Slivers of Joy

/ moragnoffke 
In my morning quiet space, 
after breakfast, 
I wait a while. 
No phones. 
No social media. 
No pressure to do 
the next thing. 
I am grateful 
that I have developed 
the practice of pacing myself.

I find a little sequence of haiku 
drifting to the surface of my mind.

A sliver of joy 
Today the sun is shining 
Sun is good for us

A sliver of joy
I can hear the birds singing 
Joyful hearts abound

A sliver of joy
We are grateful for slivers
Let it do its work.

A little reflection on pausing in our days

I used to rush off to do the next thing, leaving no time to pause. Rush rush rush. It leads to unmade beds, or clothes not packed away or dishes waiting to be done. I always seemed to feel bothered and out of sorts. Then I remembered how when I worked I would spend 5 minutes at the beginning of the day packing out my tools and 5 or 10 minutes packing my tools away at the end of the day. It was part of the process of being a cartographer and drawing maps.

Once I realized that I could do this with my whole life I also realized I could plan to include pause in my daily rhythm. It has been a wonderful practice.

What do I lose by doing this?

I can’t pack in as much as I used to but I gain a peaceful way of living. Some things I have to let go of — only the valuable stays. That’s my ideal aim. I ask myself ‘is this going to enrich my life, my purpose, my future?’ if not I try to discard it, or not engage with it. I am not perfect. I still have days of chaos when I rush. Sometimes it is the unexpected things that can’t be avoided.

These questions help with all types of situations.

Is this argument worth having? Is this activity bringing me joy or enriching me? Have I committed myself to something that doesn’t align  with my values? Am I investing in a relationship? Does allowing myself time to pause help me to get in touch with myself and my deepest thoughts? Does taking time out help me to re-calibrate?

This is the way I make room to notice the slivers of Joy.

How do you notice the slivers of Joy in your life? Or what slivers of Joy have you noticed recently?

Take care, have a beautiful day.

23 thoughts on “Slivers of Joy”

  6. A truly thoughtful and perceptive post! Weighing the pros and cons is always a wise approach. I especially appreciated the prudent question:
    “Is this going to enrich my life, my purpose, and my future?”

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  7. I love how you transition your poem into the haiku, Morag. Wonderfully written!

    My sliver of joy is more like a big fur ball. We adopted a new dog (third one) this past weekend. 🙂 It’s kept me from some of my creative projects, but it’s worth my time.

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    • Thank you Richard, for your encouraging comment, I especially value it from you as a writer.

      How wonderful that you have a big ball of fur 😂 I can just imagine that you would be preoccupied with it. So nice to give a dog a home. Enjoy!

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