Strung with Joy

Joy can unexpectedly transform ordinary days, revealing itself when you least expect it.

I can think of no better visual definition of joy. Bright umbrellas strung overhead, suspended from lines that seem to disappear amidst a backdrop of blue sky. Charming and spontaneous, it was an unexpected delight after lunch with a friend.

Joy is like that.  

Sure, you can plan joy. Birthdays, holidays, and life events all generally come with a known and expected quantity of happiness and connection. But in a given year, those are clearly a minority of days—which leaves hundreds of ordinary days when joy is less certain. How do we find that which fills us to overflowing?

We do not find joy, joy finds us. It sounds counterintuitive, especially when we know what activities and environments are most pleasing, invigorating, or best suited for our needs. We may relish an activity, but when we are distracted, multi-tasking, or otherwise out of balance, the end result is not the same. It feels different, somewhat lacking.

Allow yourself to be present in the moment. It is all too easy to shift your body to auto pilot while your mind focuses on what has happened (the past) or possibilities that may or may not come to pass (the future). In either case, you lose the ability to focus on the present. The world churns ever forward, while your mind is oblivious to what surrounds you.

The present may be the hardest point in time to exist in. When we lower our defenses and fully embrace the present moment, joy occurs naturally.

Go with the flow. Stuff happens, plans change. Can it be infuriating? Sure. But every moment you spend stewing on a situation is another moment you will never get back. Learn to change your cadence, shift to alternate plans, and to not hold onto emotions that turn you into anything less than the best version of yourself.

Joy is unpredictable. You may miss it if you fixate on the wrong thing. Preconceived outcomes will inevitably not come to fruition as we envision. When that happens, lean into contentment, not frustration. Being content does not mean you are happy, but it does mean that you know your worth, and one outcome does not erase who you are or what you are able to achieve.

When something does not work out, it was because you were meant for something better.

Joy comes when we are in the right state of mind, when we have the ability to live in the present, and when we create space for it to exist.

Slow your gait, become aware of what surrounds you, and look up. You might just find a rainbow of umbrellas overhead. In a word, joy.