Finding Joy Where You Are

 

As part of the month of Elul I have been getting daily prompts via The Jewish Studio Project.

One recent one that stood out to me went in part:

Marie Kondo became famous a few years back asking people to pick up their belongings in order to determine if they sparked joy. The question that I ask when I pick up a piece of junk is a little bit more open-ended, “could you foresee any circumstances in which using these objects would be enjoyable?” The best part is that the answer is almost always, yes.

We are surrounded by stuff. Instead of hating on it and hauling it off so that, inevitably, we can buy more stuff, what if we just made use of it. I am all for letting go of what we no longer need, but I’m also equally in favor of recognizing how much we already have and how much joy can be derived from making use of it.

Tonight, in an act of radical, spiritual hoarding before the new year begins, I invite you to make a list of things that you already have and aren’t using that you could find a way to derive pleasure from in the year to come. Maybe it’s the items that are pouring out from your arts and crafts cabinet, maybe it’s the snowshoes in the basement, maybe it’s an established friendship that you’ve been neglecting, or maybe it’s just the liquid aminos that could be used to make your famous gluten-free fried rice.

I really like the idea of finding joy where we are. Feels very Hob Gadling. Feels very love life no matter what it sends your way. I know I have lots of items around my home that I should actually use or put another way drink the tea, use the lotion, create with the art supplies. I really enjoy this idea of instead of focusing on letting go we focus more on using what we have. What we have physically, what we have emotionally, what we have spirituality, and what we have creatively. 

9/20/22 a 

Elul journal prompt which goes in part

“I invite you to make a list of things that you

already have and aren’t using that you could

find a way to derive pleasure from in the year

to come” feels meaningful right now, feels like

One way to live life more like Hob Gadling

We all have so many things already

Physical things, Mental things, Emotional things

We all have so many things already

Spiritual things, Dream things, Creative things

We all have so many things already

Neurodivergent things, Wondrous Amazing things

We all have so many things already

How can we all find joy in each of these things?

How can we all find joy in life itself? The universe?

How can we all find joy in those we see everyday

And those who we only see once every 100 years?

How can we all find joy in each of these things?

How can we all find joy in each of these things?