Author: clfuu

Sometimes, when we are filled with joy, it overflows from us as tears. Those moments of most profound joy can look to others like moments of sadness.

When have you felt joy so profound that you burst into tears?

As whole human beings, we experience both joys and sorrows. We bring both our joys and sorrows to our communities to be witnessed and appreciated.

What are the joys and sorrows you are bearing today?

“Joy can get complicated. Our lives grow convoluted. So often, when joy comes to us, it is accompanied by other emotions that seem to be in conflict but somehow enter our lives all mixed together: joy and sorrow and gratitude and grief and… Yet when I think about joy being complicated, I am not thinking only about how it frequently has to make its way to us in the midst of other emotions.”
-Jan Richardson, from The Sanctuary Between Us

What are the other emotions mixed up with your joy today?

“With joy we claim the growing light,
advancing thought, and widening view,
the larger freedom clearer sight,
which from the old unfold the new … ”
-Samuel Longfellow

As each day becomes longer with growing light, what joys are you better able to see?

Youth I once worked with used to put in their covenant that no one was allowed to “yuck” another person’s “yum,” meaning that people should be allowed things that bring them pleasure and joy without others judging them for it. I was recently reminded of this phrase when people started getting bent out of shape by others posting their “Wordle” scores online every day.

What is something that brings you joy that not everyone understands? Can you do that thing today?