31 The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message.
I love to be encouraged. And I love encouraging others. When someone is encouraged, their inner sense of peace takes hold and joy results. I would much rather pass along joy than sorrow. I see so much sorrow in my work, that paying attention to the joyous moments becomes all the more necessary. If I only noticed the times of struggle I could very easily get overwhelmed with sorrow. But I chose to notice the small joys and those joys fill my life. Although the sorrows don’t disappear, they do seem to fade into the background at least momentarily. But I have to choose to look for the small moments of joy that could so easily be missed in the middle of struggle. I am sure there are some struggles in your life. You can choose to focus on the negative and your world will become ever increasingly filled with pain. Or you can chose to find the small joys and focus on them. I am not saying that we ignore the harsh realities of life, but that we take time and energy to notice the joys. I have found that when I am willing to notice the joys my sorrows don’t feel as great. In my work I notice this with people who are grieving the loss of a loved one. Those that are able to see both the sorrows and the joys seem to work through the grief more easily than those that stay focused on the pain of the loss. That is why I try to get grieving people to share stories of their loved one. Some of those stories inevitably are filled with laughter. And laughter in the middle of grief seems to bring some hope to what might seem like a hopeless situation. The feelings of emptiness and hopelessness will still be there, but beyond the tears hope glimmers in the distance guiding them back to stability. For those whose relationships were so painful that stories of joy do not exist, just the relief from the painful relationship can bring hope. They can now imagine a life without the pain. So focus on some of the joys that are present in your life. Take the time to relish the experience.
The Arnold Journey 