This morning as I was reading from A Course in Miracles, which I do every morning now, I started to dream about the times I felt Joy. My question for the last two years has been, "where is the joy in my life?" I was looking out the window at the ever present grayness of the Northwest and I asked myself, "where is it, I remember it, where is it???"
I thought about the joy of watching birth, of the exhilarating joy of that moment snowboarding when I was not longer in control rather I was allowing myself to be lead softly, smoothly, curvaceously down the mountain. Every cell in my body alive, I wanted to scream my love of life to the universe. Joy! I remembered the joy I felt when Dag Johnsrud, at the ripe old age of 3 told me that I could not leave and go back to Florida because he did not want me to go-in all seriousness. My heart was so filled with love and joy, I could not speak. I thought of the many mountain bike rides I did with friends in Moab and the aftermath of the rides, sitting with a beer in hand in absolute exhaustion, recapitulating the best parts of the ride and making plans for the next one! There are so many moments of joy that I felt unworthy of. Why should I feel such joy? Who was I to see this moment as something more than just a ride, a word, a birth? Who was I not to??!? Where was this Joy now?
The lesson for today is, "I choose the joy of God instead of pain". And as I sat thinking about it I was asking myself, where is it? I know what it feels like to be in Joy and suddenly my mind was flooded with all these awesome memories of joy. The excitement and passion I felt, how I wanted (and sometimes did) wag like a puppy in the amazing feeling of it. But, where is it now, I asked? I thought, Oh My God, it is right here inside me. Not out there, or there, or there. It all starts inside me, my heart, my God, my Goddess. I felt my heart open to the truth of it. All that joy I had experienced in the past was still here in me waiting for recognition and release. It isn't out there, it is right here in my heart! Just waiting for each moment of opportunity to be-in Joy! All these hours and days of sadness and fear were but covers for the Joy that is inside everyone of us. Yes, there are times where it is easier to live with the pain and fear, yet, if we allow even a glimmer of light to show itself in our heart, we will be lit by our own Joy.
How do we get there? Start remembering the "magic moments" as Tony Robbins calls them. Flood you heart and mind with them, none of us is without them, we only need to look at them from a new view. How easy it is to see the pain, resentment, anger, injustice. Well, it is just as easy to find the love, the joy, the beauty, the gifts in our lives. Just find one, it will lead to another. The moment you looked into your newborns eyes, the smell of a new puppy, the feeling of warm sand as you kick off your shoes at a spectacular beach, the mountain top view you hiked to on a sunny day, the bliss of windsurfing, kiting, snowboarding when you are one with the elements. Magic moments of sheer joy. Stock pile them into your heart, feel the joy in the memory, create new ones simply by enjoying a moment in your day. Maybe even a bunch of moments or an hour or the whole day!!!
In this time of "uncertainty" in our country, grab a hold of those moments and send that joyous energy out into your family, your community, your state and your country. Just close your eyes for a moment and well-wish that joy on someone in need. And see how your Joy grows!! See how more magic moments appear and how, in its recognition your life is transformed. May the Joy of God's love fill you today!!
