“Joy is about feeling good — in the moment — right now.” — Ingrid Fetell Lee

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Ever have those days when you wonder whether you’re on the right path and then suddenly events affirm what you’ve been thinking? And voila! You just KNOW that you are going in the right direction.

My personal planner has an area for each week’s “intention” or as I like to think of it . . .”focus.”  We all want to be happy, but to find joy in the small everyday things is really fantastic.  And so, JOY was the word I wrote as my intention for this week.  I didn’t really plan anything as far as searching for joy or trying to track it down, it was merely a thought on a Saturday night as I began planning my week.

Sunday morning, I sat on the porch drinking my coffee and reading e-mails.  There was a listing for a TED talk that sounded interesting so I went to their website.  I never did find the talk that piqued my interest, but I did find a 13 minute session discussing the topic of JOY.  Specifically — where joy hides, and how to find it.

Cool!

After watching the video, I then checked my Facebook where two of my friends who are not mutual friend with each other, both posted about finding joy — one at random, and one quoting a Bible verse.

Hmmmmmm . . . . 

I then flipped over to my Instagram, and one of my favorites whom I follow (@thisloudhouse), and if she hasn’t posted a photo of her morning coffee in a mug with the word JOY printed on it.

A-ha!!!  I’m onto something here.  You can call it coincidence if you want, but I’m going to call it little God messages.  Little non-connected videos and posts by people with whom I haven’t spoken, and who don’t have access to my planner.  Kind of like the hot/warm/cold game we played as kids — when you were getting closer to finding the object you were told, “you’re getting warm.”  When you were almost on top of it, or touching it, the admonitions might be, “you’re hot, you’re very hot” or “your burning, you’re so hot.”

I’m slowing down and finding out what things create joy for me.  Things that make me laugh or smile or giggle or even want to jump up-and-down.  I don’t think I’m “hot” yet but I believe I’m getting very warm.  One thing Ingrid Fetell Lee comments on at the end of her TED talk is the fact that maybe we’re so busy searching for happiness that it’s elusive because we’re looking for the ONE thing that will make us happy.  Instead we should be looking for and finding and experiencing those moments of joy, because when you put several moments of joy together, you will have happiness.