Pure Joy is Contagious

Last night I attended the County wide Christmas dance for adults with developmental disabilities. I'm absolutley exhausted today. I am also striving today to be more like those clients I serve everyday. I learned what true jod and hapiness looks like while at this event. I have learned so much from serving these folks....they have taught me about joy, hapiness, over coming adversity, positive outlooks, honesty, unconditional love to name just a few. I never sat last night, I just got passed from one person to the next, and the joy was contagious. I left the dance on a kind of high, a high that only true happiness brings. I am so grateful that God has guided me into this career path. Though there are struggles, stresses and heartache, though I don't make very much money, this is by far the most rewarding thing I've ever done in my life. I actually look forward to getting up and going to work.

I am also filled with gratitude and awe this morning thinking of my baby girl. She turns 21 today....hard for me to believe it has been that long that she has been here to bring us joy.

All is Well

Today's Thought

You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.

Across the fields I can see the radiance of your smile and I know in my heart you are there. But the anguish I am feeling makes the distance so very far to cross.--Deidra Sarault

Looking down the hallway of our lives, we sense many uncomfortable corners. And they are there. But through the discomfort comes the ease of understanding. The security that we long for, we discover has been ours all along. All we needed to do was move into the corner--with trust.

As we stand before any problems, any new task, any unfamiliar environment, dread may overwhelm us. We stand there alone. But the choice available to us now and always is to invite the spirit of God to share the space we're in. In concert with God's Spirit, no problem or task can be greater than our combined abilities to handle it.

Our lives will be eased in direct proportion to our faith that God is there, caring for our every concern, putting before us the experiences we need to grow on. We can let go of our anguish, our doubts and fears. Eternal triumph is ours for the asking.

The smiling faces I encounter today--I will let them assure me that all is well.

Christmas was wonderful. The only thing missing were the folks I wish I lived closer to so that we could celebrate together. I was longing for that, yet I knew that we were together in spirit and we did get to speak via the phone. I knew all was well. We had an awesome dinner and celebrated with family and friends. The best part of the day for me was the true compassion and spirit of my kids, as they each invited a friend who was alone for the holiday to join in our celebration. That was a reassurance to me that a power greater than me had been working in my life all along and I had simply been unaware of it. Despite my lack of presence and parenting during the years I was using they still learned valuable lessons about life and kindness. That could only have come from a power greater than us. It was a late night, infact into the 26th before we retired. The house is not quiet but it is a wonderful noise I hear as the celebrating continues with a room full of 16ish year old boys playing video games downstairs. I have to admit that although there were many struggles and many failures, the year 2006 was a success because there was much progress. The book tells me that it is progress, not perfect that carries me along the road towards happy destiny. I hope those who were not near enough to celebrate with us add an equally good to me as we did on Christmas.

The Path of Love & Joy

Today's thought is:

Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. 'Tis grace that hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.'--John Newton

Today and always, let joy be your compass. When choosing a direction in life, choose the path of your heart. Do what you love, follow your bliss.

Fun is an underestimated emotion in our culture. We are told as children, "If you waste time having fun, you won't get anything serious accomplished." Yet most successful people describe their work as being incredibly joyful. An office that sings with laughter is always more productive. As one executive remarked, "The more I enjoy my work, the more efficient I become."

Joy and laughter improve the quality of our relationships. Couples who lighten up rarely split up. Laughing at a difficult situation fosters detachment and understanding. It is only when we get too serious that trouble arises.

Since love is the highest _expression of the Divine, following that path of love and joy will lead you to God-consciousness. What more is there?

Our vacation comes to an end today. I plan to take the love and joy we experienced with me and find ways for it to continue. It was a wonderful week, filled with joy and love......a few of the roses had thorns, but they are still beautiful. Last night I had a wonderful time. I was able to visit with Tammy, a wonderful friend, who has moved in pursuit of her love and joy. I was also able to meet a fellow blogger(Phyllis), and she was full of love and joy. I will have a picture up tomorrow, or you can check her page (there is a link in my blog roll). We had a wonderful dinner and made plans to meet again next month. I am renewed and ready to return to work with a new sense of love and joy. My husband and I refound our love and joy this vacation as we celebrated our 21st anniversary (we got to watch the sunset on the ocean that evening). This trip I was able to reflect on all that is good in my life. My gratitude list is long, and when that is the case, there is lots of love and joy. I am especially grateful to have a relationship with a power greater than myself. When that relationship is right you can't help but be filled with love and joy!

Two Days

For the rest of my life there are two days
that will never again trouble me.
The first day is yesterday with all it's
blunders and tears, it's follies and defeats.
The other day is tomorrow with it's pitfalls
and threats, it's dangers and mystery.
Until the sun rises again, I have no stake in tomorrow,
for it is still unborn.

by Og Mandino, in The Return of the Ragpicker

I am so grateful that I have learned this lesson. By staying in today life is so manageable. I owe a debt of gratitude to those who have gone before me and shared this lesson with me. By living one day at a time I have found serenity, and I'm happy, joyous and free. I am especially grateful to Mable for the lesson of the orange that I have been able to put into use daily and that I have been able to pass on to others.

