“We need joy as we need air.
We need love as we need water.
We need each other as we need the earth we share.”
— Maya Angelou
Greetings to all my precious people!!
We are in the middle days of August, savoring the last of summer’s abundant light and warmth as our bodies and minds begin, almost imperceptibly, to prepare themselves for autumn. Moving from one season to the next asks for small adjustments — to our Qi, to our daily rhythms. This is a lovely moment to create some quiet, to let the great Yang excitement of summer settle, and to reflect on the memories we’ve made while we begin to imagine what we want to grow in the seasons ahead.
This week, the theme is JOY — that effervescent feeling, be it bliss, gaiety, or simple delight.
There’s a meaningful distinction some scholars draw between happiness and joy: happiness often arrives from external sources — something good happens, and we feel lifted — while joy is considered internal, a deeper state of being that can hold steady even when circumstances don’t cooperate. Happiness visits. Joy abides.
Which raises the real questions: Have you had moments of joy this year? Where did they live in your body — your heart space, your belly? And — this is the one that matters most — can joy be chosen?
The wisdom traditions say yes. “Joy does not simply happen to us,” wrote Henri Nouwen. “We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” That reframe is everything. Joy isn’t a reward you receive once the healing is finished — it’s a practice you take up along the way. In Chinese Medicine, joy is the emotion of the Heart and its spirit, the Shen; cultivating genuine joy literally nourishes the Heart, invigorates the Shen, and helps the Qi flow smoothly. Joy is not frivolous. Joy is medicine.
A practice for this week: Set aside 15 minutes in the early morning to be outside in nature. Let your feet connect to the earth, listen to the birdsong, notice the fading summer flowers. Then open a clean journal page and write about joy as it relates to your life. Where does joy land in your body? When you think of joy, does a particular color, song, or memory rise up? Give your inspirations some substance on the page.
And here’s the piece our hurried culture forgets — the piece Maya Angelou names in that opening line: we need each other as we need the earth we share. Joy multiplies when it’s witnessed and shared. It’s why I keep gathering women into circles, and why the old Irish understood that it is in the shelter of each other that the people live. The deepest joy is rarely solitary. So this week: be the spark. Share a moment of delight with someone. Let joy become contagious.
If you long for more joy — and for good company in the seeking — that’s exactly what I hold space for, one-on-one and in small circles of women walking this path together. Reply here or book a discovery call. Your inner spark is waiting to ignite!
