Joy can mean many things. It can be that light, free, happy feeling you get when something wonderful just happened, like your heart is about to burst.

It can mean that feeling of ease you have when you feel confident that you can cope with anything that comes your way.

It can mean understanding, deep down, that things are perfect just the way they are, even if they seem far, far from perfect.

It can mean coming from a place of present-moment awareness, and lovingly, compassionately letting go of the stories that plague us about how messed up everything is.

And it can even mean noticing when we can’t let go of the stories and being kind, gentle, and loving about that, the way we would with a good friend who was suffering.

In short, joy means doing what we can to meet each moment, each thought, each emotion, each circumstance with ease, gentleness, love, and even laughter.

This blog is meant to help us learn from each other’s stories about how to live with a joyful heart. This doesn’t mean ignoring the bad things or getting down on ourselves when we feel bad. It’s not about “turning that frown upside down”. It’s about offering compassion to that frown, while at the same time staying aware that the frown is just a fleeting experience, as is the smile.

Joy means living the moments like they mean something.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading through this blog, and I hope you’ll consider participating, as well. It’s meant to be a community, not just one or two people telling you how to be more joyful. Click on the ‘Participation’ tab to find out how.

In Joy-

The JATHT community