Rejoice ~ Locating joy in 2023!

In 2019, I began the practice of annual reflection to improve my spiritual, physical, and mental health putting into practice daily journaling/gratitude morning meditation and the development of an annual vision board. In 2022, I spent the entire year studying the art of finding joy. Continuing with this study, I thought it would be important in 2023 to put daily work into learning how to choose joy or recognizing gifts presented to us by the universe daily and to focus on the act of rejoicing in small things. I can say that I am learning to practice joy through the act of rejoicing daily. While I don't always feel positive, I am learning practices and starting to see the fruit from these daily acts. Yes, life is going to be frustrating, people will let us down. At times circumstances are painful, and it is hard to keep going. I sometimes still fail at this, but I through God's help and learning to put my faith in a higher purpose, I am making progress. It is still a daily struggle. 

Reflecting on this year, I can see so much improvement. I feel so very grateful to so many and blessed to see my family in a better place. Boundaries are very hard and were a new concept introduced to me in 2012. Here I stand 11 years later and I am getting better at recognizing when these need to be revisited. While I still struggle at politely saying no and sometimes over commit, I am getting better at protecting my time, access, and have made great gains. I tend to overly focus on work and in the last few years the vision board practice has helped me to identify trends and improve. The last few years, I could see strong gains in my spiritual life and walk. This year I really tried to focus on my physical health. While I still have a long way to go, I am over 20 plus pounds lighter today. It is a daily struggle but choosing to attend to my personal wellness is helping me tremendously. 

Happiness is truly a healthy balancing act. I still have a lot of work to do and have to work at this daily. I am finding that this can have a profound effect on our lives. You will be rejected, works will not be appreciated, trials will occur. However, we are called to rejoice anyways as each have a unique purpose and are called to be a light. It is the act of rising above negative circumstances, choosing the higher road, and picking ourselves up to continue on for a higher purpose then ourselves. Rejoice is an intentional daily act, which leads to joy. We have so much to be grateful for and recognizing abundance brings about peace in the middle of life's storms