The future is now is the title of the 17th Karmapa’s first book. Mulling on his words prompted me to start this blog. As you might expect these simple words convey multiple possible meanings, but it made me realise that the choices I make – even the tiniest ones – do quite literally make up my future life. If I continue to avoid putting pen to paper, or hand to keyboard, then those ideas milling around in my head will never come to fruition.
But how do these words fit with a blog on joy, and why focus on joy anyway?
The focus on joy is to seek to follow the instruction kindly given to me by a revered Lama in 2009. His advice to me was simple, direct and to the point: to focus on and appreciate the joy in my life right now and to realise that every moment is precious. Doing so is not always easy, far from it, but it means taking the time to (sometimes literally) smell the roses and in doing so to realise what great blessings we have in our lives. Focusing on joy, even the tiny moments of joy that make up parts of our day, can really shift our perspective.
So, in this blog I am not aiming for anything profound, nor something to be mass-marketed, but to focus on aspects of joy, whatever that may mean when I feel moved to write! It is well worth keeping in mind that if we are always raking over the past in order to celebrate past joys, or planning for future joys (including the ubiquitous ‘I’ll be happy when [insert impossible list of conditions to be satisfied]‘, then what room does this leave in our lives for joy right now? When does joy come into the frame?
Notes On Joy 