When we accept tough jobs as a challenge to our ability and wade into them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen.
~Arland Gilbert

For at least four years now, I have been receiving these little emails from Attitude Media, called Positive Press. At the time it was a way for me to try and feel joyful in the corporate hell I had gotten myself into. They are not very fancy, no images or long descriptions, nothing for sale, just one positive quote per day. These predated the more fancy, but very popular Notes from the Universe, that I now also get and  enjoy. But so many times find myself sitting with these simple notes from Positive Press.

Bedtimes continue to be very challenging around here. Sevi made herself so upset over him not being here to read her a story, she actually threw up. It took me a long while, after we got off Skype with him, to calm her down. And I started wondering about what I could do, if anything, to make this easier for them. (I will again reiterate how awesome single and military parents are). With all our focus on the moon and earthly joy last week, I started thinking about being joyful (it is what my first name means after all, how do you like that for a daily reminder!) and how I can try and bring more of that to our day.  Like perhaps, if I could find triggers to channel my inner joy a bit better in those freaky moments (not that I’m bitter or anything really, just tired mostly) I could set the tone for better moods in conflict. I don’t know. But it’s worth a shot.

So this morning, when I got up to check my email. There it was. My ‘quote of the day’ from positive press. Chock full of the importance of joy. And that reminded me of a little snippet of time on youtube that made me smile so big my cheeks hurt. Revealing my, until now, closeted love of pop culture I will begin by telling you I am a huge fan of Glee. I didn’t think much of it until this firework friend wouldn’t stop talking about it. And Georgia knows fun, so I jumped in and got caught up on all the last seasons episodes. Now I await every Wednesday until the new one is out. And I don’t watch T.V. at all.

So I’ve been watching the show and I enjoy it. But there’s this new kid on there. And I have to tell you, I am totally smitten. Like pre-teen girl smitten. I actually get a little butterfly when I watch the videos. And, I could almost be his mother. Ha! It’s a fun little celebrity crush. And well, it brings me joy. When we get stuck, and I can’t handle my girls anymore, I simply put on this adorable playlist and. just. smile. It is about 15 minutes of pure, innocent, little girl joy. You know the kind. The joy it brings every time I watch it, is profound in the most simple of ways. It’s not political or life affirming or questioning. There’s no deep message or intense work of art to consider.

This little number was the one that sealed the deal for me. It is my favorite of the bunch, so I’m adding it here for easy access for you. I’m not sure if it’s the sweet innocence of youthful love or the way every single adult person in the audience, including the classical violin players, are looking at him with utter joy and those cheesy grins themselves. In any case, from me to you, a few minutes of innocent, pure and simple, *JOY*.