It was such a wide open feeling that I thought was gone for me. It does usually help if I've been walking at a steady pace along the canal for about an hour. But mostly, it's the act of surrender.
I learned this early in my life and it has been a gift. A gift to remind myself constantly to find joy in things before vintage bags melbourne me. Mundane things I would otherwise walk past while planning my day, thinking of chores yet to be done, boxes to tick. If we don’t stop and consciously see joy it is easily missed.
Small and medium sorrows, not devastating ones. But their shadows try to take over my life anyway. You are right that joy is an action. I felt it this morning in the shower, when the smell of the French soap I bought last summer told me that my bad day is a little less bad if it smells so good. I find joy where I least expect it but not because I don't seek for it! - because one thing I know now is that I must be open to see or feel joy.
That's precisely it, you can't know the joy unless you lose it! Similarly you don't really know the extent of love until you grieve...Sometimes though when you've lost the joy (and your way), you have to light your torch by looking for the tiny pleasures. I find joy in watching others experience the culmination of all their work. It can be a finished book or being a proud parent, but one of the most potent and joyous examples is the Olympics.
I’ve never seriously contemplated asking a question. I Find joy in the smile of my wife Tessa, in memories, in daydreams, in reading books, listening to music, in a day where no Bad Things happen, in watching clouds or swimming in a clear Lake. I find Joy in focusing on the smallest things that are in my every day life.
They rarely have anything to do with me, although a positive, growth-mindset does help me to see them and experience them more clearly. In short, the simplest, most natural and evolved intimations in this experience we lofty animals call life bring me joy. I was struck by the idea that joy is "an earned thing brought into focus by what we have lost". When I am feeling low, or stretched too thin, I think it is because I have let the various losses of my life - they are many, but also few enough - become too large to even see properly. At times I have allowed those losses to become the definition of who I am or what my purpose is. I often find myself wandering back to the person I was before those losses loomed large.
Industry folk flock to Bruce for the best; Comme des Garçons, Issey Miyake, Acne Studios, Miu Miu–it’s all here. Not for the bargain hunter however, with price tags from low hundreds up to thousands–but for some of the hardest-to-find pieces at a fraction of the retail price–it’s worth a peruse (on payday). Celebrate your wins with a vino at neighbour Marion afterward. From San Francisco to Melbourne, Savers is the OG American thrift store making secondhand accessible on a global scale, while sourcing locally in each location. Speaking of, if you donate before you shop you’ll score a discount card to make an already cheap spot more spending savvy, so the hardest part is having any space left in your trolley. Our pre-loved range features garments from esteemed designers such as Bec and Bridge, Camilla and Marc, and Zimmermann.
The unique shared vibe- the live music experience. It's a special joy of being in that time and space, that once it's over, that's it. You've got to be 100% present, and everything else melts away.The joy of hearing a cherished song, never before experienced off the turntable and record, played live, like From Her to Eternity. How the past is there from when you heard it first, along with the present, witnessing it live, which makes time magical.
From secondhand designer dresses perfect for special occasions to casual tops and skirts, our pre-loved items offer both style and sustainability without compromise. I find joy in the cracks of the pavement.Specifically the cracks where the weeds are growing.Weeds are optimism incarnate. No one told them to make oxygen, the oxygen so vital for our brains - those delicate, complex seats of sentience. And it’s in the spaces that lie between those cracks, and the weeds that live in them, and the moment of our comprehending them, where I find the joy and the peace of this world. I get joy when I find the good hiding in the bad. It is always there just sometimes takes longer to find.
Here is an unashamedly blatant olive branch to consider playing our Victorian Theatre or Cathedral. Finding Joy for me means stripping away all of the layers of my normal life. I need to be away from house, family, friends, work, possessions, neighbourhood and society. So I take a drive to the beach, ideally on a stormy winter day down to Rye backbeach.
It's crawling into bed and putting my freezing body against my warm, smelling of sleep, slightly stinky other half. Who doesn't even mind that i'm ice cold. It's the crisp early morning mists, freshly mown grass. Right now it's a quiet moment in my nightshift, I work as a nurse and just realised that a lot of times joy even finds me at the saddest moments. When you share a joke with a complete stranger, who just found out she doesn't have long to live. She holds your hand, looks you straight in the eye and tells you they enjoyed talking to you.
Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Aside from my family and friends, lately I find joy in nature, in the simplest things. Whereas earlier in life I looked for adrenaline in climbing, surfing, diving. A swim in the lake, finding shade and shelter from the heat close to trees.
This is the kind of wondering that makes me smile quietly to myself. I have to remind myself to find the joy too, Nick. Sometimes it's tough, and some days it's very hard, but for me it helps to slow down a bit. Notice those three names instead of skipping over them to see what you--Nick Cave--will respond. Now I'm imagining three guys in a room, maybe at a bar or in a rehearsal space, laughing and saying, hey, you know what would be great?
And it is in the wide variety of things that make us distinctly human that I find joy. In particular, I might include riding my bicycle, jumping in the ocean, cooking for friends, wine, the morning crossword puzzle with my wife, reading, definitely reading, and also most definitely coffee. I would definitely have at the very top of my list watching and listening to my baby daughter. But when they do it won’t be as imperfect, it won’t be with wonder, and it will not be difficult for it. It will not bring it the joy that it brings me.