Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.

—Emily Dickinson

I’ve been thinking a lot about the purpose of my blog. What is it exactly? I know, right?

I’ve had many objectives since I started—from journaling about the story of my recovery, to photography, art, poetry, a bit of fiction (still with no endings), and an attempt at a health & lifestyle makeover (that I may resume privately in the future).

These constant and never ending transitions illustrate perfectly what I was referring to in my previous post, Fluidity. I’ll never commit to just one purpose in life… and that is final.

Anyway, I enjoy working with prompts and/or challenges because they inspire me to think and to express myself, whether it be written or visual. I’ve used the alphabet twice and can give you 26 reasons why I won’t be doing that again. So that is out.

One thing I know about myself (and my artistic creations) is that my emphasis is always on learning and experimenting with techniques. I guess you could say that my analytical side takes the wheel. What I find difficult with visuals, on the other hand, is letting go and expressing myself freely. My creative side likes to sit back and let the analytical half do all the work.

So… I thought I would challenge myself and see if I could create feelings or emotions without getting all caught up in the tools that I use and so on. And tonight we have my first attempt: JOY.

In all honesty, I failed the challenge. Originally. I set out to create LOVE, and I think that my art actually shows how I feel when I’m in love (or infatuated), but the dancer is all alone and it reminds me of my misadventures in love… all giddy and unaware of the dangers that lie ahead.

As I thought about it, however, I realized that I still experience the feeling that I used to get whenever I thought that I was falling in love… and that feeling is joy. Only now there are no strings attached, and no love-sick hangovers to get through.

Joy is wonderful… and it makes me feel like dancing.

---

When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

Buddha