J O y
Toni Morrison, the mother we always knew we needed once wrote:
“It’s not possible to constantly hone on the crisis. You have to have the love and you have to have the magic. that’s also life and i regard it, even though it may sound as though i’m dealing in fantasy, i don’t think so.” - toni morrison
my spiritual practice as of late is bringing myself back to the love. the JOY. the laughter. the stars, moon, and suns. i laugh big & guffaw unabashedly because i know how it feels to cry just as hard. my deep capacity to feel pain only mirrors my deep capacity for joy. ego says we must not let go of what makes us feel tight, but ego will swallow us whole if we let it. i came here to feel a lot. experience a lot. learn a lot. but i want to ensure that a great deal of these new feelings & experiences are positive and divinely inspired because that’s the stuff that lights up our souls and sends them directly to what we came here to remember, and be.
love,
L
WHO FEELS AS LIGHT AS ME IN SPIRIT? rhetorical
why am i attracted to these humans the most? beings w minimal to zero baggage. we are skilled in the art of letting go. we pride ourselves in this spiritual practice; it’s why we have room for so much goodness to flood in.
there’s real joy.. and there is playing a joy-filled character
why do so many of us struggle to experience real joy. i can count on one hand the people i personally know whose spirits are naturally joyous. i run to them w my excitement, accomplishments, good news, because they are experienced in carrying it.. we know how to hold it.. we know how to protect it.
feeling close to them, safe w them, is effortless, because they don’t let joy happen to them, all accidental-like.. they embody the practices that guarantee their joy.. they commit to rest, meditation, exercise, community involvement, rewarding work, & pleasure above all else, even when they don’t feel like it, even when they’re too tired. every single day we commit to this active, rigorous dance that not only grows us, but grows the souls of those we interact with. how does one effectively grow another without joy? no idea lol.. which brings me to an important PSA that I’ve landed on now that I’m experiencing life in my 30s —>
we are tired of carrying your dimly-lit, prone-to-negative-vibes, someone-even-looks-at-me-wrong-&-my-day-is-ruined type energy.
cuz at this big age it’s entirely subtracting, exhausting.. & ain’t nobody got time for that! life comes at all of us.. it comes directly for your joy, and you just let it leave so quickly, almost like you’re giving it away, as if it was always nothing worth having. like WHY sprint towards the pain yet again.. like yes yes yes, this pain/fear could very well be all that we truly know, but it’s giving been there done that yawn, ya know? granted, it could often define many of our core experiences BUT.
healing comes IN THE JOY.
i’m not saying to only feel joy. i’m not saying to never feel down.. pain, sadness, mourning, grief, are all inevitable parts of the human experience.
what i’m saying is that we need to stand on our joy; we need to double down on it; we need to own it; we need to make it a foundational pillar of our soul’s sweet essence.. we’ve lived on the downer-vibes side of the street for far too long.
so come on you.. yes YOU! let’s build a place w a better view :)
An influential figure of the 20th century, John Cage’s work was known for pushing boundaries with music, philosophy, visual art, etc.