Did You Find Joy?

Did you find joy?

"The future, higher evolution will belong to those who live in joy, who share joy, and who spread joy."
-- Torkom Saraydarian

Joy, as the energy of love, is the highest vibration on this planet. Everything in the universe is energy; it can be measured and reduced to vibrational frequencies. It’s a universal law that as we think and feel we vibrate, and as we vibrate we attract. When we are in the high joy vibration, we attract what is for our greater good.

The Ancient Egyptians saw Joy as a sacred responsibility. They believed that upon their death, the God Osiris would ask them two questions: "Did you bring Joy?" and "Did you find Joy?" Those who answered ‘yes’ could continue their journey into the afterlife.

For at least the next week or two, ask yourself these two questions each and every day: Did I bring joy? Did I find joy?

"Man loves because he is Love. He seeks Joy, for he is Joy. He thirsts for God for he is composed of God and he cannot exist without Him."
-- Sathya Sai Baba

Today I have been clean and sober nine months. This time around it was much more difficult to get to this place. I believe it is because the first time through I sought the easier, softer way. Ultimately it did not work as I traveled from 18 months to zero without even really realizing what had happened. The biggest difference this time around is honesty. I am learning to be honest with others, but mostly with myself. I have faced fears rather than run from them or find a new way to bury them. One would think it is difficult to find joy when there have been many struggles and pain. However, it has been quite the oppisite. I have traveled throuh more difficulties and pain in this nine months than I did in 18 months before, but I have found way more peace, joy and Love than I ever thought possible. The last three months have been incredibly diffficult, but still I have found love and I have loved others, which is something I have found very little of before now. There are too many to thank for the support, example and strength.

Today I am grateful for:

• The love I have found in my family: Mike, Kim Steve, and Anna
• The love of true friends, something I never had before
• The support and family I have found in AA
• The ability to fulfill dreams instead of watching them pass by
• sobriety
• The ability to survive trials and tribulations
• ENOUGH, I have enough of all that I need
• The ability to share that which has been given me: materialistically, spiritually, sobriety and Love
• The ability to reach out and experience new things: I have been blessed to be able to travel and have met some incredible people (My Anna Poo; Jamesy Baby, Tom, Suzan, Meg) and many more to come
• Life today.

Smile

Today's thought is:

When they take your smile away they might just as well shoot you.--Violet Hensley

Violet is one big smile. And it's not the result of having an easy life. On the contrary, she has worked doubly hard all her life to support her family. However, she has a joyful attitude, and it has made the difference in her life. Now in old age, she still works hard making fiddles for sale and performing music; but she loves every minute of life, and when you're with her, you love it too.

Why aren't we more like Violet? The answer always rests within us. We have decided how to respond to life's trials. We were never forced to dread, hate, or appreciate our experiences. We were, and still are, solely responsible for our interpretation. The Violets of the world opted to have more fun.

How do we begin having more fun? The first step is deciding to leave the past behind. No matter what our experiences were last year or in our childhood or even this morning, they don't have to determine what our experiences will be in this next hour. Having more fun is clearly a decision that is coupled with action. Any one of us can do it as well as we want to.

Smiling at myself in the mirror is good practice. Offering one to the first person I encounter strengthens my desire to offer more.

I'm learning to move beyond those experiences that have held me captive for so long. Finding happiness is the natural consequence of doing so. Facing fears, moving through them, and being released from their bondage has given me hope and strength that I can offer to others. If not for the hope and strengths of those who have walked the path before me this would not be possible. Thanks to the many who have walked the path and have show me the way.

Joyful Mind

Cultivating a joyful mind benefits all beings. When we experience joy, the positive energy radiates from every pore. It's like being a fairy godmother with a magic wand. Everyone we touch is infected with well-being, and that well-being spreads throughout the community. When there is joy there is no room for harmful thoughts, words, or actions.

Taken from Heart of Forgiveness by Madeline Ko-I Bastis

I was at a meeting last night and joy was the topic. It kind of bothered me for a while but eventually I came to an understanding that joy and pain are connected. The way out of pain is focusing on the joy, being grateful for all that I do have. It will be a long journey I'm sure to be able to alway turn the negative into positve, but it sure seems a worht while cause. I wish you all joy today.

Who are You?

If you are not your name, your career, your relationship, your possessions or your body, then who is being harmed?

We all trudge through life carrying backpacks filled with preconceptions and judgements. But each time we are able to discard just one preconception, it is like removing a stone from the pack, our steps become lighter, our vision, clearer. The journey becomes a joyful adventure.

As we taste freedom, we begin to realize that there is nobody to be harmed. As the quest continues, we awaken t the truth that there is also nobody harming us.

Taken from Heart of Forgiveness by Madeline Ko-I Bastis

When we look at our soul rather than the shell of people we lose our preceptions and judgements. We can truly treat each other as fellow travelers on this journey of life. Each of us equal........no one of us better or worse than any other.