As I approached the mystical line I knelt down to discover that it was a snail trail and off to the side was the small shelled creature trying to make its way to the grass and garden just beyond. This moment was almost 20 years ago and I remember thinking why was this magical glistening beauty presented in my path? Why was I asked to stop, to take a moment? It was a nudge to slow down and find the extraordinary in the ordinary.
I don't know when it will be snatched away from me and I want to make sure I wring out every last bit of happiness out of every day. I most often find joy when I am not looking for it. It comes with a beautiful sunset, the sound of waves, seeing others have fun. I know it's second hand used designer bags cliche but it's really just being present and looking around.
The best—taking in the immensity of a starry night with someone who loves it, too. In German there is the phrase "So viel Zeit muss sein", meaning "There has to be time for this". A friend of mine says it regularly so I keep it at heart.
That's precisely it, you can't know the joy unless you lose it! Similarly you don't really know the extent of love until you grieve...Sometimes though when you've lost the joy (and your way), you have to light your torch by looking for the tiny pleasures. I find joy in watching others experience the culmination of all their work. It can be a finished book or being a proud parent, but one of the most potent and joyous examples is the Olympics.
Why this is the case, I have not yet fully figured out. Maybe it’s because joy is fragile. It feels like it is the lightest of all the senses and can be easily suffocated by the heavy cloak the more sad or serious ones seem to be made up off, and that for some of us seem to always be present. If not nibbling away at our brains then presented to us in newspapers or on our phones. I feel like efforts to forcefully remove the suffocating cloak are exhausting and oftentimes unsuccessful.
But it’s spring already in south Victoria and despite the recent wild storms and sadness of damaged trees, the little birds are nesting again in my bush garden. The purest joy fills me as I watch a mother grey fantail sit on 3 tiny eggs in a nest resembling an icecream cone and perfectly shaped for her little body. I do find the joy in my busy life, in the small things and gestures people could have. I also lead a full and privileged life, and I increasingly find joy in the little things. Sharing a favourite song with my teenage sons.
It seems corny, but simple act of noticing all life around me brings a quiet smile to my face and joy in my heart. I too struggle to find joy in the his confusion called life. Straight to the point, meds help me. I have tried so hard over the years (I'm 55) to grast those moments of joy, and they are there, in music, in the warm sun, to n the smell of rain coming. Labelled and condemned in this u compassionate world with major depression and bipolar, those moments of joy are precious and treasured. When I play piano (including your own) I find joy, when I paint, I find joy, learning to play Bass I find joy, rocking out on drums (if only briefly) I find joy.
I find joy in sharing a mixtape with a handsome crush, knowing that the music I put together will make him smile or dance. I find joy in watching 12-year-olds playing football on a frozen pitch, even when they're losing. I find joy thinking I won't be the only one answering your question, and I find joy knowing that you might feel our love when you read this. I find joy in thinking I'll take my son to see you and hear you in Cardiff, on November 6th.
From secondhand designer dresses perfect for special occasions to casual tops and skirts, our pre-loved items offer both style and sustainability without compromise. I find joy in the cracks of the pavement.Specifically the cracks where the weeds are growing.Weeds are optimism incarnate. No one told them to make oxygen, the oxygen so vital for our brains - those delicate, complex seats of sentience. And it’s in the spaces that lie between those cracks, and the weeds that live in them, and the moment of our comprehending them, where I find the joy and the peace of this world. I get joy when I find the good hiding in the bad. It is always there just sometimes takes longer to find.
It feels disloyal and a betrayal of his memory not to be constantly consumed with grief. Your words however, have provided hope and inspiration that joy can find a way back in. I often refer people to your letters to answer the dreaded - how are you question. On reading one a friend was awed and described the RHF as a service to humanity - they are not wrong! So thank you Nick for your words and music.
That stuff is fucking amazing.It's always there if you are open to receiving it. The utter freedom to sit and not need or want anything and that sense of contentment and then looking up and like a bolt of lightning joy hits me as I see the wind in the trees, feel the sunlight and smell life. It is a feeling of such intense happiness that it renders me speechless and is all the more wondrous as I know I didn’t expect it and it will leave me as suddenly. Feeling lost and disconnected from everything. Then in desperation picking up my camera to photograph what’s in front of me.
There was tons of snow piled up on the sides of the shoveled sidewalks. I saw a perfect purple crocus poking through the dirty snow and felt an unfamiliar brightening of my heart. Years later a wise teacher told me that this was my guru. She said that the literal translation of guru is remover of goo.The crocus has stayed with me all of these years. I found my joy walking through the world of my Buliwyf, my Cheddar the Great, sharing in his supreme delights and duties. When he came to me at one and a half years old, from the local shelter, he was recovering from a respiratory ailment and fearful of much of this world.
I gain joy from thought of the old man, the fat tears that still fall for him, the whiff of cheap musk that puts him in the room, odd coloured eyes and special brew grin, fag papers and betting slips. I am a parish priest and read your question on joy having just returned from my morning service, where I preached on the story of Jesus healing a deaf man in the Gospel of Mark, chapter seven. Our discovery of these joys can also be uncomfortable, or even painful, as disriptove as a stranger sticking his fingers into your ears. I may see joy as more about grace than as something "earned" (although I think I can see what you mean), but, yes, "a practised method of being" plays its part too.
Listening to birdsong always makes me joyful. LUXE LINK is one of Australia’s most trusted platforms and companies for buying and consigning pre-loved luxury items. Founded in 2010, LUXE LINK has strived hard to be the leading and most trusted company in the second-hand luxury industry.
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