Joy is a hard thing to write about when you don’t feel it that moment. I don’t feel the opposite of joy: despair, sadness, depression or grief but I also, this very second, don’t feel that bubbling over feeling I know very well to be capital, J, Joy. And that’s ok. I do, however, deeply resonate with the Rumi quote I painted in because that is what has happened to me in the last year. I’m operating from the soul and that is leaving me joy filled. I’m a painter, a writer, a greeting card maker. The traditional path? Nope. The path I was (somewhat) happily skipping down? Sort of kind of in a meandering way but what I’ve learned is that the joy comes from DOING IT, not standing close to it, or reading about it (although that is very enjoyable, not to be discounted whatsoever). But really doing it, even in tiny baby steps, a doodle here, a blog post there, a whatever it is you love there, but putting your voice out into the world where you know you’re supposed to be, that is a form of joy. Not every moment has to be that lightning bolt shazam joy, but Rumi got it right. The soul knows when it’s in the right place at the right time and that is joy.
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a JOY.”Rumi
“Joy” 24×36″ (available at Capers, 4525 SW California St, Seattle, WA 206.932.0371)