“How accessible is your joy?”
That was the question he asked me as we sat with our morning coffee. Great question. No clue.
Joy. What is it? Can we cultivate it? Find our way to it in dark times? Hold on to it? In order to answer his question, I would need to work my way through each of those. So here goes.
What is joy?
Joy is found at the intersection of who we are and how we live. It is a collaborative partnership between us and our life, and is found in the long haul, not the quick fixes that tempt us at every turn. Not a surface level emotion, joy is a deep knowing that we are seen and known and held by Love, no matter what. Not dependent on circumstances, it hides in plain sight smack dab in the midst of the beautiful mess that is our life. The more connected our being is with our doing, the more joy makes its home in our hearts.
Can we cultivate it?
Joy grows best in the rich, deep soil of the soul. In the humus that forms, over time, as we allow all that life brings to us to work its way in and through us. To break down and add to the soil in which joy can flourish. We water joy with our tears, fertilize it with our laughter, and feed it with our life. The more I cultivate it, the more it grows. The deeper the roots, the stronger the joy. One sure way to cultivate joy is to let our hardest and most painful experiences soften our hearts and heal our wounds.
Can we find our way to it in dark times?
Joy isn’t hidden in the darkness. It is the way through the darkness. It is a light. A torch that we can reach for time and again to help us see our next right step no matter how dark our days. Joy isn’t a passing emotion, but a faithful companion, ready to travel with us, come what may. The more we trust its light, the safer we will feel in the dark.
Can we hold on to joy?
Joy can bubble up unbidden. It can fill us to overflowing regardless of whatever else is going on in and around us. The more we recognize joy when it shows up, the more likely we are to look for it when it seems nowhere to be found. Joy doesn’t leave us, but sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle of our lives. And when it does, we can rest assured that it is still there, ready to be found.
How accessible is your joy?
I think it’s as accessible as I make it.
The finding of it is the practice of it.
