“No matter what all your teeth and wet fingers anticipated, there was no accounting for the way that simple joy could shake you.”

— Toni Morrison, Beloved

When you start to feel the joy you haven't felt in the longest time - even if it's fleeting - allow yourself to smile fully and widely. It is far too easy to feel like you are not worthy of feeling good, of feeling joy. Who are we to feel good, when so much is still wrong?

But here's the thing we have to remember: we are allowed to hold both sorrow and joy at the same time. And if the joy starts to feel a little bit heavier and a little bit closer than usual, and it starts to spread wide into a smile across your face, and you cannot hold it back - allow it. Welcome it with open arms and an open heart.

You don't have to ask joy any questions. You are free to let joy just be. Whether it's a childhood memory mixed with a little nostalgia, a moment of laughter when you aren't even sure if it was supposed to be funny. And when joy looks like hope rising up over the horizon, causing you to breathe deep with anticipation for what's to come. When the cynicism hasn't caught up yet, let joy run. Let joy run wild and free over everything you are feeling. Even in the unknown, even in the uncertainty, joy - even in its flickers - can still be healing. The light pouring in on the autumn leaves, the song that reminds you you are still free to believe in tomorrow. You have felt the full weight of sorrow. Allow yourself to feel the full weight of joy.

Journal: When was the last time you experienced unexpected joy?

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