January 19th, 2026
Joy: Learning Life’s Lessons with a Light Heart
“I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely the strange beauty of the world must someshere rest on pure joy.”
Louise Bogan (American Poet; August 11th, 1897 ~ February 4th, 1970)
“We learn each day how cultivating gratitude tills the soil of our soul and then how the seeds of simplicity and order send their roots down deep into the earth of our everyday existence. As we progress, harmony inspires us with quiet courage to create an authentic life for ourselves and those we love. With patience, beauty blossoms and our hearts experience not only happiness, which is often fleeting, but a wellspring of joy that refreshes and renews. We have found our true place in the world.”
“With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.”
William Wordsworth (English Romantic Poet; April 7th, 1770 ~ April 23rd, 1850)
“Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of joy. But this requires a profound inner shift in our reality. Many of us unconsciously create dramas in our minds, expecting the worse from a situation only to have our expectations become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Inadvertently, we become authors of our own misfortune. And so we struggle from day to day, from crisis to crisis, bruised and battered by circumstances without realizing that we always have a choice.”
“Oh geez! I am committed to living in the present, even if I struggle with the human tendency to look back and use my “evidence” to support why financial scarcity looms in my life. I do have a choice and I am committed through my daily gratitude practice to see the abundance in my life ongoingly. Access to abundance is a choice that I may fulfill if I allow myself to see it and create it as a possibility.” (Heather Houston 1-19-22)
“Wow has my shift occurred in an unexpected way and it is DIVINE! I see abundance all around me in everything I do everything I see and every possibility I create. BEing is the juice of life with the story on tape playing in your head. It is true freedom and true access to happiness.” (Heather Houston 1-19-26)
“But what if you learned how to stop the dramas and started to trust the flow of life and the goodness of Spirit? What if you began to expect the best from any situation? Isn’t it possible that you could write new chapters in your life with happy endings? For many of us this is such a radical departure from the way we have been behaving that it seems unbelievable. Yet it is possible. Suspend your disbelief. Take a leap of faith. After all, what have you got to lose but misery and lack?”
“Well living in lack and upset is no way to “LIVE”. I will need to be mindful as I have a deeply rooted bad habit. I am committed to living in the present, relishing what I do have and forecasting the best of scenarios for experiences, circumstances, tasks, etc.” (Heather Houston 1-19-22)
“Beingness is a learned skill that I have honed and find it easier to remain in longer and longer throughout the day. A true transformation is possible with intentional effort and attention.” (Heather Houston 1-19-26)
–Ban Breathnach, Sarah. “Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”. Grand Central Publishing. (1976). Kindle Page 19-20 of 501.
I challenge each of you on this blog series to post comments so we all can grow together.
My Distilled Life 