JOY to the WORLD!

DANCing like no one is watching

FREES us

But

WATCHing others Dance

FREES us too

ENJOYing others’ JOY

Their JOY is our JOY

Taking us into the DANCE

The Sacred rhythm

Found in connection

To our Self

To each other

To All of Creation

To the ONE

Knowing we MATTER

How we show up

How we live our life

Effects

The whole

Others

Those we call friends

Those we call family

Those we call strangers

Those we don’t call at all

But invisibly DANCE

With us

In our shared humanity

HAPPINESS

Is big stuff

HAPPINESS

Is a gift we GIVE

Sharing

Our Self

Lightening our heart

Lighting the day with JOY

Passing our HAPPY on

In ways we can’t begin to fathom

In ways we can SEE

FEELING Alive

Bubbling

Pulsing

Popping

LOVING life

Just when we think

Our HAPPY asses

Can’t possibly get HAPPIER

They do

As we discover another depth of JOY

SURPRISE!  SURPRISE!  SURPRISE!

JOY Matters

Your JOY

My JOY

JOY to the WORLD

JOY to you and me.

I was at my favorite coffee shop in Nashville waiting on my seasonal brew Sleepy Hallow.  As I stood there, I delighted as I watched a young barista dance behind the counter to the piped in tune we were all feeling.  When he realized I was watching him, he stopped, wide eyed like a deer caught in headlights.  He flushed red with embarrassment and said aloud:  Busted!  Staring into his eyes smiling with all of me, I said:  I loved watching you enjoy life!  I LOVE watching people enjoy their life!  Enjoying life is what we’re here to do!   He let go, smiling with me, flowing with the fun of life and we connected through this sense of happiness shared.  And everyone in the place joined in the play. 

I told my new friend that it has taken the whole of my life to embody the wisdom that our joy makes our life rich.  Just then, a 78 year old man named Sam, standing behind me wearing an American flag sweater assured me:  You have plenty of life still left to live, young lady, and I have a feeling no one enjoys life more than you!  Face to face, I sipped in his generous words so heartfelt and loving.  Thanking him and agreeing with him, I shared my hope that everyone knows this depth of happiness that fills my days.  I added:  Just when I think my happyass can’t possibly get any happier because I am bursting with joy…SURPRISE!  SURPRISE!  SURPRISE! I arrive at another depth of happiness showering me with MORE happiness.  My new friend, Sam, took my hands squeezing them as he thanked me for sharing my happiness with him.  I told him it was my pleasure because it was and it is my pleasure to share my joy with the world.

Sitting outside in the crisp autumn air sipping my giant mug of savory JOY, I invited more happiness, the surprise of new depths yet to be experienced.  Just then, a friend popped into my mind so I sent the joy in my heart via text, electronically passing on the happy juju:  This day is freakin’ magnificent! Hope your happyassJ experiences more happiness than you have ever known.

Last week, I received a card from a dear friend who shared a quote by James Oppenheim:  The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.  HAPPINESS is right here, right now!  It is.  Let the JOY in your heart SING this day, all day long come what may.  Choose HAPPINESS.  Happiness is a way of being:  HAPPY to be alive! HAPPY to get to deal with this issue or that (not because I want to or because it is fun) because I am here, alive in this body!  HAPPY to feel all that I feel – disappointment, sadness, elation, big love, passion…because it is ALL a part of this human journey. Cultivate your HAPPINESS!  Don’t wait for someday!  Don’t wait for the conditions to fit some idea of perfection.  Don’t dismiss the BEAUTY of this moment, this day, this life as it is ever-present, BURSTing through us in the flow of living.

The invitation this day is to acknowledge:  HAPPINESS is contagious!  HAPPY hearts light this day with immeasurable radiance and vibrancy.  Energy doesn’t lie.  Joy springs from us into the hearts of others in ways we recognize and ways we truly cannot.  But we must ground in the truth that we matter, how we show up for life matters and affects the whole. JOY matters.  Your Joy, my joy sends JOY to the WORLD!