December 2025 Week 3
Slow Down to the Speed of Joy
The holidays are here!!! How are you doing? Today’s meditation and yoga class was an opportunity to give our nervous systems a break from the swirling whirling holiday energy. Our time together prompted us to release our shoulders and open our hearts. The shoulders often carry what we feel responsible for… what we hold up… what we’ve learned not to put down. And the chest can gently close when life has asked us to be strong for too long, the heart can harden. It is important during busy times to attend to ourselves and not let our shoulders get too heavy, our hearts restricted and our digestion sluggish. How can we do this? Once again all roads lead back to some sort of daily sadhana - meditation, journaling, yoga, prayer, a walk in nature, whatever rings for you.
“Try to see the life of the spirit as a calm place, shut away from the turmoil of the world. Think of your spiritual home as a place full of peace, serenity, and contentment. Go to this quiet, meditative place for strength to carry you through today’s duties and problems. Keep coming back here for refreshment when you are weary of the hubbub of the outside world. From this quietness and communion comes our strength.” Anonymous
From this place we can lean into the Joy of this season and our intention- “Slow down to the speed of joy.”
I heard Matthew Kelly explain that Joy is rooted in confidence, it is a consequence. In other words, Joy is a result of a confident trust in something.
What we place our confidence in becomes our source of joy.
Therefore, the depth and permanence of our Joy will be directly related to the depth and permanence of our source of joy.
What is your source of joy? If it is contingent on peoples’ behaviors or situations? If so our joy will not be very permanent.
Lets think this holiday season what we are choosing as our source of joy.
Is there something else more permanent?
We are all busy this time of year but can we give ourselves the gift of coming back to a calm place again and again and choosing a more permeant connection to joy?
“Joy erupts within us when we allow an experience to touch the very depths of our souls. That cannot be rushed. It’s time to slow down to the speed of joy.”
Slow down and let the joy of the season catch up to you!