January 2000 January 1999 January 1998 Rachel's Daily Diary _________________ Thursday 13 January 2000   7 38 pm pst   [ joy ] The journaling mailing list moderator suggested joy as a writing prompt. Joy makes life worth living, and I am blessed to have so many joyful things in my life. One cannot know joy without the flip side, and I have had my smattering of sadness too. People bring me great joy -- my friends and my family and my frighteningly-close-to-perfect boyfriend. And I love strangers. I love collecting life stories, forming connections, and I love communicating. I derive joy from someone who takes to me. If I ask, "What are your passions?" I am so delighted when someone lights up and sets into answering me.

My plants bring me joy. I love when they sing their green song. Having my fingers in soil brings me joy. Pruning, repotting, sprouping, and watering my green lovelies brings me joy. A good afternoon is one spent making a mess with my babies in the living room. I spread out some plastic on the floor and I transplant the hours away.

Making lists brings me joy. I have trouble explaining my delight in writing, in this diary, in creating. Making art is one of my passions. Photographing, drawing, writing, and painting bring me joy. Watercoloring is wonderful. Manifesting something that I see in my mind is a beautiful feeling. This green is from a bunch of gapes...

Using my body brings me joy. Exercise in the form of dancing, swimming, horseback riding, and rolling around with my man. I love being sore; I love the feeling that my muscles have been used. Using my mind brings me joy. I love to flex my brain by creating, advising, reading, writing, or any form of learning. Making a good diary entry brings me joy, as does learning a new tool. Teaching is always a pleasure. Sharing is a magical joy. Giving the perfect gift is a splendid joy. The look on a loved one's face is priceless. Being lazy is a gift I am happy te receive. Spending a slow quiet day. Noise. Noise is a gift: music, laughter, whispers, complments, exchanges... It is a special gift to acknowledge a joy as one experiences it. There have been a handful of days where I have said that I was in the middle of a perfect moment. I always wished I could bottle the feeling and save it for later; now I know my memory has done that for me.

The internet is a joy. Cinema is a joy. Food is a joy -- cooking and feasting. I could list hundreds of secret delights. I could stay up all night. I could defer to my list of 99 joys in life. Or I could just offer a small sliver of advice. Celebrate your joys where you find them. * * * <   yesterday |   month   | tomorrow   > * * * back to Rachel's Daily Diary * * * evolving entries & list of lists