Finding Joy in Difficult Times

“Joy is best sown on broken ground.” ~ Jack Wellman

It seems opposite, doesn’t it? Isn’t joy what comes when everything is going easily?

There’s something strange that happens when things are easy and comfortable. We stop noticing all of the tiny miracles in our day. Instead of being thrilled that we have a friend/child/parent/partner, we build expectations around them and create dramas when our expectations aren’t met.

When things are easy and comfortable, we start to hyper-focus on our own faults… we need to lose weight, we need to gain weight, become fit, have better skin, perfect hair, etc.

Comfort is often a breeding ground for caring far too much about things that just don’t matter.

And then life goes sideways. You have a scary diagnosis. Someone you love passes. There is war, famine, political unrest, etc. And everything changes.

After my healing journey back in 2000 (the story of my book What If You Could Skip the Cancer?), I did a lot of research as to why some people had “spontaneous remissions” and others didn’t.

What was interesting about those who had spontaneous remissions, is that they chose to turn a corner. Many of them decided that they were going to FINALLY start living their life. They decided that they were going to be honest with people and stop hiding their truth and who they were. They decided that they were going to fill their lives with everything they loved to do no matter how crazy they might seem to others.

They had that deafening realization that they were going to die… Why were they wasting their lives playing to the expectations of others? Why weren’t they doing the things they loved?

Why weren’t they choosing joy?

Choosing joy can seem like a flippant thing to do in the face of crisis. Some might consider it pollyanna or living with rose-coloured glasses.

But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

To choose joy is a higher vibration of living. It is choosing to see what is right about this. It is choosing to feel gratitude for everything we have. It is choosing to bring light to our lives instead of wallowing in the news of yesterday.

This is a powerful choice and not an easy one.

It asks us to dig deep within and find courage and strength that we didn’t need before. And it is this very act of digging deep within that we find our own happiness… we find out more about who we are… we realize how much we truly want to be here on Earth no matter what is going on in our lives.

It is at that moment, that joy just fills us.

After that, choosing joy becomes our daily practice… And it becomes easier and easier every day.