Joy.
Perhaps the word brings up an image of dancing or sunshine or a tender moment.
Joy can be misunderstood as something light or optional, a brief emotional lift. But real joy has depth. Joy expands our capacity to see and respond to the world differently, allowing imagination and possibility to return.
In contrast, fear and anger narrow attention and create barriers between people.
Expansive emotions like joy, love, compassion, and forgiveness create connection. They remind us that we aren’t meant to live in constant vigilance or exhaustion. Moments of shared music, laughter, creativity, or simple presence with others restore something essential within us, rebuilding the sense that life is larger than our anxieties and disagreements.
Joy isn’t an escape from reality, but rather a way of remaining open to life even when circumstances feel heavy.
Choosing joy right now is resilient, while we’re amid a world that feels heavy and overwhelming. Joy becomes a breather – a moment where the nervous system softens, where we step out of constant urgency and remember that we are more than our exhaustion or fear. These necessary pauses aren’t avoidance; they restore the energy needed to remain human and hopeful.
Allowing ourselves moments of laughter, beauty, connection, or gratitude, interrupts cycles of despair and make room for possibility. Joy becomes both refuge and renewal – a necessary step in creating the kind of world we long for.
Choose a moment of joy today. Through music. Making silly noises. Dancing that you hope no one will see.
Breathe. Pause. Then back to the work of growing more love.
Joni Miller, Ph.D., is a writer, researcher, spiritual coach, and speaker who uses her knowledge, education, and love of all things spiritual to help spiritual wanderers find a place they can call home, navigating by the light of Love. www.SpiritualGeography.net
