Tag Archives: Joy

Joy Jam

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What were the 3-5 things that gave you joy this week?

1. Love. I don’t know what it was about this week, but there was so much love. It was traveling the internet, being sent to my blog and to me, wholehearted love fests were happening in the comment sections of other blogs I love and in my email inbox, and on Facebook in various groups and profiles. It feels like the Universe saying “yes, this is right, you are right where you should be and doing just what you should, as you should.” There was so much love, “My Heart Can’t Contain It All.”

Picture by David Sky

2. Walking. My walks with the dogs this week have been extra special. Not because they’ve been anything out of the ordinary, but because they were absolutely ordinary, just as they always are, and I was paying extra close attention. I noticed.

3. Office plants. Yes, this one again. It just stuns me how perfectly my office climate is suited to indoor gardening, and how breathtaking the lush, glossy, full, aliveness of it can be. My amaryllis is working on three new blooms, the rest are healthy and green, and I brought a bird cage from home to add to the jungle, door flung wide open and birdless.

4. Running. I know, I can’t believe I’m saying it either. But, on Sunday, Eric and I ran with the dogs, and even though I couldn’t do the whole route, I did okay. I ran, and I remembered a few really good runs from a year ago, when I felt strong and powerful, like I could keep going forever. I miss that.

5. Three-hour nap. It was one of those, “I’ll just close my eyes and rest for a bit, and then I’ll go to work” naps that turned into a sleep marathon. Clearly, I really needed it.

For anyone having trouble being grateful today, finding the things that give you joy, I suggest reading the latest post on Metta Drum, “The Healing Power of Gratitude.”

Joy Jam

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What were the 3-5 things that gave you joy this week?

1. My dogs. The very first time I did a Joy Jam post, I listed “these three boys” in reference to Eric, Dexter and Sam. I could put the three of them on every Joy Jam, gratitude, Something Good, favorites, things I couldn’t live with out list I ever make. But this week, I think because I’ve been doing the Small Stones posts and have been more attentive to everything, and I spend so much time with them, I have really been noticing how much I adore my dogs. Every single day they bring me joy.

2. Laughing with Eric. It wouldn’t do any good to explain the exact moments, because sometimes there are things that are only funny to you, and won’t make sense to anyone else.

3. Missing Obi. Any of you who have lost someone close to you know that grief can sneak up on you at the oddest times. The wind blows or a door slams or you see something out of the corner of your eye and turn to look, and suddenly you are right there, in the exact moment you lost them, as if it is happening again, right now in this moment. I was in my meditation room the other night, and I caught a glimpse of a picture frame I have on the shelf there–it’s one of those kits that you can make a hand or paw print on one side and put a picture in the other. I made this one of Dexter and Obi’s paw prints, the day before Obi died, and put in one of my favorite pictures of them.

I know it seems strange to mention this in a list of things that brought me joy this week, but the depth of loss and grief I feel for Obi is a reminder, a joyful one, of the capacity for love and connection.

4. Ease and Freedom. These are two things I don’t feel very often, but when I do, I appreciate them so much. This week, there were several times that I felt one or the other, or even both at the same time. Writing on Monday (I made four blog posts that day, and felt ease as I did so), walking the dogs in the snow on Tuesday morning, watching two owls with a student I’d just met (both of us standing so quiet and still, paying attention and wholly in the moment, appreciating the magic), sitting on my meditation cushion last night, practicing yoga this morning, and walking the dogs this afternoon (home early from work on a Friday, a windy but beautiful day).

5. Relax. I have talked many times about Susan Piver and her Open Heart Project. If you sign up to be on the mailing list, a few times a week she sends videos and a written message. One video is typically a discussion of some issue related to meditation (life), important teachings for free. I am continually amazed by her brilliance and generosity. In one of her most recent videos (I apologize for not remembering exactly which one), she talked about how Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche said (she was paraphrasing) that the more he studies, the more he thinks the entire path, the whole dharma, the truth and the teaching and the way could be summed up in a single word: Relax.

This makes me so happy. I’ve heard him say similar things before, so it wasn’t the first time I’d heard the idea, but when Susan reminded me, I felt what I always do: relief, and then joy. It really could be that easy. Something in me says “yes” every time I contemplate the idea. If you relax, you find freedom, space, ease–everything is workable. Seriously, I’ve been trying to disprove this idea with multiple scenarios, but I can’t think of a single situation where things wouldn’t be better simply by relaxing into reality, accepting what is as it is.

  • Where did you find joy this week?