Joy

Louisa brings joy to our lives

Joy

Nick Cave is an Australian musician, actor, and writer. He’s best known for his deep voice and his band, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He also writes a popular weekly blog called The Red Hand Files, where he answers the questions that readers ask him. For his 300th issue, he decided to turn the tables and ask us, his readers, a simple question, saying he’d post his favorite answers.

The question was: “Where or how do you find joy?”

I decided to answer.

Dear Nick,

When my eyes open in the morning and I whisper Thank you, my heart starts to fill with joy. It sets the foundation for the rest of my day, that first act of the day, saying Thank you.

It’s the same feeling when I crack an egg and watch it sizzle, smell that slice of sourdough bread popping up from the toaster, turn on the faucet to brush my teeth or use a flushing toilet.

Thank you is a prayer I can say throughout the day for all the tiny miracles I encounter. Being aware of the simple gifts I receive daily is how I find joy.

And then from that foundation, joy builds…

Noticing the clouds, the black squirrel that safely made it across the road, my dog rolling over for a belly rub, flowers my partner surprised me with for no reason, a polished apple in my lunch bag, the sun shining on my face, or an unexpected phone call from a friend asking, “How are you doing?”

Joy doesn’t care about my race, my weight, who I love, my bank account, if my home is messy or immaculate. Joy is a universal feeling I harvest when I start to notice and say Thank you for all the things I might otherwise have taken for granted.

And some days, that’s hard to do! But when I do, even my posture changes from slumping to standing upright, my frown becomes a silly half smile on my face, and even my toes seem to wiggle with more ease.

Thank you, Nick, for your vulnerability in sharing your thoughts and feelings with us in The Red Hand Files.

Jane

Viola, Wisconsin, USA

Nick was overwhelmed by the response he received to this question. Over 2,000 letters arrived within the first few days after he’d posted it. He wrote on his blog: “So many of your responses are extraordinarily moving, from thoughtful and eloquent treatises on the nature of joy to a tiny voice from Limerick, Ireland, saying simply, ‘Golf’—a response that, for some inexplicable reason reduced me to tears.”

He went on to say it was impossible to choose his favorite answer, so instead he decided to collate them and post them all on a page he’ll call “Joy.” He asked for our patience, as he had read through only about the first 500 responses.

Here is the link if you’re curious about what people from all over the world answered when asked, “Where or how do you find joy?”: theredhandfiles.com/joy.

How would you have answered? Where or how do you find joy?