Joy is hiding in plain sight

At the beginning of the week, world events had me feeling somber. And mistakenly, I fed those emotions with more stories and opinions masquerading as news. My mood became increasingly more sad.

Then a friend called out of the blue one night and asked me, “What is bringing you joy right now?”

I paused. My inner critic answered first: Nothing. You’re in a bad mood. Politics, the events of the world — they demand your attention and your emotions.

But rather than saying that, I actually answered the question.

My little dog brings me joy. My son brings me joy. My wife having a wonderful time on her trip brings me joy.

There it was.

Joy is not absent from our lives. Joy is often hiding in plain sight.

Joy is not the attempted negation of the negative. It simply acknowledges that there are more emotions and more events in the room.