Scatter Joy ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

While we can cultivate joy (yeah for yoga!) in our lives, we surely can't contain it. Joy demands outward expression. It's expansive and because joy refuses containment, it's also highly contagious...in the bestest way!

At some point last Saturday, the sun came for a brief but much needed visit and I noticed from my street facing kitchen window, an older gentleman walking on the sidewalk with a portable hot beverage cup. He was dressed warmly and handsomely which all paled in comparison to the gentle expression of a kindness, a quiet joy on his face. He wasn't emoting overtly, but there was a certain je ne sais pas que. He was looking intently in one direction and I had to lean in toward my window to see what if was that was so capturing. About 50 yards down sidewalk was a little girl probably 5 or 6 years of age, running and dancing with outstretched arms spreading her arms and body wide as if her body could signal to every section of sidewalk how so happy she was to have them underfoot and outstretched arms. Uncontainable joy. We were always meant to remain childlike in ways and this was a reminder of play, and a picture of joy. The love and pride, contentment of a grandfather over his granddaughter, absolutely, but it was the joy and its exuberance expressed through this little girl that caught both of us. She had sparked and scattered joy. Let's do that!