Today I made my morning walk around the neighborhood. I heard birds singing, I saw clouds passing by, and I felt the cool air on my face. Then I came back home to sit in meditation. I love the quiet mornings and how peacefully my day begins. As I sit at my computer now, I look out and see the green of the grass and trees and a clear blue sky.

And yet I wonder where this all leads. Where am I going on my Journey of Joy? Am I being honest with myself as I write my Joy. I have always felt fear at the idea of laying my soul bare to others. I have trusted very few in my life, with Jim being my main confidante. Yet, even he encourages me to write from my heart. He suggests that I write fiction too and my mind races with the possibility of creating stories.

So as I continue this Journey, I want to look with honesty at my life and the Joy that comes to me in so many ways. The amazing thing about Joy is that it can be such a small thing that makes me smile, such as Fynneus calling this morning to tell me he was eating cookies for breakfast (he was teasing me) and to invite me over to his house to play. It can be the really big things, such as anniversary mile stones or starting a new life in a new city and state. I can embrace each of these with Joy, if I choose, and I can, along the way, create more Joy. My walk this morning was pure Joy. My steaming cup of coffee sitting beside me right now is pure Joy.

Again I look up the definition of Joy which is already marked in my bulky dictionary: "Intense and ecstatic or exultant happiness". And I remember that Joy is the correct word, or as close as I can come, to describing this feeling. The feeling that causes me to write with such passion, to open my soul for others to peer in, casually or intensely at the offering I lay before us.

I am excited again. I know my writing is good for me and I know that Joy can be found in healing. It is healing and therapeutic to look for Joy. When looking for Joy became my main focus, irritations and annoyances became less noticeable. I find myself blessing others instead of wanting to flip them off. And now, every time I bless someone, I always bless myself and my family too. So my blessings increase as does my Joy, my intense, ecstatic and exultant happiness. This is my life. And I will be honest and open in my writing. This is too important to gloss over quickly. I will write with my heart open, with my soul bared to us all, and I will write with a passion for loving life.

Here's to the Journey!