"The Wisdom of Joy From Jerry" #3 - My Grandson Daniel

Do you know what really brings joy to my life? After having 6 kids and 6 grandkids I haven't, until now, had the opportunity nor the time to really be there every step of the way for one of them as they grew up. Retirement has its benefits. Three, and sometimes more, days a week I watch my grandson Daniel. We spend most of the day together, at least half of it alone. He's my little buddy. It's amazing to see the rate of development of the human mind and witness it's exponential experimental growth. It is phenomenal to be able to witness something like that. He is two, going on three here in June. He's been talking for a while now, but to witness him go from sounds to individual words to sentences and where he is now is something they will always amaze me. It is interesting, if you listen closely they speak in thoughts instead of sentences or formed ideas. You can literally listen to them work things out. 

There are times Daniel will just look at me out of the corner of his eyes like a little miniature adult, as if he knows exactly what I'm thinking. Watching him play brings me so much joy, we have a lot of fun together. He loves playing with his new Jet Planes. He will pick them up, lift them high in the air and run around telling everyone that the Jet Planes are coming and to watch their ears. Then he will make his Jet Engine sounds as he maneuvers them all over the house. The greatest learning curve in life is supposed to be somewhere around three or so until about age seven. If he is this amazing now I can't fathom the strides he is about to take, and so quickly at that. I can sit and have a conversation with him now, it's unbelievable; no more babytalk. It is also one of the greatest gifts I never would have thought to ask for. After always being so busy and taken up with work being retired is welcome and freeing. I never thought I would be able to spend that free time with my little guy Daniel. He turns three in less than a month and as my wife retires at the end of the month there will be more people around in the mornings and afternoons. Not that I don't love that as well, but I really do treasure and cherish those moments we had and have between us. It's not often in life you get an opportunity like that, an opportunity to really connect with and help shape someone. It's a two way street as well, as you shape someone else they shape you as well. Having Daniel brings me so much Joy and the opportunity to be there for him gives me more Joy than almost anything else. I thank God everyday for all of my kids and grandkids and my wife; family is everything in the end, when you are there for each other it help lifts everyone up and promotes growth and learning which fosters hope and courage leading to strength. Human beings are amazing and intricate creatures; the fact alone that we are living, that the billions and billions of things necessary for our survival go right at the right time and all together, is reason enough to bring all of us Joy. We are living. Don't ever forget that, it's something that is surprisingly easily forgotten. 

Introducing "The Wisdom of Joy From Jerry" - Who You Are

What do we do?  We Find Our Joy & Share It! Find and seek out those around us who have Joy and more Joy to share. It only makes sense to find people with an abundance of Joy built up and befriend them. Gain from their knowledge. What's crazy is that so many of these people are all around us and we don't even see. Our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and so many more. Take advantage of this, and of the people you come across in your day to day life. Be more patient and slow down, observe the world around you and interact with the people in it. There are all different kinds of us, with our own personal paths to Joy. This next voice has seen a lot, from being an elected civil servant to being an active duty military officer overseas; his Joy has come from many places and evolved over all this time. It still continues to evolve. He retired from the telecommunications industry with a history being an electrician, fireman and an engineer and having worked both in the public and private sectors, including working for the government. A new and unique perspective I can't wait to hear. The reason I go on and on is because this voice is actually really very special to me, the voice of a man that I love and respect very much. One I have heard my whole life, the voice of my father.

