Cultivating Joy

Joy.

An emotion that, at times, eludes me. Cultivating joy is my goal for this year. So far, I have been able to identify those activities that enable me to celebrate the joy in my life. Skiing, especially skiing hard and fast in deep snow; hiking in the woods, off trail, with my family and friends; and, being in the ocean and in lakes all bring me great joy.

Right now, all of these things are beyond my reach. As I go through this healing process and revisit the concept of cultivating joy I am having to rethink how to find this in my life while I am not able to ski, hike or visit the ocean. While visiting about this with my chiropractor's assistant yesterday, we both had an epiphany: life happens, joy is a choice that comes from within.

Crap. That means I can actively choose to not let this ACL/knee injury get me down emotionally and mentally. Well, that changes things, doesn't it. Now I just feel like an entitled baby: I am going to recover and I will be able to do all the things that I love. I am not mourning a permanent loss of my mobility. I can choose to find the joy that exists within me and cultivate that. Time for a little research.