Joy, Anyway!
“Cling to joy: audacious and unbridled joy, that looks for light in everything, even in your waiting.” —Morgan Harper Nichols
With growing concerns for the upcoming election and the sorrows of the never-ending wars, many are feeling understandably anxious about the future.
Perhaps joy can help. Immersed in joy, we’re present to what’s before us and within us. There is a trust―if only for that moment―that all is well.
We may not be able to create the future outcomes we desire, but we can build our resilience and our capacity for joy to better handle what comes our way.
“No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find.”
―C.S. Lewis
If you are feeling especially anxious right now, seek the support you need, practice mindfulness meditation, breath work, and other tools to soften its hold on you. Then see if you can shift your gaze to something or someone joyful. And if you’re feeling really bold, why not seek “audacious and unbridled joy”, as Morgan Harper Nichols suggests. Joy right now, joy in spite of, and joy just because. Joy, anyway!
May every cell of your being and spark of your soul point you toward and guide you to joy.
Transformed
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.”
—Proverb
Embrace Vulnerability
“We simply cannot know joy without embracing vulnerability—and the way to do that is to focus on gratitude, not fear.”
—Brené Brown
Dear God
Dear God, please reveal to us
your sublime
beauty
that is everywhere, everywhere, everywhere,
so that we will never again
feel frightened.
My divine love, my love,
please let us touch
your face.
—Francis of Assisi, as shared in Love Poems From God by Daniel Ladinsky
