#BlogOEmotion: Day 1: What Gives You Joy?

Joy is the smile on a baby's face! (Photo credit)

Joy. The word brings to my mind unbridled glee. Pure, unadulterated happiness. And that kind of joy can mean different things for different people. Have you seen the joyful face of a toddler when it gets a fistful of candies? Or the happy steps of kids running to catch a falling kite? Or a baby smiling at lights it can barely make out? The other night, I was at a restaurant and these 2 little kids broke into a jig at retro Hindi music with not a care in the world. Children are naturally joyful and small things make them happy. As we grow up, we are burdened by the cares of the world. We start chasing our dreams and achieving each one only gives rise to more goals and expectations. Especially in today's crazy times, we have insane schedules trying to juggle work and home. It's a constant battle to free ourselves from the shackles of distractions that the internet and smartphones create every day. We have forgotten the little joys that our parents' generation savoured as part of simpler times. Sipping tea after office and browsing through the newspaper, having an early dinner and going to sleep on time - simpler choices that made life easier.

The joy of simple indulgences! (Photo credit)

In fact, now more than ever is the need to find what gives us joy and squeeze time for it every day. At least, every weekend. And, true enough, we try a zillion things in our quest for joy. Expensive massages, overseas holidays, yoga and meditation camps or motivational books that tell us how to find joy. But I guess we just end up complicating even the process of finding joy.

In my experience, it is easier to be joyful when we go back to the simplicity of our childhood. Strip our experiences of expectation. And find simple joys in life. I discovered adult colouring books this year. Not a very great with colours, I was at first anxious about the outcome since I had seen these amazing pictures online. But soon I let go of the anxiety since the colouring was only for me. It wasn't to prove anything to anyone. And now, the leaves in my book are coloured anything but green and brown. It's the joy of indulging myself in colours. I also have a simple word puzzle book. It doesn't have complex levels since the idea is to experience the joy of finding words in the jumble. I recently went to a restaurant and at the end we were served with a plate full of melody, kismi toffees and Poppins! And that was a moment of sheer joy! My spouse and I picked handfuls and it felt like reliving a part of our childhood. Listening to my favourite music, even while working, gives me joy. Spending time with my spouse is always joyful - we listen to music together, watch a movie or just chat about general things.

There was a time when I was so lost in running my busy life that I had forgotten what gave me joy. I found a few things that do. I am still trying to recover the joy I felt in a lot of other things - like reading - instead of the current anxiety of too many books to read and too little time. Look around and think what really gives you joy. Are/were there things that makes you forget the world and be happy doing it? Write the first thing that comes to your happy mind in the comment.

This post has been written for #CreativeCurves under #BlogOEmotion week and this post is for Day 1 prompt - Joy.