The other morning I had an interaction that was unexpected. I was expecting to wake up to blizzard-like conditions, only to see that there was a small amount of slick snow, and no ice on my path. So, I put on my shoes and got the young pup ready, like normal, and got out for our morning walk. It was 5:45am and I normally don’t have any interactions with other humans.

As I turned the corner on the street, I saw an older individual in slippers using a cane, pulling their garbage bin up the very slick driveway. I hesitated for a moment, and then cautiously approached, calling out to the individual to see if they wanted my help. When they didn’t hear me, I decided to bring the second bin up.

When the individual turned around, she was not alarmed, and the look on her face was pure unaltered joy. She immediately started expressing her gratitude and telling me how her husband was gone for work, she had been ill, and she wanted to get the bins up first thing this morning for some reason. She deeply, deeply thanked me and asked me my name to which I replied:

“My name is Jessica.”

She replied, “My name is Joy.”

“Joy” has been showing up in many different aspects of my life these days. It’s something I hadn’t noticed until some really challenging hards and some deep digging work – in coaching, outside help, and personal reflection. Staying more present in my daily life (thanks to that work that I have received) I have been trained and am more open to seeing things in a very different way.

Joy is surrounding – It’s always there if we choose to notice it AND receive it.

And it’s in many moments that it’s better to not look for joy or seek it out, but to acknowledge it when it arrives, and simply choose to let it stay.

So as you approach today, I encourage you to have openness and willingness to see the joy that surrounds you in your everyday life. Because let me tell you, the more open I am to the possibility of joy entering my life, the more it is right there, crashing in on me.

With love and joy,

Jessica