Curiosities Abound: Joy: It's right where you left it

"When we lay the soil of our hard lives open to the rain of grace and let joy penetrate our cracked and dry places, let joy soak into our broken skin and deep crevices, life grows."

Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

I've been thinking a lot lately about the quest for JOY: the search for that elusive and sometimes maddening three letter word. That unadulterated happiness that sometimes seems so far out of reach, but should come as naturally as breathing.

Becoming an adult is a minefield for joy. Learning how to stand on your own, pay your bills, find a job that pays those bills, faltering, getting comfortable with failure, and relentless change; leaves little space for moments of pure joy. I find the hardest thing about growing up is how easily joy slips through my fingers and is replaced with anxiety and fear; of not having enough and of not being enough.

But, becoming an adult, should leave space for finding joy in the most unlikely of places; amongst the difficulties and growing pains and new set of worries and struggles, we should be able to appreciate the small moments that bring us a release and are fully within our control to cultivate.

For me, this weekend was a mediation on joy. I tried to take notice of the small things in my life that bring me the most happiness: watching our friends' little girl climb up the stairs at her first birthday, bar hopping around Hollywood with a few other friends, a warm breeze, a blanket wrapped around you while you watch a movie under the stars, the pink sky as the sun falls away, or a warm blueberry muffin right out of the oven. These are the places that JOY lives.

You have to continuously make space for them. You have to stop, and choose to be aware of these unassuming moments, and I promise joy will fill the space. One breathe at a time.

I hope your week is filled with JOY.