joy TODAY!

When my gorgeous partner, Richard, purchased the JOYSTORM url for me I was over the moon with gratitude for the perfect gift. He also included the url JOYSTORM TODAY which feels like such a relevant and important battle cry for living our lives with true levity and happiness. Too often we humans can dwell in the past, reliving entire conversations and decisions which ultimately tends to lead to a state of regret or even sadness. Or, we jump forward into the mystical future and find ourselves imagining full feature length films of how our romantic lives will unfold, or the complete adult lives of our tiny children. Caught in the cycle of focusing on an imagined future tends to lead to agitation or anxiety. So, where can we find the JOY? Well, it takes place right here, in this exact moment. When we give our attention to today and exactly what is happening now . . . that’s the magic spot where JOY lives.

I think Winnie the Pooh knows this fully:

“What day is it?” “Its today” squeaked Piglet. “My favourite day”, said Pooh

We can’t change the past and we certainly can’t control the future. So go ahead, make this day your favourite one and create some JOY TODAY!

love and gratitude

The wise words of Brene Brown offer:

“gratitude is the precursor to joy”

Basically, she contends that we can’t touch joy without first feeling grateful. So gratitude is almost a stepping stone to swimming in JOY. This resonate as true for me. When I see an amazing sunset and feel joy bubble out of my pores its true that there is first a deep feeling of being grateful that I’m here, in this space, witnessing this spectacular light show. Or when I’m able to coax my unicycle close to the edge of the boardwalk without falling off my spontaneous laughter gives away my state of joy. But without doubt, I’m feeling grateful for my functioning body and the introduction of this joy maker into my life by Richard.

What are you grateful for? Does it lead you to JOY? I’m always incredibly grateful for the layers of love that exist in my life and I’ve started exploring the connection between love and joy. This article sparked my interest as it tackles the notion of love in a fresh perspective:

http://www.theschooloflife.com/melbourne/blog/2015/03/love-and-work/

I hope it brings you some thoughtful contemplation and perhaps even a deeper sense of gratitude. And after all, how lucky are we that JOY is so readily available and we know the shortcut!