"“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
~ Rumi
“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.” ~ Brene Brown
“To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind.”
― Pearl S. Buck
"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” - Thich Nhat Hahn
“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.” ~ Mark
Twain
“Keep your best wishes close to your heart and watch what happens” - Tony DeLiso
“Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.”
~ Pierre de Chardin
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” John Keats
“If I can see pain in your eyes then share with me your tears. If I can see joy in your eyes then share with me your smile.”
~
Santosh Kalwar
“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair...”
~ Susan Polis Schultz
“I slept and
dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”
~ Rabindranath Tagore
“words are like nets - we hope they'll cover what we mean, but we know they can't possibly hold that much joy, or grief,
or wonder.”
Jodi Picoult
“There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.”
―
John Calvin
“Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.”
―
Emily Dickinson
“God surely did not create us, and cause us to live, with the sole end of wishing always to die. I believe, in my heart, we were intended to
prize life and enjoy it, so long as we retain it. Existence never was originally meant to be that useless, blank, pale, slow-trailing thing it often becomes to many, and is becoming to me, among the rest.”
―
Charlotte Brontë,
Shirley
“The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and
flowers.”
―
Rabindranath Tagore
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in
truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.” Gibran
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a
feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend."
~ Melody Beattie
This quote relates to yesterday's - the "cream rising to the top" one by Emma Davies. When I came across that quote in the first chapter of a novel, I thought of times I felt shaken. (If you missed it, see below*)
"Shake well" may bring out the best of Italian salad dressing, but being shaken does not bring out the best in us.
When shaken, we usually feel unclear about what to do. Ah, but when we are still, like cream, guiding wisdom rises to the surface of our consciousness.
Feeling appreciative about something can help settle us. We may also need time. Shaken periods call for patience, self-love and compassion. Hope always helps. Gratitude too. In fact, gratitude seems to be the master key to the fullness of life.
And joy,
Charlene
* "What you want to do will rise to the surface once all this other stuff has died down. You know, like cream
to the top of the milk. It only does that if it's not shaken." ~ Emma Davies
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JOY: May it keep your heart open and filled with light.
