A few days ago I was on the phone with my parents and my mom said: “Your dad is going to the store to buy joy”.
And I thought...you can buy Joy at the store? Wow! I will take a bucket!
A few moments later it was made clear that they were buying dish soap. And yes, we had a good chuckle. But it got me thinking of Joy and how do I experience more if it.
What I realized was that I was looking for big moments of Joy. I was looking to be bowled over, swept away in a big event moment. And this does happen, but that expectation limits Joy. It prevents me from experiencing the minute, every day moments of joy manifested. Right in front of me.
So many of joy’s moments appear as small. If I wasn’t looking I would miss them. It’s the tiny plant growing in the crack in a sidewalk, a child’s wide eyed smile, a dog wagging its tail when it sees me. A helping hand with a shopping cart.
So how do I supply a more fertile field for Joy to be present in my life? And how do I notice it?
I believe it begins with me giving myself permission to feel more joy, and set the intention. I use the breath to enter every moment (see last post), open my heart and notice Joy: the lone ray of sun streaming in the window on a gray day, a smile from a stranger, a flock of geese streaming in formation across the sky. Joy is everywhere - if we allow ourselves to see it - and we practice noticing it in the smallest places. In the nooks and crannies of our lives.
By placing our attention and intention on experiencing and noticing Joy, we then develop our muscles of expectation and anticipation and hone our ability to see Joy in all things.
So if the question is how do I find more joy, the answer is to start expecting it, commit to noticing it, with an open heart.
If you would like help finding more joy or clarity or sourcing your life from a place of greater love, consider an Emotional Release or Intuitive Reading session or try the practice below:
Practice to find more Joy:
In the morning before you begin your day, write in your journal:
” I am willing to experience more joy”.
“Joy is... “ and fill in the blank as much as you choose. The more the better.
By giving our attention to something, it increases it’s presence in our lives. Now go about your day noticing moments of joy. In the evening, record what you saw.
Do this for a week or more and you will build a written record of the presence of Joy in your life, and more importantly, you will have chosen Joy and reap the benefits of its harvest.