🟣 What brings you joy?
We’re not talking happiness here, let’s come to that further on.
It’s this 👇👇👇.
Joy: a feeling of pleasure or delight.
Roberts Burns puts it nicely…
“Pleasures are like poppies spread, you seize the flower it’s bloom is shed; or like the snaw falls in the river, one moment white then gone forever”
Joy is, by it’s nature, fleeting and ethereal.
(You really can have too much of a good thing.)
It’s terrific when joy blindsides us, of course; but we are smart enough to plan, anticipate and look for joy.
The little things…
For example, it’s Saturday morning and l planned to have the car washed after dropping Sharon at the train (it’s now gleaming, so not yet in the garage).
Already I am anticipating an empty house and rib-eye with mushroom pepper sauce and creamed spinach and chips and watching Arsenal beat Bournemouth (not all of that was guaranteed).
Joy is all around you, so seek it out… have some today.
Have some now, despite everything…
That might be:
No queue at the car wash
Four lucky chestnut mushrooms in the fridge
A skein of geese overhead
Reading a chapter of a rediscovered, much-loved, book
A lunchtime jog in the surprising October sun
Dundee Utd scoring in the 93rd & 98th
The first lentil soup of autumn.
Joy isn’t to be confused with happiness (or as I prefer mindfulness); that’s a long term goal, bourne of finding purpose, and finding you.
Eudaimonia takes a while; you must attend to your mind as you do your body; it needs your time attention.
But, while you are waiting for all that…
Do joy! 😎♥️🔥…
Joy is different, you can jewel life with joy every day.
Instantly, immediately, frequently.
You should…
You must…
Every single day 😎❤️🔥!
Try it…
Richard Dawkins says we can make memes, traits that become habitual… what joyful memes might you already own, but be unaware of?
Here are a few more of mine:
Friday night dinner, with Sharon and a new box-set
Hannah and Robin then mum on Sunday mornings
Matt, Christine and Molly for an afternoon
An early, quiet train to London in Premium Economy
Half an hour of solo Downward Facing Doug
Maltesers and coffee
A NatGeoWild doc, or live football, on telly
And finally, the acers in that October sun, from the sofa 👇❤️.
Seek purpose, find contentment; jewel it with joy.
hashtag#joy hashtag#stoicism hashtag#purpose
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Every Monday l share stoic stories.
I aim to make your day, set you up for the week… and change your life!
