Get a little Joy in Your Life

Pure joy floating on the Dead Sea

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think.  When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. ~ Buddha

One of the most joyous days of my life was the birth of my little brother.  Growing up, I’d always wanted a little brother and now at age 15 I was finally getting my wish.  He was born in a terrible ice storm which meant we got the day off from school the day he was born, double joy.  The irony is, that while I’m writing this I’m awaiting the birth of his daughter, soon to be my littlest niece.

Joy in Life

Lately I’ve been thinking that there isn’t enough joy in my life.  Don’t get me wrong, life is good and I’m very happy.  I’m living in a new place I like, I have a new job that is going well, I have a better social life already here than I’ve had in years.  But  what I’m talking about, is that giddy child-like feeling of joy, that moment where you feel amazement, spiking happiness, tingling joy.  For me it’s been a couple of years, the last time I absolutely felt like that was in the picture above, floating in the Dead Sea.  I’d wanted to experience the amazing buoyancy of floating in the Dead Sea since I’d seen a story about it on 60 Minutes when I was a child.

Walking into the cold water you don’t get how different things really are, then you get deep enough and you lunge forward and you bob like a cork.  It’s amazing, it’s like having on floaties, you can literally float vertically in the water column.  I could float on my back with incredible ease, which I’ve never been able to do anywhere before.  I was giggling like a toddler, I couldn’t stop smiling, I loved it, it was amazing.  I need, we need, more of that type of feeling in our lives.

Soon I hope to do something else I’ve wanted to do since seeing the movie Altered States in the early 1980’s.  I want to float in a sensory deprivation tank, and now, living a few miles from San Francisco I have several places I can do this, and I’m so excited to try it out.

I know how to help you be happier, I know the little things you can do daily, I know how to help you design the big things that can make you happier and change your life.  But joy, joy is a trickier thing, it’s a fleeting, hard to grasp and often only comes spontaneously.  I knew I would enjoy the Dead Sea, I had no idea it would bring the kind of joy that it did.  So, this is about to become my new quest, I’d love your help, your suggestions and most especially your stories of joy, so please share and have a happy day my friends.  ~ Rev Kane