Joy

Welcome to the first edition of ‘Inner Sense News’. It’s been a long time getting here, and not the first article I’ve ‘penned’ for it. What I most wanted to write about, though, was Joy. Then this morning, during my walk with Buster, our 4-year-old Staffy x kelpie, a car drove past me that I’d not seen before. It was a silver Mercedes with the number plate JOY 888.

‘Now there’s a woman who knows her Feng Shui and how to attract abundance!’ I thought. The number eight represents power, abundance, and infinity. Imagine the joy a triple dose of that could bring!

So, what is joy? I see it in Buster when he runs and plays with gay abandon. I hear it in the laughter of children. And I feel it in myself when I’m at peace and present to the beauty and simplicity of life.

It’s the sight and sound of birds, big and small, splashing in the bird bath outside my kitchen window. Or the majesty of a cleverly crafted spider web made visible by dew drops glistening in the morning sunlight. And the way my garden consistently gifts me with flowers, most of which I didn’t plant. It’s like a relay team, with the first bud of a new flower opening just as the last has fallen from another tree. These are the things of joy that are always there if we open our eyes to them.

Joy is our natural state, and it sits beneath all that is unlike it, waiting to be uncovered or unleashed. For some of us, tapping into it can be like mining for gold, which no doubt it is. In fact, for all of us, at some time, joy feels like something that is beyond our reach. And that’s because of the pain we are in as a result of the thoughts, feelings or perceptions we hold.

Some time ago, I had the experience of just being with the sadness and despair I was feeling. I sat with it and allowed myself to be present, without judgement or attempting to control or change it. As I did, it was as if it dissolved and instantly transformed into the most exquisite experience of lightness and joy I have ever felt.

It was like being hit in the heart with a thunderbolt of love and acceptance, for myself, life, and all that that means. In that moment, I realised that what I teach is real, and that whenever I needed to connect with joy, the place I would find it was within.

As I was writing this, I sent an SMS to my friend Christine, letting her know what I was writing about. When I keyed in the word ‘joy’, the default dictionary on my mobile came up with the word ‘low’. How amazing is that? It was both the opposite of joy, and the way to joy, when what is present demands to be acknowledged, felt and let go of.

So, I wish you peace, love, and joy now and always. Be IN JOY; ENJOY yourself, your loved ones, your world. Dig deep, and if you know how to BE JOYOUS, share that with others, especially those who might need a reminder this silly season.

Inner Sense No. 1 | December 2006

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Thanks for sharing!