It seems simple. It is simple. And yet it’s not.

It was the “instruction” we got from the yoga instructor Monday morning. “Find the joy.”

It’s always my choice. I forget it sometimes, but it is.

I’m having a few rough rounds at work. Things are happening with clients that are triggering my buttons. It feels like the confusion of the Church all over again – not knowing what’s really going on; feeling misunderstood and misinterpreted, and blamed for things that I haven’t done (at least not intentionally); feeling like I’m messing up. I have to own my part in all of it. I have to acknowledge that it triggers old fears and feelings – and that it’s not old fears and feelings.

And then I have to find the joy.

Things may hurt. That doesn’t change. People may piss me off. That doesn’t change. I may feel judged, or judge myself. That doesn’t change.

What changes is how I respond, and I can respond by finding the joy.

It may take a while. I may have to pause. I may need to find someone, or someones, to give me a real or virtual or metaphorical hug.

It may require me exercising all my self-compassion and self-forgiveness, and shifting my focus. It may require me cracking a few bad jokes. But I have strengthened my joy-finding muscles, and now is the time to put them into use.

Now is the time to follow my own advice and find my own joy.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, and please share this post with others if it resonates with you!