My mother made my school lunch throughout high school. Our school did not have a cafeteria or lunchroom. There was, however, a food truck (not a groovy 21st-century food truck but the kind that went to construction sites) that came each day. But my mother was not about to give me lunch money — and trust me to eat well. My mother wanted me to eat what she wanted me to eat. Which meant a brown bag filled with one cookie, one piece of fruit, a bag of chips, and the most disgusting sandwiches in the world.
Disgusting because she believed that bread was fattening and so only bought Pepperidge Farms Very Thin Bread. Only 40 calories a serving, when I say this bread was thin, I’m not kidding! You could practically see through the stuff. And of course, no white bread for me. Only whole grain. Whole grain very very very thin bread into which she placed deviled chicken, deviled ham, or maybe a slice of lunch meat or two. It took me two hours to get to school, so that sandwich had been made at 6AM. By the time lunch rolled around, whatever disgusting mushy filling she had made had seeped all the way through the bread and I was eating a pile of meaty mush. Unbelievably gross.
Honestly, I love my mom. But she made, hands down, the WORST sandwiches in the world!
On Fridays though, everything changed. On Fridays — and on my birthday — I took a white lunch bag to school on which was emblazoned a large yellow smiley face that said: HAVE A HAPPY DAY! And inside — praise be to Heaven — was the only good sandwich my mother made (albeit still on that paper-thin bread). It was peanut butter and honey! It was the end of the week, she reasoned, and cause for celebration. My mother was always about a good celebration.
Though the food was my focus as a kid, in retrospect, what I think about most is those happy face lunch bags.
She had found them when I was in eighth grade — and as my mother was wont to do — had purchased a large enough supply to last for every single Friday through high school. She never ran out!
Looking back now, I find that the sweetest thing! And to this day, on Fridays, every single Friday, I think of my mom and those happy face lunch bags, and I smile and remember: Have a happy day!
So today is the last Friday of this month’s practice of BEing. And I wanted to celebrate my mom. This photograph of this gorgeous sunflower reminds me of that smiley face.
But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more connected to the word joy than happiness.
Happiness, it has felt to me, is somehow dependent on outside circumstances. Whereas joy, I feel, is an innate heart-connection to Love. And that’s how I felt every single Friday when I carried that white lunch bag with the smiley face to school. I felt Love.
So today, in joy-filled gratitude for my mother, our heart-centered practice is BE: Joy.
Literally embody, emanate, express, share, connect in, convey joy.
Joy is Love expressed. Joy is the pure and simple delight in being alive.
Right now it may seem a little crazy or selfish to do this. But I promise you it’s not.
When we feel and express and emanate joy, we are choosing to align with Life and Love — as opposed to fear and anxiety and stress. What could be more necessary or powerful than to affirm the Power of Life and Love! When we choose to BE Joy, everyone around us feels joy. Joy is a game changer because it takes us out of our heads and reconnects us with our hearts. Joy reminds us that Love is our native tongue and we are here to speak it to everyone we meet in everything we do. Joy reminds us of that we are alive and have so much for which to be grateful. So to BE Joy is to BE Life is to BE Love. What could be more important than that?
It’s Friday. I hope you look at this sunflower and picture a huge smiley face that feels like a giant hug of Love.
I hope you feel JOY, so you can BE what you already are. PURE JOY!
If you want to listen to today’s BE: Joy video, here it is: