Jumping around from blog to blog, I came across one with a charming photo of a grandma hugging two adorable children, all sporting huge smiles that stretched across their faces. The title was “What is Joy to you?” It made me stop short. How many times during the holiday season do we see the scroll over the manger heralding “Joy to the World”?  We send Christmas cards wishing our friends “Joy in the Year Ahead”.  The words echo in our heads as we listen to carols streaming in the mall, on the radio, and in our churches. It made me ponder. What is Joy to me?

Joy to me is an exhilarating feeling that appears in my abdomen and quickly radiates out to all points of my body, like the rays of a sunbeam. It is like a camera lens with a star filter, gazing out of me, focused on a light source. As the feeling expands, it seems to inflate my body, giving me a feeling of lightness that seems to lift me off the ground, suddenly creating space between my cells where my soul can rush in. It is always spontaneous, and unfortunately, often short lived, but it is always a welcome surprise that literally takes my breath away.

I experienced enormous jolts of Joy at the birth of both of my children, and many events in our shared lives have provided me with a consistent supply of it. It overcame me one day when I was singing in the car with one of my granddaughters, and she suddenly burst out with “I love you, Nona!” It surprised me one evening when I was listening to a concert in Avila, Spain and glanced up to see the moon shining through the turrets of the thousand year old wall that wrapped around the city. It welled up in me one day as I walked hand in hand through an autumn forest with a lover.  I sometimes experience it when I am putting my feelings down on paper, like now, and it occasionally creeps up on me at night, when I finally lie down in my bed, pull up the down comforter, and feel so grateful to be at rest and feeling snug as a bug in a rug.

Metaphysic gurus would say that I felt Joy at those times because at those times I was totally in the moment. They would point out that at the times that Joy hits me, I’m not thinking of the past or the future, but rather focusing only on the present. I’m not sure if this is the only explanation, but it sure gives one a good reason to try to stay “in the moment”.  Joy is the feeling that restores one’s spirit and gives us the energy to lean forward. Whatever Joy is to you, my wish is that you experience it soon and often. 

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