Joy is All Around Us

Finding Joy.

Is joy something that we have to search for? Are we on a life-long journey to find the joy that only a select few seem to have discovered?

Have you ever asked your self, "Why can't I be happy?"

When we are having a bad day does that mean we lost our joy somehow? Did it jump ship and bury itself under a rug until we decide to let it back on board?

What if joy is not something we find, but something that we tap into.

Joy is all around us. It is a light, a high moving energy that is constantly at out heels. It is the air we breath.

We can not loose joy, for it does not come and go. It does not turn off and on like the switch of a light. It is constant and immovable.

One day, I noticed my sweet Malia was grabbing at something in the air. I watched closer and saw that she was standing at a spot in the living room where a beam of light was coming in through the sliding glass door. The light had illuminated all of the dust particles that were floating around, normally unseen, in the air. These dust particles where invisible without the brilliant morning light reflecting off of them. Malia looked at me in frustration and said, "Mommy, I can't catch the dust!"

Imagine that that is our joy, floating in the air all around us. We can't see it, unless we know the right spot to stand at the right time of day.

Now, look at this perfect, sleeping child.

It is hard not to tap into joy when gazing upon the most perfect creation God has made.

What if I told you that for years, although I looked at motherhood as the single-most greatest privilege of my life, when I looked upon my children I was filled to the brim with fear; fear of loss, of getting it wrong, or of tragedy. I ignored the joy that was all around me, and choose instead to tap into fear. For fear is just as potent.

"...and men are, that they might have joy" 2 Nephi 2:25

I believe with all of my heart that we were put on this earth to experience JOY. For the first time in a long time, in fact, maybe ever, I am understanding my capacity to experience joy. The word experience is defined as; a particular instance of personally encountering something that is perceived, understood and remembered.

Please join me on a journey to remember that joy is all around us. When we are tapped into joy we can breathe easier, we accomplish more, we see things differently. We laugh more, smile and cuddle more. We yell less, do less whining and complaining. Joy heals broken hearts, fills voids and nourishes souls.