It’s time to find some joy …..

No matter how bleak things may appear,

??????????? you can find joy! It’s always near!

It seems more and more these days, we’re assaulted with what people shout is wrong with the world, especially from politicians.

Yet even closer – and more abundant – are reasons to celebrate life, to discover just how joyful it is to be alive in this day and time.

Look around you. Chances are there are all kinds of colorful, happy things right there that you hadn’t noticed.

See those frolicking birds? The gorgeous flowers reaching skyward to add so much color to what you thought was such a dim, gray world?

Especially lately, we’ve been steered toward so many things that ruffle our feathers, so to speak, that we often find less time to take in the sheer gloriousness that is a brand-new day.

I have a friend who spends most of his time looking for the negative in everything.

By his own admission, nobody calls him much, no one drops by to visit him because, he admits, he’s pretty much a walking, talking ‘downer’.

So I diplomatically pointed out a few recent events in his life that should be cause for celebration: he got his car fixed way cheaper than what he thought it was going to cost; he has a bumper crop of tomatoes from plants he told me when he set them out would probably wither and die because of where he had to stake them; he already had a cheerful, chirping family in a backyard birdhouse he said would “probably be a waste of time” when he hung it from the tree limb.

He couldn’t help but agree, there was a brief chink in his armor, then he was back to his old self.

Oh, well. One way to look at it is that some people actually find joy in misery, right?

The thing is, I’m not saying you have to be some kind of optimistic Pollyanna all the time, but that each of us should take at least a little time to temper the daily onslaught of bad stuff with something worthy of celebration.

Incessant depression doesn’t do anyone any good. It ages you, it’s bad for the heart, it’s…well, you get the idea.

And the kinds of escapes into a little bit of bliss are so very simple. Become a kid again. In this oppressive heat, go outside, cut on the water hose or sprinkler, then dance under the falling rain you just created.

Abandon your diet and eat an ice cream cone! Read a book! (They’re one of the greatest escapes of all.) Jump into a mud puddle!

Or just wander around and take in the sheer magnificence of this wonderful place we call earth.

Life is a privilege.

Take advantage of it while you can.