Meditation on Joy

“If you think that the truth can be known from words, if you think that the sun and the ocean can pass through that tiny opening called the mouth, o someone should start laughing! Someone should start wildly laughing now! — Hafiz

This photograph is pinned to my bulletin board above my desk. The little girl’s name, the circumstances surrounding the photo itself, are all unknown. Yet each time I look up from whatever work is demanding my attention, a smile comes unbidden, my eyes crinkle up with happiness.

Memories that remind me of her expansive joy flow through me. The birth of my son. Our marriage ceremony on the foredeck of a ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Watching friends walk down the steps to our home on their first visit, the hugs and long-missed connections. The musician on Friday night, playing jazz piano like no other. The look on the dogs’ faces when I rub their bellies.

Let the little girl’s amazing expression and Hafiz’s words infect you with laughter, joyful memories, a lighter heart, a more spacious mind, a greater connection to life’s pulse. Open your eyes and your arms wide to what can so easily be forgotten, yet is always waiting to be embraced.

Watch the difference in your day as you make more joyful choices. Then pass it on, as my friend Vickie did when she shared Hafiz’s quote.