I love poetry and I find the essence of mindfulness within the words of poetry as much as in my sitting meditations or mindful yoga practices. And, although I’ve heard it many times before, the truth that I alone am responsible for how I feel has been waking up in me despite some pretty deep habitual emotional patterns that tell me differently.

So I offer you this poem by Danna Faulds in hopes that it clears out some of the places where you hold on to anything but JOY.

Joy For No Reason

I am filled with quiet joy for no reason save the fact that I’m alive.  The message I received is clear—there’s no time to lose from loving, no place but here to offer kindness, no day but this to be my true, unfettered self and pass the flame from heart to heart.  This is the only moment that exists – so simple, so exquisite, and so real.

My latest favorite quote is “I’m always happy,  sometimes I just forget.”  (from Jennifer Egan’s book, A Visit from the Good Squad).  So I pass the flame to you and hope these writings may remind you, as they do me, that life is too short to be anything but kind.  And happiness is a choice.  Choose well, my friend!