Joy ... embrace it.

Life is full of choices. It may be full of hardships too, but we have choices when those hardships come. As we hear in Langston Hughes' poem: Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare; But all the time I’se been a’climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners But even then, when I let go of focusing on restrictions, what not to do, but rather what to do … particularly when I choose to do good rather than harm me or others, that’s when I fully embraced joy and that’s when I embraced a universal presence that encompasses God and all beings. Don’t let anyone steal your joy. If you’re going to allow someone else to control your emotions, you’ve already lost. So, the thing about joy is to truly be in control of yourself. You must know who you are and get comfortable with yourself to really embrace joy.  This edition of my podcast focuses on some simple strategies to embrace joy. Joy isn’t complicated. The presence of joy comes from simple approaches to how we see ourselves, how we see and treat others, how we own our emotions, how we give our energy to what we do, the gratitude we have. With tacks and splinters, still climbin & reachin even when there ain’t been no crystal stair … turn the corner and embrace joy. Always own your own power and you will win in all ways.