I am in my last class for my master’s degree in human services counseling and I have to run a group for it. I put this class off to the end because I am not looking forward to participating in a group, which I also have to do, but I am also struggling with running my own. I am a solitary person. I like people, and get together’s, but I don’t feel comfortable in groups and I never have. I am stubborn, but that’s a post for another day, so I put the class off to the end- even though I have completed all the capstone work. I have submitted simply because I have no choice but I do this with no joy. I have to take this class, I have to attend these groups, and I have to run one myself no matter what unless I want to waste all the time, tears, and money I have invested in this degree. I don’t want to have wasted so much, so I may as well do it with joy. As I looked out my sliding doors, watching the sunrise, I allowed myself to really allow joy to seep in. I allowed the colors of the sunrise to fill more than just my living room with the brilliance of the new morning…. I allowed the colors, the warmth, the beauty, into my mind, my heart, my soul and I felt joy. Just a simple thing. Just a simple moment. Joy.
This is a reminder for me, and for you, to allow joy to come in and take up space within your life, you day, your body, and emotional landscape. There IS joy even in the terrible, the mundane, as well as the good. It’s about finding it and allowing it to expand within you. Hold some space with joy. Yes, this group class is a pain in my behind but I am learning so much about how people respond, interact, and react…. this is a good thing and I find joy. I get to attend a group about grief, something I struggle with, so I know I will learn even if it is initially painful-, and inconvenient, but I will find joy. Finally, I get to host a small group of friends to talk with, and spend time with, building one another up, comforting one another, laugh, maybe cry with…. but there will be joy.
Joy is a state of being. It transcends feelings and emotions because we can find joy in even our darkest, saddest, and most stressful moments, our most difficult times. I took the card out to my back yard because it is a gorgeous morning and I wanted to soak it in before I go to work. I heard the birds sings as they flitted around from tree to trees, the fences, and picking at seeds, grass, and bugs on the ground as they prepare for their day and their new life cycle; the moon was silvery in the newborn sky, a sliver as it travels toward it’s new beginning…. the air is fresh…. how could I not allow the joy in?
Have a wonderful Tuesday and remember, no matter how hard, how dark, how difficult- there is joy. Close your eyes and recall what joy means to you and let it refill you and get you moving!
Talk to you soon!!