31 Days of Seeking Joy in the EveryDay: Resolved to Joy

On October 1st, I joined a big party of other bloggers in the Nester's 31 Day Challenge.  

If you haven't had the pleasure of perusing the blogs that participated in this annual event,

click }here{ to check out some amazing blogs ... but don't forget to come back!

I set out to spend a month intentionally looking for joy in each day.  

My greatest hope was to establish the habit 

of savoring the sweetness of the everyday kind of day ... 

reveling in the goodness of the commonplace, 

ferreting out the joys that hide behind things I've done a million times,

and marking the loveliness of nothing at all out of the ordinary.

Because the ordinary days slip by too easily, and much too fast.

But if you count the joys in the ordinary days ... the days aren't ordinary anymore.

 I learned that big joys can come from very small things.

I learned that the remembrance of extending grace compounds joy. 

I learned that feeling joy for someone else is as good as feeling joy for yourself.

I learned that looking for joy makes me more likely to step outside 

my normal routine in hopes of finding it.

I learned that joy doesn't dim its glow in the presence of heartbreak. 

 Joy holds grief's hand and tells it everything will be okay.

I learned that to stop for just ten seconds is more than enough time 

to be astounded by all the things to be joyful about ... in just those ten seconds.

 

And I learned this:  when you wake up wondering what joy you'll find in this day, 

joy unveils itself in the unlikeliest of places.  

And when you wake up and wonder how many joys you will find in this day, 

you'll meet with more joy than fits in your basket.

"To get up each morning with the resolve to be happy...

is to set our own conditions to the events of each day. 

To do this is to condition circumstances

instead of being conditioned by them." 

--Ralph Waldo Emerson 

If you've come along for the 31 Day journey this October, 

thank you for joining me!

And a big thanks to my personal team of cheerleaders 

who've been so kind and encouraging along the way ... you are a great joy to me :o)