Letting In Joy

Where has this month gone? I found myself asking earlier today. And then I started thinking about it. In learning a new job, family BBQs, pool time, morning nature walks, a few urban hikes, a Super moon, World Cup viewing parties, several collages made at home after work, some beautiful photographs, buying a new car, saving money, selling my dear Opie to a good home, going through some of the papers I’ve accumulated and feeling a little more ready for our upcoming move in the fall, losing 3 pounds, daily--or almost daily blog posts on joy and finding zeal and zest in life, a submission of writing and collage to a friend’s magazine and getting accepted, and signing up for and committing to a 100-hour coaching certification program to start in August! Wow! I’m on my way!

 

As I've had to practice letting go and trusting A LOT recently in the buying and selling of cars, I have also looked back on the last 2 years, since I first bought my Opie car and I now see how very far I've come on so many levels. It's sometimes hard to see when we're busy living our lives, day to day, but when we stop and look back, even if ever so briefly, a wider angle comes into focus and we can see growth and struggle and triumph and difficulty and love and change and joy and wisdom and hopefully a whole lot of fun and laughter with those we love. 

Life seems richer when I take the time to stop and look at who I am now. I'm proud of who I am. It's getting less and less scary to be who I really am. Being vulnerable can still be painful, but it's very healing to share my experiences with others, in hopes that the lessons I've learned may help someone else--and myself through taking the time to articulate and honor all of life. I think a big part of becoming ourselves is accepting everything about us, even what we don't particularly like yet. If we can really embrace our whole self and love ourselves unconditionally, then we can begin to spread that love wholeheartedly into the world.

This month I decided to focus on joy and adding more zest and zeal to life. I've found through this process that I don't always feel joyful and I must respect all my feelings. But in focusing on bringing forth more zeal to every day, it gets easier to bounce back from a difficult moment and smile again. That's the key.

So here is a collage of expressions of joy. I realized when creating this that many of the pictures I found as examples of sheer joy were taken by others. In a way it seems like the camera finds a way of catching me right when I'm laughing and being joyful, over and over again. I rarely take a "selfie" in this state. It's really all about being in the moment, away from my phone or camera, and feeling spontaneity and breathing in joy and mirth which is then expressed to the world through my big wide smiles. :-)