How About More JOY in Your Life?

As you get further down the heart healing road from breakup pain to brighter days, joy returns. You remember how good it feels to laugh again.

You awaken from the dark times that have been consuming you, and you remember what you really enjoy—like listening to jazz music, spending more time outdoors, or riding your bike—whatever lifts your spirits.

For me, a delight is like a “raspberry moment.” It happens when I eat fresh raspberries because I have good memories associated with eating them.

It’s funny how one bite of the little red fruit and suddenly I am eight-years old again. I can see my little girl self walking across the gravel road in front of my grandparent’s summer cabin in the Wisconsin north woods toward a long patch of wild raspberries.

We'd pick them and eat them on cereal or right from the vine when we just couldn't wait. I can get lost in thinking about those long summer days of freedom and adventure--just me and my two sisters with my maternal grandparent’s every two weeks, every summer.

Bliss!

I remember the smell of Folgers’s coffee brewing early in the morning. As I chomped on my Frosted Flakes, I wondered why grownups drank the stuff when it tasted so bitter.

We’d swim in the lake for hours and go on nature hikes with my grandpa. He’d take us for boat rides, and teach us to fish and clean our catch. Grandma would fry up the fresh perch or bluegill for dinner.

Then we might take a short walk down to the peninsula that jetted out into the lake on soft ground covered with pine needles and moss. As night fell, you could hear the distant sound of a loon singing his own unique tune.

Good memories.

But back to the raspberries. Is there something in your life that’s a “raspberry moment” for you? Is there something that makes you feel really good when you think about it and fills you with joy?

It's time to find your bliss.