Unexpected joy

“Joy is not made to be a crumb.” ~Mary Oliver

Joy is a feel-good hormone. It inspires you to be more generous, more loving. But its unbridled positivity runs on short supply if you’re always mired in the habit of negative thinking. Worst of all, dark energy is both pervasive and contagious.

Mary Oliver’s poetry always resonates. And when a dear friend shared “Don’t Hesitate” with me, the word “joy” jumped off the screen. It was exactly what I needed to read, and I hope it speaks to you, too. ~CL

Don’t Hesitate

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,

don’t hesitate. Give in to it.

There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about

to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind.

And much can never be redeemed.

Still, life has some possibility left.

Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes

something happens better than all the riches

or power in the world. It could be anything,

but very likely you notice it in the instant

when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the

case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid

of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

~By Mary Oliver, from Mary Oliver’s Devotions: Selected Poems