I have entered a phase of life dominated by being in joy. I am stepping into a time of life characterized by in-joyment. I am beginning to live in an in-joyed life. It begins in the morning, and infuses the rest of the day.
As I sit here on the side of my bed, listening to the softly falling rain, I feel the pleasantness of living in joy. I know this will follow me throughout the day.
I have experienced other phases of living. I lived the life of a monk for over a decade. Then there was the phase of living as the companion and helper of an artist, a bit of an experience in abstraction . I then helped raise two boys to adulthood, a time of work and being in struggle much of the time.
My time of tasks has passed now, and I am beginning to live in joy. I am free, but recognize that I am rooted in a world I hardly knew existed for me before.
I wake each morning, grateful that I have another day to in-joy living. Even the tasks before me attract me with the enticement to in-joy them. Listening to the rain falling on the trees outside my window is but the beginning of an in-joyed day.
I am learning that simply accepting what exists, what presents to me, is a throbbing source of joy. Seeing and knowing the prickly seed arrays of aging coneflowers transports me into joy. Being aware of the touch of a companion is a loving moment of in-joyment.
Today, I am aware of promised visits with two friends later today and the thought alone of their presence is a source of joy. The actual experience, I know, will offer so much more in-joyment. This is the beginning of a day of joy.
I will soon sit on my cushion for a while, and the feeling of in-joyment will wash through my body. My mind will again open to an awareness of sitting in undefined space. Whatever enters my mind will be infused with the warm glow of awareness and offer an insight I have only begun to in-joy. Those few moments of alert awareness will follow me as I step through the day, reminding me again and again that I am living in an in-joyed time of my life.
On a typical day, people may ask me many times how I am. The joy of the day is often so present so much a part of me, that past days of in-joyment are a faint memory by comparison. So while I can only reply, “It’s a good day,” I am fully aware that I cannot think of a day that has been more in-joyed than this one. Even when I am tired and hungry late in an overly-active day, the glow of an in-joyed day is with me.
I often think these days of how Rilke wrote: “I live my life in widening circles that reach across the world. I may not complete this last one, but I give myself to it.” I have entered an in-joyable circle of life and it may well be my last one. Then again, there may be another phase yet to come. For now it is good to be in the swell of in-joyed time.