It’s helpful for me to take inventory of when I have experienced joy in life.
Doing so makes me, forces me, to realize the good things that I’m experiencing, especially as I experience life's sharpness and weight.
As the week closes, here is my inventory of recently experienced giving or receiving of joy:
*Being a friend to and a better listener for my wife.
*Seeing my 16 year-old son handle a miter saw and replace deck planks like a budding carpenter.
*Receiving a picture yesterday from a colleague of his newly-born, baby girl.
*A dear friend persevering through seventeen days of COVID-19 all alone in his apartment. (He is a healthy forty year-old living in a two-flat in Chicago. His neighbors on the first floor had it when he contracted the virus.)
*Talking to my cousin, Cecilia, from Mexico over the phone, remembering the joy we shared when
last together and looking forward to our next reunion.
*Working through a multi-faceted project with colleagues, all collaborating and being agile in the process.
As I write them down, I experience again the joy given or received during these moments. I allow time to suspend through the relived experiences, consciously processing the moment in my mind…..then sensing it through my face and shoulders.
Curiosity and hope then takes hold about what the day or weekend brings. I purposefully think about what I can do that will give me or others joy.
*Planting some sunflower seeds in the earth tomorrow and saying hello to my parents even though there will be a glass door between us will give me and my loved ones joy.
I invite you to take inventory of when you gave or received joy. Force yourself to do it if you are reluctant. Acknowledge these moments, especially as you navigate life's sharpness and weight.
Let curiosity and hope take hold. And, purposefully think about what you can do to give yourself and others joy.
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