The Dance of Joy

Joy does not arrive here as a reward for completing life correctly. One morning it simply wakes in the body, finds rhythm in the feet and invites the world to dance. It proves nothing and demands cheerfulness from no one. It remembers a lightness rising within that can spread without an audience or a reason.

Love opened the heart beyond transaction and within that space arises a joy requiring no external cause. The narrator wakes laughing without knowing why. The sky looks brighter, the feet discover their own rhythm and every breath feels made of light. The Dance of Joy is neither an order to feel good nor a denial of pain. Its joy conceals nothing and asks for nothing in return. It does not come from performance, approval or victory and therefore need not be guarded. It can touch a stranger as a smile, stitch two hearts together for a moment and turn trees, wind, birds and clouds into intimate companions. The body does not dance for an audience. The movement begins within and allows a person to be without proving. Joy appears as an overflow of presence that naturally shares itself. Yet the journey does not end by gripping this new feeling. When joy needs no name, fame or reason, it can soften into the space from which it rose. Beyond the dance waits silence and a peace wide enough even for the moment when no one is dancing.