“Joy” is my word for 2019. It’s the word I chose, or rather the one that presented itself to me at the beginning of the year as that which needed to be explored for the next 12 months. I knew immediately that I had my work cut out for me, a lot to uncover and unpack. Sure enough, now one quarter of the way through the year I have learned just how much I have to learn, how much work I have to do, and what a complicated relationship relationship I have with this word. There are, however, a few things about joy that I know, and I’d like to share those.
First and foremost, the joy we are seeking is already here… and it is abundant! Therefore, our work is neither to create nor destroy joy. It is our choice to choose whether or not we open to it. If we choose to do so, we can allow this ever-present wealth of joy in by living mindfully in the present moment.
This often means slowing down or pressing pause, which is not to say we must be sitting in silence and solitude or moving in slow motion in order to experience joy — not at all. In fact, I often experience tremendous joy dancing wildly in the kitchen with my son or going for a run outside. But the difference between these moments of rapid movement and other busy moments filled with superfluous movements, is that in these moments my awareness is heightened and expanded. I am very much in my body, connected to the life within and around me whether that’s my 4-year-old, who is literally bursting at the seams with life, or the majestic trees amongst which I’m running.
Once choosing to open to it, our work continues by noticing when we stumble across internal roadblocks that are obstructing joy from entering and flowing freely within us. Then we draw on our bottomless well of courage to sit with and investigate these parts of ourselves.
I’m looking forward to the next 8 months meditating on “Joy,” and remembering how to and that I can (and deserve to) welcome it all in.
“Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior’s world.” — Pema Chödrön
Krystal Barschig 