What does your joy look like today?
by Jon Hilton Day 17
Can anyone really define their joy as one particular aspect of a day or even a life?
I certainly can’t so when I started to answer this question for today I had many thoughts about what gives me joy right at this moment and in the overall canvass of existence.
My joy today looks like many things of which I am going to try to give you a glimpse of what is making experience great pleasure and happiness today.
Freedom’s Just Another Name
There is something about times of complete and utter freedom that makes me extremely happy and fills my heart with joy!
There are times in each day where you have to perform specific tasks for your job or your loved ones, and that has a reward on its merit. Yet, most days, there are moments where I have complete and utter freedom to do whatever I desire at that moment.
What I want in life isn’t all that wild and unattainable. I like to write (surprise), I want to think, and I like to read. Finding the time and freedom to do these things fills me with joy today.
I think that having and exercising your free will every day for some time can make you feel rejuvenated and brand new. I know that when I have moments when there is no requirement on me other than those I place on myself are precious.
In most days, there is a small portion where I experience the freedom of choice, and that looks like a joy to me today.
Be Creative, and Things will Flow
I have always thought of myself as a person that lacked creativity. Since I was a young lad, I was told that I lacked the artistic creativity that used to make art.
The sad part was not that people said these things, but that I believed them. If you think this, it cripples your ability to find answers you are looking for in life.
For example, some writers suffer from writer’s block. They can’t get the flow going no matter how hard they try. One of the most effective ways I have found to break down chunks of any kind is to do something creative. I find that as I allow myself to become completely engaged in an activity that is on the creative side, generally, the blocks just go away, and words and ideas start to flow freely.
Surprisingly drawing is a form of expression for me, which allows me to do this. Even though I really have no talent in this area, if I am struggling in thought, engaging in a brief drawing session will allow me to find some clarity. Creativity looks like my joy today.
The Music Man
I have often written about how much music means to me, and it is a daily love affair that is only limited by the number of songs that are available for me to hear. I find that there is nothing that explains your emotions better than music or speaks to your soul like the words of a song. No one genre brings me joy because many songs and artists I wouldn’t think I would like to perform songs that I find that I can relate to, at least to some degree!!
Music works magically like a time machine and transports you to different times in your life and you can almost more than remember those people who were in your life at the time, you can only touch them with your heart and feel them with your soul but touch them and feel them you do.
Songs by Billy Joel take me to 1985. George Michael, (the singer not the Bluth.), reminds me of 1988. Hey there, Delilah takes me immediately to 2007. It is not a phenomenon that is unique to me. I avoid these trips of nostalgia because today is pretty impressive, but there is a time for everything.
As I drive down the road listening to some great music from today and yesterday, I know that my joy looks like music today.
You Look Like Joy To Me!
If you are reading this, then you are what my joy looks like today. I was thinking about what makes me joyous, and that is when something I write is read by someone else and has an effect on them in any way.
It can be a positive or negative reaction, but to be moved enough to comment, either way makes me very happy.
As anyone who writes probably has realized, this is all just the thoughts that come into your head. They never existed before you thought them and wrote them down.
If someone else can read them and take something from them, find inspiration, commiseration, or agitation, then I think that is pretty cool.
Like all great relationships, there is a two-way street. I read a lot of blogs, and if I didn’t have work to do, I would read a lot more. It is all interactive literature for me. I love reading about all things; it is the best way to learn new things.
It is the personality and the presentation of the information that counts. Much like music, there is an unlimited number of bloggers out there providing great information. I learn something about interacting with each one. I find new ones every day like a treasure hidden just waiting to be discovered.
Some of you have become great friends, and I feel I know you better than people I see in person every day. So you reading these words right now, that means you, my joy, looks like you today.
Hey There, Delilah, by the time that we get through, the world will never be the same.
What Are You Aiming to Discover About Yourself or Others Through Your Creations?
Don’t Let Nobody Take Your Joy
How to find your voice in the world?
Choose Joy