"Joy is the happiness that doesn't depend on what happens"
David Steindl-Rast
As we start a new year, I am reflecting back on last year, the year, that has forever changed me, and millions of others.
I find it, still hard, to actually say, pandemic, it feels like a bad dream or a bad movie, lol, but in all seriousness, 2020 will forever be the year that a global pandemic stopped the world!
Just that statement in and of itself is enough to push most of us off the deep-end, then add in multiple global natural disasters, civil unrest, and a precarious global financial situation due to months of shut downs all over the world, and what we have now is total chaos!
So how do we find joy in all this chaos and uncertainty, or is it even possible?
"We are not all in the same boat.
We are in the same storm.
Some have yachts, some have canoes, and some are drowning. Just be kind and help wherever you can."
adapted from a quote
by Damian Barr
I remember hearing quotes like this throughout the year, and feeling guilty, because although I wasn't in a yacht I definitely wasn't drowning, which made me think of all the people all over the world who were, drowning!
Sure it was easier for me to find joy in all this chaos and uncertainty, how could I tell someone, suffering to find the joy in their pain...
I began reflecting on the times in my life where I was the one, drowning, and I found that I did for the most part find the joy in it all, time and time again, which ultimately built up my emotional resilience, which has helped me tremendously throughout last year!
As the fear of last year lost it's grip on me, I was able to tap more into the smallest things that brought me joy...
flowers
sunsets
sunrises
morning coffee
my kids laughter
the smell of good food cooking
a hot shower
daily meditation
daily gratitude practice
daily exercise
Focusing on the things that brought me joy, reminded me that my happiness wasn't dependent on what was going on around me, it was about my inner joy, being fueled with the simple things in life that were all around me, always there, ready to be tapped into, all I had to do was...
"choose joy, choose happiness"
I remember reading my first Anne Frank quote when was a teenager, and reading the Diary of Anne Frank, and that's when it became clear to me that it was a choice, and if she could choose it, where she was at, I could choose it too!
"Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy" Anne Frank
Last year has left many of us scarred with PTSD and afraid for our future, but it also brought us together in ways we had never thought imaginable, there were moments of pure love that we were able to witness, even in all the darkness and chaos, many of us have had our faith, love and hope re-ignited!
So if you're blessed to be in a yacht weathering the storm of life, help and uplift those that are drowning, and if like me and you're in a canoe, spread kindness and love wherever you go, because you can!
Tamarah
Conscious Positive Living