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Daily Question, December 4

How have I been surprised by joy?

  • Malag

    It’s infrequent! What springs to mind is being caught by the exquisite beauty of nature eg the vista of mountain ridges suddenly emerging out of a forest or the unexpected drama of a jaw dropping sunrise.

  • Hot Sauce

    Whenever I have a new discovery or epiphany in my spiritual journey, I always feel a profound sense of joy and gratitude that I have come a step further on my journey and can move further on the path to wisdom. It always feels wonderful to reach a new height and to be able to share what I learn with others.

  • Debra

    The surprising joy this Thanksgiving weekend of laughing until I cried almost rolling over on the floor with my sister because of our antics. She is one moment an angel and then next, amazingly funny. I think the rest of our family heard our laughter because the phone calls kept flying in. Joy was everywhere we were!

  • GCharlotte

    I was contacted yesterday by someone who I reached out to when I was in college!

  • Tom Denham
    Joy keeps showing up! My daily practice is to pray my own version of the Lord's Prayer. Since it is my version, the words change every once in a while as I grow. A few months ago I prayed, "Give us today what we need to live" and followed with the petition, "Help us to sort out among ourselves the sharing necessary for all to live in health and safety." The food and shelter necessary for health and safety can be delivered by a refugee camp or warming shelter, but that is not enough. Joy wanted i...

    Joy keeps showing up! My daily practice is to pray my own version of the Lord’s Prayer. Since it is my version, the words change every once in a while as I grow. A few months ago I prayed, “Give us today what we need to live” and followed with the petition, “Help us to sort out among ourselves the sharing necessary for all to live in health and safety.” The food and shelter necessary for health and safety can be delivered by a refugee camp or warming shelter, but that is not enough. Joy wanted in, so my prayer became “Help us to sort out among ourselves the sharing necessary for all to live in health and safety and joy.” I don’t know how to deliver joy, but I knew that living with joy is what people are made for.

    Since including joy in my prayer, joy has been showing up all around me. I am experiencing joy as I see the growth and progress of people around me. A few weeks ago, a woman whispered to me at the start of a 12-step meeting that this was the first meeting she had ever come back to. She said she came back because of what I shared the week before and she was really glad to find me there again. Joy!

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  • Linda

    I just turned 65 and the outpouring of love and good wishes from friends and family was a most joyful and welcome experience. Joy abounds!

  • Antoinette

    The other day I met a man on a flight sitting next to me and his kindness and compassion was a surprise. He told me that I am loved and it was like a bell of mindfulness to wake up and see that I’m cared for. It showed me that we are all connected and this may be easy for overlook. I appreciate him sharing his stores with me.

  • Michele

    My first kiss with a girl I was utterly and completely surprised by joy and switched teams! Proud to be a lesbian:)

  • Carla
    In Jan. of 2015, I ran into a friend who unexpectedly, spontaneously & gleefully said “I’ve been looking for you!” at a community meal. I experienced a depth of joy I’ve never known before, nor found since then. It taught me what Joy in my heart & soul could feel like. We enjoyed a mutually nurturing friendship for two years until unforeseen health challenges for both of us & a non supportive family member created a barricade. Joy still happens in my life & I try to nurtu...

    In Jan. of 2015, I ran into a friend who unexpectedly, spontaneously & gleefully said “I’ve been looking for you!” at a community meal. I experienced a depth of joy I’ve never known before, nor found since then. It taught me what Joy in my heart & soul could feel like. We enjoyed a mutually nurturing friendship for two years until unforeseen health challenges for both of us & a non supportive family member created a barricade. Joy still happens in my life & I try to nurture it by seeing with the eyes of a child-looking for the simple gifts of delight-falling snow, an opening flower, seeing animal shapes in clouds.

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    • Verena

      dear Carla, with time, prayer and the love of Jesus all the joys that may seem little now will, spark by spark, add to a firework of forgiveness and gratefulness

  • Butterfly

    If I can feel joyful about something during my day it changes what is an ordinary, mundane day into a beautiful day. It is always surprising how such small things can change one’s whole day and the joy I feel can also change someone else’s day if it rubs off on them!

  • Verena

    I so much agree with Kevin that we all could need even some more joy; so one way is to cultivate what the Buddhists call boundless joy – to allow the spark of joy that we observe in others also lit our own hearts 🔥 – there’s almost a guarantee that we will be surprised by this practice 💛

  • Sarah

    At times I tend to project negative outcomes. I’m surprised by joy when the opposite happens.

  • Kevin

    Hard to say just “how” I have been surprised by joy because there’s been so many ways that joy has suddenly emerged unexpectedly, which is wonderful. What I do know is that I, and people everywhere, certainly deserve and need more joy. We could all benefit by being tutored and nurtured on how to invite joy, to see and to “wait” for joy to unfold in our midst. It’s there, and I am the first to admit that I sometimes miss it altogether.

  • Verena

    playing pingpong was always a joy for me, but once I observed a match of top players, this joy was humbled by awe 🙄 (they each had a big team of players though)

  • reality

    As Shakespeare related in his play ‘Macbeth’, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”, without joy; the stretto as a result of living well. Thanx for all you do and don’t. Have a great day 🙂 reality

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