🌲🌳🌿🍃🌲🌳🌿🍃🌲🌳🌿🍃🌲🌳🌿🍃🌲🌳🌿🍃🌲🌳🌿🍃🌲🌳🌿🍃

Joy. What gives you Joy in life changes over time. It's not the same now as it was before or it will be someday. You evolve, your outlook evolves, and as a person you grow. You have to be careful as well; you can think something brings you Joy one minute and quickly find out it doesn't. Life is full of ups and downs, there are disappointments all the time. There is really only one way to survive - perspective. As you grow older you begin to overcome the ups and downs easier and easier. There is a lot of bad, it doesn't always go the way you want or the way you plan. The important thing is how you handle it, how you take it and your faith throughout it.
We go through life working, raising a family, and living a life. Along with that we all want nice things like new cars or phones and all kinds of other earthly things. We get happiness and Joy from different things as we age, and with those different things come different levels of fulfillment and tangible, usable, Joy. As a young man and growing up I got Joy from the success of getting and accomplishing the things I wanted for my family. Now, being finally retired, I get the gift of spending three to four days a week watching my grandson. I get to watch him play and grow up and laugh and learn, things I didn't get to always see before as I worked. This time that I have now really is a gift, and my grandson brings me so much Joy. I love the time that we have together, it's invaluable. 
Just remember this, who you are is what you do with everything that comes at you in life - the good and the bad.

Doing The Right Thing

Being joyful is hard when it feels like the world is just beating you back over and over again. We have all been there so many times, and we will all return time and again until we die. That is the way the world works, the ups and the downs, the highs and the lows. There are certain particular events that can seem to obliterate any hope at ever seeing joy again and those that cause so much anxiety we stop eating and sleeping. It's hard not to get caught up in these events and get lost in the despair. For me, one of those events is tomorrow. Without giving too much away, some events have taken place at work over the past few months. I love this new job more than anything and would like to be there for the foreseeable future, but an administrator that works with me has been making me very uncomfortable. At first I thought because it was only words or comments or winks that it was ok because it wasn't really touching. I didn't want to have to out his secret in the process of bringing to light the events that occurred. With him on vacation so much more has come out that he's done and said and he has a history with it. He's gotten away with it before and is used to getting his way. He's manipulative and sneaky. He enjoys pitting people against each other just to entertain himself. I couldn't hold it in any longer. I told my administrator and some things from the staff come out to shed even more light on the revelation. In the end one of the director's was emailed about the situation;of course, I believe I have the support of my co-workers and administrators. The staff are the ones who came to me after all with stories of their own. Well, when I didn't hear from anyone until well past five I thought nothing of it. I can deal tomorrow and face it then. 

Then I got a text message. "Can you come meet me tomorrow morning at 10am?" Well, of course I responded yes. I am so nervous, so scared, so afraid. I don't want anyone to find out and think I'm trying to get him into trouble. I don't want to be the cause of gossip and rumors about him. I don't want him to somehow keep his position and then use this against me or to make me uncomfortable from now on. It's so stupidly scary and intimidating. Now that it's been said I feel better, and I didn't realize it was even weighing me down. My chest feels a little less tight and heavy and I feel a little less uncomfortable and anxious about work. It was the right thing to do, but I am still so terrified for tomorrow. What if no one believes me? What if he stays here at this house? When is he going to find out what I said? What is he going to tell others then if he's already trying to turn people against me? Am I going to lose my job? Would they just transfer me and leave him alone to make it all go away? These are all the thoughts barreling through my head at light speed and all at the same time. I can't focus. I have to keep stopping myself and taking a minute or two to just pause and tell myself to relax. I tell myself it was the right thing and that if I didn't do it then he would just do it again to someone else. How could I live with that? Even if something bad happens I can live with myself knowing I did the right and honorable thing. I want to act with integrity. Plus the ball is already in motion, there's nothing I can do to take it back or stop it now. Here goes. 

I still struggle every day and with just about every challenge. There will always be challenges and turbulations. When I start to think about the situation or I start to worry or stress I force myself to think of something in my life I can't live without. Something I am so thankful for. Most of the time it's my loving partner. Today my first "Joyful: The Pursuit of Life" shirts came in and I can't wait to wear it tomorrow. I focus on that for my Friday instead of the stress boiling over in my head. Now I can wear my tee shirt reminder to help keep me thinking joyfully all day long. The point is, it will always be a battle but the more armor and weapons you have the easier it is to win and the better chance you have at surviving. When it gets hard take a deep breath and make your mind focus on ony one thing. One happy thing. That, what you just did, that's being joyful. That's joy.