Joy to the World

I love the old Three Dog Night song, Joy to the World......the lyrics are simple and childlike.....but the definition of joy according to Random House....the emotion of great delight, somehow always makes me think of children. Jordan exhibits great joy at the simplest of pleasures, like eating strawberries or being tickled. He loves to be tickled, and you can hear his squeals of delight ring through the house when Rick tickles him.

I have a graphic on my vision board that is quite joyful to me. It is two hands cupped together, with a woman bursting from the palms, with music notes and birds flying around her. It just speaks to me of the joy that I feel when I sing, somehow I think the artist captured it and didn't even know me.

I see people every day that have no joy.......their eyes are sad and fearful, sometimes empty.

But as the days go by, and I watch them as they come to class, in most I begin to see a spark of joy. Sometimes, it is a smile, or a twinkle in the eye, but life comes back and you see it in their faces. The first time you see joy in someone's face at the end of a yoga class is an amazing event. I teach a class pretty often that is based on gratitude and joy......my belief, without gratitude there is no joy, and we have to allow ourselves joy.

I think it is so easy to be sad and fearful, after all that is all we hear and see on the media, we allow our joy to be stolen. But joy is simple, it can be a walk through the grass barefoot, an ice cream cone on a warm day, fresh strawberries, a hug, hearing an old friend's voice, watching a sunset or a sunrise, or the simple words .........joy to the world, all the boys and girls, joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me! Doesn't that make you smile, I mean joy even to the fishes......that is some pretty serious joy to spread around!

One of the best yoga teacher trainings that I ever attended was in Olive Branch Mississippi.

The instructor had just gotten back from India and the training was magical, she had so much joy she truly glowed. One day after an eight hour session, as we came our of savasana(rest), she blasted us with "Joy to the World", even though we were exhausted, we all left smiling.

So now that I have planted that song in your brain tonight and you will hum it and yell obscenities at me because you can't get it out of your head........just one more time.......

JOY TO THE WORLD

ALL THE BOYS AND GIRLS

JOY TO THE FISHES IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA

JOY TO YOU AND ME