like white space in design, it surrounds what’s important!”― Kate Murphy, You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters

“Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine. – Mary Oliver

Keep caring, choose well.
Keep engaging, choose well.
Keep participating, choose well.
In choosing where we put our time, attention and love, we amplify, deepen and expand.
More on less, the important.
Nothing wasted.
Gratitude, grace, clarity.
Alive with joy, bright with hope, filled and overflowing with light.
Choose well.

“Whatever happens, stay alive. Don’t die before you’re dead. Don’t lose yourself, don’t lose hope, don’t lose direction.
Stay alive, with yourself, with every cell of your body, with every fiber of your skin.
Stay alive, learn, study, think, read, build, invent, create, speak, write, dream, design.
Stay alive, stay alive inside you, stay alive also outside, fill yourself with colors of the world, fill yourself with peace, fill yourself with hope.
Stay alive with joy.
There is only one thing you should not waste in life, and that’s life itself.” – Virginia Woolf

Sep 25

1 Comment

A Fund of Delight

“Nature was here a series of wonders, and a fund of delight.” – Daniel Boone

“Simple being is a deep sigh of relief that comes from letting go of pretense. It is also the sigh that comes from releasing a heavy burden that results from creating and managing the false selves that are substitute centers for the truth of our being. It is the sigh of release as we exchange complexity for simplicity. It is the sigh of release as we let go of preoccupations, inordinate attachments, and disordered passions. Things in the depths of our beings get aligned when we let go of these things.”― David G. Benner, Presence and Encounter

Break away from doing.
Simple being.
Deep sigh.
Travel light.
Release and put down.
Found in the seeking.
In the finding.
Joy chasing.
Wonder overflowing.
Rhythms of grace.
A fund of delight.

“Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.”― John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

“The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing.” – Isaac Asimov

Jul 5

1 Comment

Make Room for Joy, Plenty of It!

“Remember these two things: play hard and have fun.” – Tony Gwynn

“I want to unfold. Let no place in me hold itself closed, for where I am closed, I am false.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

In each footfall.
On the ground beneath and before.
On the road ahead.
Anticipation, hope, enthusiasm.
Make room for joy.
Every single day.
Plenty, not a mere teaspoon.
Cup overflowing.
Follow the path of children and dogs.
Masters of short memories, rapt awareness of the present moment, believing the best in all, love unconditional.
Open to delight, possibility, fun.
Hot pursuit of now.
Not only a room, but a house full of joy.
Clear space, open the windows and doors.
Joy awaits entry and occupation.

“Believing takes practice.”― Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time: With Related Readings

“Life isn’t about learning how to weather the storm. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.”― Vivian Greene

Jun 12

Brace for Joy

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” – Greg Anderson

JOY by Donna Ashworth

“Joy does not arrive with a fanfare,
on a red carpet strewn with the flowers of a perfect life.
Joy sneaks in, as you pour a cup of coffee,
watching the sun hit your favourite tree, just right.
And you usher joy away,
because you are not ready for it.
Your house is not as it must be,
for such a distinguished guest.
But joy cares nothing for your messy home,
or your bank-balance,
or your waistline, you see.
Joy is supposed to slither through the cracks of your imperfect life,
that’s how joy works.
You cannot invite her, you can only be ready when she appears.
And hug her with meaning,
because in this very moment,
joy chose you.”

Always be ready for joy
In unexpected places
Untimed but on time
In simple ordinary days
Awaiting your attention
Imperfect, unplanned, plentiful
We brace for the worst
Brace for joy
She’s coming for you
Asking you to put it all down for a moment
And dance
Always say yes to the invitation
YES!

Apr 30

Joy Seeker

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.”― Robert Frost

“If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happened better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb. (Don’t Hesitate)”― Mary Oliver, Swan: Poems and Prose Poems

The other shoe to drop.
Worst case scenario.
What next?
Peeking around the corner.
Hesitation awaiting the now what.
Foreboding joy.
As if we could prepare.
We waste time lulled, dull, muted.

Make room, a house full of rooms, for the best-case scenario.
For possibilities, wonder, awe, delight, and surprise.
Find joy on the path today, even if it’s not one you choose.
Make room for good.
We find what we seek, the lens we look through.
Beauty, flowers, laughter, music, poetry, nature, human connection.
Pathways, bridges, thresholds to joy.
Do not hesitate.
Plentiful joy woven in an ordinary day.

“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”
― Mary Oliver

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