Breathe in that word "joy"

Take a moment right now and breathe in that word "joy". 

Joy can be found All the time. 

Joy can be in those fleeting moments when someone texts us unexpectedly. 

JOY can be that feeling when we are experiencing success.

Joy can be a walk on the beach followed by a warm bath. 

I have a friend who is battling postnatal depression. I told her the sure path to find joy again is to dance everyday. She loved the idea! An hour of dancing each week got her out of the house and doing something that she loved brought definitely back JOY in her life.

We often forget to just stop and breathe. 

To have more joy in our lives, we have to slow down.

Lord Byron said "There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar."

In a frantic world, finding pockets of JOY can be tricky. We know about the downward mood spiral and how our brains are primed to scan the world for threat. 

But what if we play with the idea of creating an upward spiral and put our focus on what brings us JOY? 

When I feel overwhelmed, the beach is my favourite place. The Atlantic Ocean air and the sound of the waves never fails to blow away my anxieties and re-energise my mind. 

We need to remember to take time out for ourselves. 

"Don't worry, be happy" is the passport to serenity. We need to enjoy things, rather than constantly worrying. 

As Holocaust victim Anne Frank, while facing mankind at its worst, said in her diary: "I still believe, in spite of everything that people are truly good at heart." 

It looks as if, for the most part, she was right. 

Humans are good.

And this last sentence gives us cause to have faith in humanity.