Now I run for joy as a celebration of the inner joy I created when I perceived so little in my external world to be happy about. This joy-path is especially precious, because now I know that joy is for everyone, no matter how down and out.

“Mom, this is vegetables. This is straight up vegetables.” My eyes widened and I laughed. I had not meant to pull one over on him. I’d just forgotten why I’d been avoiding those popsicles.

When I elevate my feelings, the quality of my thoughts rises to meet them. I think new thoughts, and I’m so grateful. I’ve been shifting my center of awareness to include all beings for some time, and I’m happy to find one more place to do it. Another step towards alignment.

I also cultivate an awareness of my thoughts and feelings, turning my attention towards that which nourishes and delights. It looks like attending the Joy Collective meetings weekly, where I am inspired and grateful to learn from others who are applying the practices I’m happy to contribute.

This image asks me to explore everything that happens to me as a possible gift. Just as I did not see the castle at first in the inverted image, so I might miss the value of what comes my way.

Our every action and inaction impact sundry beings around us. All of life is interdependent, whether we are aware of it or not. It is no wonder that Marshall Rosenberg’s Key Distinctions include a juxtaposition of “Interdependence and Independence/Dependence.”

Beauty is in the balance, don’t you think?

I am happy to sit and watch the sky as I slowly give my teeth some love. Bundled up cozy, I watch colors fade into exquisite brightness, and contrasting shadows.

Heirloom tomatoes are the best. Their juicy, honeycombed sweetness is a delight on sandwiches and in salads and salsas.

I knew the uncomfortable was inevitable. And yet, I knew there were gifts in this. How did I know? Because there always is, has been, and will be.

When was the last time you made something by following instructions that you wondered about? Are you less willing to do that as you age, or do the opportunities just come more rarely now that your experience is broader?

Our brains perceive the world with a negativity bias for survival. I have compassion for myself, for all of us, in experiencing a negative perception first. What we do with that perception though, is up to us.

To know. Isn’t it a sweet thing? Isn’t it one of the best parts of being alive? To have the sense that something is. To navigate around it and dance with it, deeply understanding your role and its role. To love in relationship with purity of focus, appreciation, and care.

I appreciated that every movement forward and backwards with the head, hand, or chest meant something. Never have I been so curious about the energy directed by the blink of an eye or a softly blown breath. These are movements we take in subconsciously (or not) with many beings.

We’ve all had that moment when we realized that what we’ve been believing is not true. It’s helpful to remember how our beliefs have changed so that we can hold them with a more open hand. And it’s also important to share our journeys with one another so we learn, over and over again, that we are not alone.

The seed for my joyful European adventure was planted years ago while I laid in bed, unable to move without excruciating pain.

Here we were, as in so many moments that we’ve spent together as a Joy Collective, reverent and irreverent at once. Balancing precariously between upright and flat-on-our-faces, trying not to hold our breath, and reaching for one another’s hands.

How beautiful it is to surrender to love when we are down, trusting someone else has the energy to hold the light. Or to be that light shining, regardless of circumstances, because this is what we practice.

Living close to the earth, the seasons set the pace. I find that the development of flowers, fruits, and vegetables don’t follow a calendar, but they do proceed to ripen in a somewhat orderly rhythm.

On one of the hottest days of summer, our local Joy Collective group gathered from the nether reaches of Lane County to grace our back deck with all colors.