I’ve recently stumbled across ‘Joy Spotting’, have you heard of it?
It’s a movement that’s gaining momentum looking at “Where joy hides, and how to find it”. You know when something just resonates? When it falls in your lap at precisely the right moment? Well ‘Joy Spotting’ is what I need right now.
Because whilst I have an amazing life with my beautiful family, honestly things are tough sometimes. I could write a whole article on this but it certainly wouldn’t be called Joy Spotting, so I digress!
In Rachel McFedries article on her website, thestayathomeot.wordpress.com she discusses Ingrid Fetell Lee studies on the brain and how it responds to joy. “Fetell Lee researched the neuroscience behind the emotion of joy – what areas of the brain are activated when viewing more “joyful” objects, and also asked people what they found joy in. She discovered a theme; joy can be found in objects like balloons, bubbles, blossoms, confetti, sprinkles, rainbows and swimming pools; round colourful objects and things that create a feeling of airy lightness. She has named this theme “The Aesthetics of Joy”.”
This past fortnight I have been purposefully noticing joy. It’s come in many forms. Hot air balloons adorning our clear, Spring morning sky, mirror like reflection on the lake and blossom on our fruit trees. But also less conventional places. The the rearranging of furniture in our dining area really gave me pleasure. Glancing at the clean lines and on the table, 3 home-grown tulips sitting in bottles gifted to me by a dear friend. A comforting sense of joy on many levels. Then watching my daughters little legs bouncing on the trampoline, giggling with glee and reaching for the flowering trees above with her finger tips. My sons ecstasy as he licks the icing off an afghan cookie that he chose “all by myself” at our mother and son café date.
Whilst looking, and noticing, I realised that yes, I loved joy in ‘objects’ a ‘moment’ and ‘nature’, but the biggest cause of real bellyful joy came from sharing this joy with people. The quote “Joy is not in things it is in us.” seemed to really ring true.
So while I still want to take a moment to find the joy in objects, I can take comfort that joy really is all around me, even through the tough times, my mother Joie, just a phone call away, and my daughter, who’s middle name is Joy, is with me every day. Every morning when the sun rises and everyday spotting the hot air balloons, with me.
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