You know,
We don't talk enough about how contagious joy can be.
We talk about stress,
About burnout,
About fear,
How quickly that spreads.
But joy?
Joy moves just as fast,
Sometimes faster.
And it doesn't take much to catch it.
One small moment,
One laugh,
One smile.
So let's breathe into that idea today.
And maybe,
Just maybe,
Let it soften us a little.
So go ahead and settle into wherever you are.
Let your shoulders drop.
Take a deep breath in.
Let it out.
Feel your face relax.
Let's do that again.
Inhale slowly.
Exhale a little longer.
Just like that.
Now,
I want you to picture this.
You're walking down a quiet path.
The kind of morning where everything is calm,
Peaceful.
And up ahead,
You see a couple with a stroller,
Two babies.
They're moving along at a gentle jog.
And alongside them,
There's a tiny girl,
Maybe three years old,
Just pumping her little legs,
Trying to keep up.
She's running as fast as she can.
Her arms are swinging,
Her face is just beaming.
She's not thinking about anything else in the world,
Except how fun it is to go fast.
And she loves it.
Her joy is like sunlight breaking through the trees.
You can feel it before you even realize that you're smiling.
You pass each other for a second.
And in that moment,
It's like time pauses.
Even the cyclist riding towards you catches it.
You notice the grin spread across his face.
No one says a word.
Somehow,
You all shared something.
Just stay with that a moment longer.
Let it really bloom in your mind.
Can you feel what it did to your body,
Just imagining that?
How your own breath changed.
Maybe a small smile crept across your face.
That,
My friend,
That's joy.
That's presence.
That is what it feels like to be fully here.
Let's take another deep breath in.
And let it out slowly.
And just see if you can notice how that moment lives in your body.
Maybe there's a lightness in your chest.
Maybe a warmth in your belly.
Maybe a loosening somewhere deep in your muscles.
Joy doesn't always have to be loud or explosive.
Sometimes it's soft.
Sometimes it's unexpected.
And sometimes it's fleeting.
And all the more beautiful because of it.
So for now,
Let's just let the body remember what it's like to feel that ease.
To carry someone else's joy like a gift.
To be part of a chain reaction of smiling strangers.
Take another deep breath in.
And sigh it out.
There really is a simple kind of magic in these you're in too much of a hurry.
And yet,
They're out there.
Waiting to be noticed.
Waiting to be received.
Karl Barth once wrote,
Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.
Let that settle for a moment.
What if joy is what shows up when we say thank you without words.
When we witness something beautiful and we let it move us.
There's no effort here.
No achievement.
Just awareness.
And sometimes that's more than enough.
So as we begin to close this meditation,
Start to bring your attention gently back to your breath.
One more deep breath in.
And a slow breath out.
Let your body remember what it feels like to smile.
To soften.
To catch joy from someone else.
And as you move through your day,
Keep an eye out.
Because there might be another little moment,
Just like that one,
Waiting for you.
And you don't have to force it.
Just notice.
Joy does move fast.
But if we're present,
We can catch it.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
And may you be at peace.
Thank you so much for joining me.
