Words for the Soul: Living in Joy
SHOP HOLIDAY GLAMOUR
A very merry Christmas to you and yours! No matter what this holiday signifies to you, it is at its core, a day of love and joy. This month we have been meditating particularly on the word JOY. This is no soft, sugary, feel-good word. Thomas Aquinas stated, "Man cannot live without joy..." The human heart is meant for joy. This desire is at the heart of everything we do, and we will scour the world endlessly seeking joy and its deepest, truest sense. Joy is more than a feeling, and it is independent of circumstance. It is available to each and every one of us at this very moment, ready and waiting to be embraced into the corners of our life where we have resisted it. Where do you need to give and receive more love? What aspects of your life crave deeper grace, love, and joy? Which people in your life to do you need to praise with gratitude and joy? We hope you take this day for reflection and invite joy more deeply into your own life. Here are some of the best quotes we have found on the topic of joy, and we hope they are an inspiration for you as well:
"Life has its pains and evils â its bitter disappointments; but like a good novel and in healthful length of days, there is infinite joy in seeing the World, the most interesting of continued stores, unfold..." - W.E.B. DuBois
"Happiness, not in another place, but this place... not for another hour, but for this hour." - Walt Whitman
"That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great." - Willa Cather
"Remember this, that very little is needed to make a happy life." - Marcus Aurelius
"One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats." - Iris Murdoch
"Gratitude, not understanding, is the secret to joy." - Anne Lamott
"Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it." - Fyodor Dostoevsky
"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved." - Victor Hugo
"Happiness is in your ability to love others." - Leo Tolstoy
"Life is to be enjoyed, not simply endured. Pleasure and goodness and joy support the pursuit of survival." - Willard Gaylin
"Our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves." - Wilhelm von Humboldt
"Right in the difficult we must have our joys, our happiness, our dreams: there against the depth of this background, they stand out, there for the first time we see how beautiful they are." - Rainer Maria Rilke
"We can be unhappy about many things, but joy can still be there... It is important to become aware that at every moment of our life we have an opportunity to choose joy... It is in the choice that our true freedom lies, and that freedom is, in the final analysis, the freedom to love." - Henri J.M. Nouwen
We have been hosting a weekly giveaway that celebrates living in joy! What makes you joyful and how do you cultivate joy in your life? Share your posts and comments on Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag #joyfulyogini. You still have one last chance to win a head-to-toe KiraGrace outfit - we'd love for you to join in the conversation!
If you enjoyed this blog, check out: "Words for the Soul," "Definition Reclamation Project: Words From a Warrior," "Be Her Now: Powerful Words from Octavia Raheem," and "What is the Difference Between Yoga Pants & Leggings?."
