My one little word

It is never easy to choose my one little word..... I set it as an intention for how I want to live in the year ahead..... it has to be authentic for me, at this time in my life, and doable at least most of the time.

This year my word is: JOY

And by this I do not mean happy because really what does happy mean? Chipper, chirpy, perky, smiley....??  Not words I would use to describe myself that often.

I am not a Pollyanna, if anything I tend to the pessimistic end of the spectrum and I can join the gloomy Eeyores of the wold without too much coaxing.

I am taking a leaf out of my Reggio colleagues playbook and embrace their philosophy declared in the statement
"Nothing without Joy"

Well..... there is a tall order.

I want to cultivate and practice seeing joy, knowing joy, expressing joy in the least likely moments as well as the obvious ones. In the smallest of things as well as grand gestures.

To slow down enough, clear my mind and my vision enough to see joy,
                                                                                                     know joy,
                                                                                                               share joy.

And although this practice, this word, this joy is mostly for my own heart I hope is permeates my outward actions and words too.....in time.

A quiet joy.

A persistent joy.

A choice to be joyful.

Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.

Joseph Campbell