[Vulnerability & Power - XXII]
I’m interested in joy because it is the consequence of engaging the challenges of life in a particularly vulnerable way. I’m also interested in joy because it is so powerful.
Joy is both vulnerable and powerful: it’s one of life's great paradoxes.
Joy doesn’t emerge from another more basic emotion called thankfulness, but it comes from the *practice* of it. Joy is a fruit of labor—the embodied practice of intentional gratitude. And it is vulnerable because to give thanks is to intentionally (and sincerely!) name goodness, blessing, and beauty.
In other words, expecting disaster and highlighting imperfection protects us from disappointment, but it also is an impediment to joy. It’s safe yet disempowering. Alternatively, we can choose to incorporate certain practices that attune our eyes to the wonderful, the lovely, and the gifts in this life.
This way is vulnerable.
And powerful.
