Dancing in the Dazzle

posted 5 months ago

I think this is really about joy. Not just plain old run of the mill happiness but joy -- that almost indefinable sense that can pervade our being. It is not an emotion so much as it is a condition of the soul.

Happiness is ephemeral. Anything can whack it off its perch and plunge you into the depths of discontent. But joy is a state of being, always there, like a radio playing happy music in the background, even though a moment here and there may be sad, or angry or confused. Those are passing emotions, temporal feelings that come and go, change and shift, turn and vary. Joy remains, if it is in our soul. It becomes a part of us, a thing we can almost hold in our hands.

If 'hope is the thing with feathers' (Emily Dickinson), then joy is the thing with dazzle, like the sun. And joy makes us dance, step, twirl in ecstasy, hearing our inner music. We must dance to our inner music, allowing our joy to escape into the world.

Can you see yourself, floating, rising, face aglow, dancing in the dazzle?

Comments

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1. 5 months ago feywon wrote:

yes...i can.

i love this Marti...Joy has been my word of the year despite some overt setbacks in some areas of life...you are so right that joy is a state of being, an attitude toward life and the world.

2. 5 months ago CaliforniaBlonde wrote:

This is lovely! The secret--I think--is to get that joy into our soul so it becomes a part of us. So, so many people focus in the negatives in their lives instead of nurturing their joy. If we don't feed it, nurture it, and give it a happy place to live, it will surely fly the coop! And hope is joy's little sister: a sense of hope makes our joy fuller, more complete; and without joy, our hopes can become fragile and vulnerable.
Keep on bloggin!

3. 5 months ago ABWONTHELOOSE wrote:

What an uplifting blog! I love both the expression and the picture. My first realization that joy can co-exist with sadness came nearly 20 years ago, at a time when I was dealing with multiple crisises and in the middle of my second miscarriage. I've tried to hold onto that knowledge, and to use it to gather the strength to look for that kernel of joy when I need it most. Thanks for the reminder.

Ann

4. 4 months ago johnH56 wrote:

I have come back to this post several times now. What I keep seeing is that child dancing free. And I wonder in response to your thought where is that child in each of us. What happened to the wonder and the willingness to just be. Somehow we end up looking over our shoulder for someone's approval. The ultimate question in life becomes "Are we ok" instead of can there be joy? You make me think. Thank you. This was very very sweet.