Joy is quite a topic…Is it an emotion, a main goal of a happy life?  Is it the opposite of despair? Do you (does one) yearn for it, go after it – give up on it, even care at all?

At my dance class yesterday,  Joy was our focus.   Not the kind of perky, turn your lips up and create smile wrinkles, artificial make-it-happen stuff.  No.  Joy as a deep holding of all, a container, a cradle, a vital sense of being alive.  And we danced this full-bodied experience, as it flowed though us, for a full, glorious hour!

Jeff Foster wrote about Joy.  This stood my usual experience, and belief about Joy, on its head.  Here’s the letter.  (The beautiful sky image above is from Jeff’s Facebook posting.)  The letter reminds me of 1st Corinthians, Chapter 13, the chapter in the New Testament about Love.

Have a read of both and see where Joy resides in you.  Let me know what you find.

I am experimenting with holding Joy like the sky:  it cannot be stolen, acquired, destroyed.  Joy has no opposites, it’s unchanging, unmovable, as close as my next breath.  I notice its space in my heart, its capacity to align me with the Universe, and connect me to my aliveness.

Joy and Love.  Maybe these be with us as we ride out the Winter and open to the Spring of our still new year.

(For another take on Joy, full bodied, we can-move-toward-it approach, see Wired for Joy.  It is radical as well, in a different way.)

Jill Schroder is the author of BECOMING: Journeying Toward Authenticity.  BECOMING is an invitation for self-reflection, and to mine our memorable moments for insights, meaning, and growth.  Check the website for a sample chapter, or see the reviews to get a flavor for the volume.  Your feedback is most welcome.