Monday: Reflection

This month, I'm thinking about joy.

Not necessarily our own joy, but the joy we experience when something good happens to someone else.

In Buddhism, there's a practice called mudita, or sympathetic joy. It's the practice of being happy for someone else's happiness, success, or good fortune.

And I think it's a beautiful practice for intentional communication.

Because how often do we notice something wonderful about another person and never actually say it?

We admire how someone handled a difficult situation. We notice how thoughtful they are. We see them doing something well.

And we keep it to ourselves.

Or sometimes, when something good happens to someone else, we find ourselves comparing.

Why did they get that opportunity?

Why is that happening for them and not me?

When will it be my turn?

I think these are very human reactions.

And practicing sympathetic joy doesn't mean we have to pretend we aren't jealous or disappointed.

It means we can notice those feelings without judging ourselves for having them, and practice making room for someone else's happiness, too.

Someone else's success doesn't have to take away from our own.

Someone else's happiness doesn't mean there's less happiness available to us.

And one of the ways we can begin practicing this is through our words.

By offering a genuine compliment.

By telling someone what we appreciate about them.

By celebrating something good that's happened in their life without immediately bringing the conversation back to ourselves.

This week, I'm going to practice noticing the good in others and actually saying it out loud.

Not to flatter anyone or make them feel a certain way.

But because when we see something worth appreciating, why not share it?

Maybe the more we practice recognizing joy in other people's lives, the more joy we begin to notice in our own.

This week's invitation: Notice something you genuinely appreciate about another person, and tell them.