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Monday, December 3

You know what I think is weird? How often over the course of the past year in The Joy Jar Project the discussion brought out the hard stuff, the sad stuff. It was like we really couldn’t understand joy without understanding it in the context of suffering—I was not expecting that. I envisioned a year of rainbows and sunshine, but instead it was a year of rainbows; sunshine; and the acknowledgment of cancer, loss of family, disappointment and stress.
 
When the program wrapped up, one participant captured the relationship between joy and challenge so well,
 
“I have a friend that used to talk about joy and send me websites on joy or happiness, etc. I thought, ‘That’s nice, but I need to focus on other stuff like career and home requirements.’ No time for joy as a thing that is already there for my endless pleasure if I would just look around a little! She was a cancer survivor and I thought, ‘Well, she needs that, poor dear.’  Then I got cancer, too, and The Joy Jar came along as I was trying to figure out how to become a cancer survivor, too. It was just the reminder I needed to see that focusing on joy is way better and much easier than dreading the future. Heavy right? Not really. There is zero burden in finding joy.”
 
As this wise participant discovered, joy is the answer and the antidote. It frees us. She discovered the full range of joy’s true power comes out the closer it is in proximity to the difficult. For instance, the day before a colonoscopy! And if you haven’t had that joy yet, well, you’ve got something to look forward to as you’ll see in “Colonoscopy Joy.” Relax—I leave the mechanics of the process out of it. And if you’re disappointed that you don’t get to have a colonoscopy this week, no worries. In this week’s assignment, you’ll have the opportunity to find an alternate challenge for the delivery of mega doses of joy. And you don’t have to wait until you turn 50.
 
May you roll with the good today.
 
Elizabeth