Dear Diary,<\/p>\n
I recently experienced joy again, actual legitimate joy.\u00a0 Joy is such a unique, incomparable feeling; I was amazed at how much I had forgotten what it felt like.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been content; I\u2019ve had fleeting moments of happiness, but both of those are (or can be) more contained to the person experiencing them.\u00a0 Joy, however, isn\u2019t a base emotion compared to happiness; joy is an outwardly radiant, pure combination of happiness and peace, and I am rarely ever peaceful.\u00a0 When you see a joyful person, you know it swiftly, and it can be contagious in the best way!<\/p>\n
What does it mean for something to be \u2018pure?\u2019\u00a0 In chemical terms, purity is the absence of a contaminant, and we can adopt a similar idea for life as a whole.\u00a0 Purity is the full experience of something, absent thoughts, feelings, or other distractions that take away from the experience.\u00a0 Purity is the reward for practicing the skill of being present.\u00a0 At the beginning of the practice, we need largely pre-arranged, sanitized situations in which to practice, and that\u2019s ok.\u00a0 Over time, though, one can remain present with increasing amounts of stressors and distractions.<\/p>\n
We often think of children as pure.\u00a0 If we think of purity as \u2018the full experience of something,\u2019 it is easy to see why; children, hopefully, haven\u2019t endured any trauma or other hard lessons that would interfere with what we would describe as innocence \u2013 the ability to dream, ask questions, and put forth ideas wholeheartedly and without fear.\u00a0 We old folk, having our innocence lost, no longer have such ability, but deep down, we still quietly dream even if we keep it to ourselves or a carefully guarded few.<\/p>\n
Innocence is one of many reasons a connection to nature is so important.\u00a0\u00a0 Nature is innocent.\u00a0 The flowers simply grow and bloom; the birds simply fly and sing; the tides and moon dance of their accord.\u00a0 The trees don\u2019t cut healthcare for the poor to benefit themselves, and the clouds don\u2019t provide shade based on your race, sex, gender, religion, nationality, etc.\u00a0 Nature just is, and change is the nature of nature.\u00a0 We, too, can change while still being our authentic selves.<\/p>\n
Nature doesn\u2019t need our constant judgment, and neither do most things.\u00a0 Judgment takes us away from being present and is the fastest way to overthink things.\u00a0 Overthinking things is the quickest way to move away from purity, the whole experience of something, as we\u2019ve added unnecessary detrimental extra ingredients to the experience.\u00a0 It\u2019s ok to enjoy something for what it is without trying to add or take away anything from it.\u00a0 It\u2019s ok to enjoy something for what it is without trying to categorize or quantify it.\u00a0 It\u2019s ok to enjoy something for what it was and let it go.<\/p>\n
Be present; you are worth it. When you have the opportunity to be truly joyful, embrace it while in it and be grateful for it after it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n
reBLUEvinate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Diary, I recently experienced joy again, actual legitimate joy.\u00a0 Joy is such a unique, incomparable feeling; I was amazed at how much I had forgotten what it felt like.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been content; I\u2019ve had fleeting moments of happiness, but both of those are (or can be) more contained to the person experiencing them.\u00a0 Joy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[304],"tags":[334,313],"class_list":["post-29093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dear-diary","tag-334","tag-mindfulness"],"yoast_head":"\n