lara simmons

"The great thing about JOY is not that it lasts, but that it always comes around again." --The Universe As I have mentioned, I struggled this time at the ten-day silent meditation retreat I went on last month. One of the things I struggled with, ironically, was the lack of JOY I felt in the discipline and austerity of the program this time. Normally I am very comfortable with this kind of environment. Discipline. Austerity. To-the-minute timekeeping. These are things at which most mid-western-raised adults excel. Not this time. This time I was hungry for joy, for freedom, even a little bit of excess. I knew this flew in the face of the idea of anicca , or impermanence. The whole point of this meditation is to learn not to crave positive feelings and sensations, as well as not to have aversion to negative feelings and sensations, because both have the inherent quality of impermanence, but I couldn't help it. I wanted to feel some JOY. So on my daily post-lunch ...

"Be led by Joy,  It's the whole point." --The Universe on TUT.COM

"Just follow the day and reach for the sun!" --The Polyphonic Spree from their song, "Light and Day," as quoted in "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio

One of the thrills of visiting New York City is the celebrity citing. This one filled me with joy. Tony Danza, looking so happy to be at the top of the Empire State Building . (Full disclousure: this is a photograph of a photograph of Mr Danza, but it looks like the real deal!)

Right next to Subway, where my son wanted to eat lunch, was an Indian restaurant simply called JOY. Though we didn't eat there, it made me happy to stumble upon it nonetheless.