For week forty-three in our fifty week challenge the prompt was Joy. I instantly started humming the tune from ‘Ode to Joy’ and knew I had to do something with those lyrics. I had also just bought a new set of gel pens. Somehow the two had to work together for me to complete the prompt. I wrote the lyrics in gel pen and the red central letters in ink. The piece takes up an entire piece of watercolor paper. It was fun, colorful, and it filled my heart with joy. It was like experiencing the first day of school with new school supplies all over again.
We spend so much of our time doing that we forget that the point of doing is to have the life we want, not just to afford the life we THINK we want. I spoke with a woman today who plans to turn in her papers for retirement in June. She has been working for over thirty years and wants the life she wants, not the life she has been working everyday. She loves her profession yet really she knows it is time to do something else. She wants to exercise other joys in her life. I thought that was a great way to put it.
To spend our lives in joy means we need to know what brings us joy, and it may not be what everyone thinks it is. Who cares? Does it really matter if other people understand, our joy is just that OURS! When we are happy, healthy and joyful our cup is full and we have more to give to others. It is hard to be joyful with an empty cup. Let me encourage you to do something that brings you joy. Small or large, loud or silent, colorful or plain, do what makes your heart sing. Do it until your heart is so full that you cannot help but want to give some joy away to others.
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