#4 Joyful Acceptance & Acknowledgement 2019

From “Welcome Morning”

So while I think of it

Let me paint a thank you on my palm

For this God, this laughter of the morning

Lest it go unspoken.

The Joy that isn’t shared, I’ve heard,

dies young.

— Anne Sexton

These are days for imbibing joy, drinking in each visitation of joy, as if to experience another poet’s exuberance, “I taste a liquor never brewed…” sings Emily Dickinson as she “reels” through each day’s riches of air and dew, flowers and butterflies.

During this month Nature pours out gifts with wild generosity, inciting us to taste and drink with abandon. And then to paint not only our palms with “thank you” as Anne Sexton does, but our whole bodies, inside and out.

Don’t let any joy die unshared: that’s where Joyful Acknowledgement comes in.

Find your right way of expressing the joy you’re breathing in. Words, songs, poems, food, drawings, paintings, photos – gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. Appreciation, appreciation, appreciation. That’s how joy grows.

Here’s a Practice

Part One:
Joyful Acceptance

Find something, now, that gives you joy. The touch of a dogwood blossom, fragrance of lilac, angel wing cloud, neighbor laughing, taste of orange. Distill it; imagine drinking it in until it fills you and you can sense your body/brain infused, suffused with its essence as a grace note of pure joy.

Part Two:
Joyful Acknowledgement

Share the joy, Give it away, Send it on: Sing out “Thank You,” loud enough for your own ears to hear and strong enough for your throat to feel. Or write a note to someone you care about just because you care. Or call a friend, and tell them you’re grateful for their friendship. Find the perfect expression of the Joy you’ve imbibed.

Joy in the World.

Joy in me.