Thinking back to childhood days, a picture of the sun was usually illustrated with a radiant friendly smiling face, invoking feelings of joy.

Somewhere right now the sun is rising and somewhere it’s setting, or is it? We all know that it’s actually the earth that’s turning, moving into or out of, the sun’s light. Then there is a solar eclipse, which the earth has no control over, that can also momentarily block the sun’s light.

In the same way we can actually turn either towards or away from something like joy, thinking it’s joy that moves into or out of our lives. We can also allow events that’s completely out of our control to rob us of our joy.

So most of the time we actually determine if joy is present or absent in our lives and if someone or something tries to rob us or our joy, it’s our response thereto that determines the duration of joy’s absence.

I use a very easy system to make sure I live life with joy. Every morning I focus on starting my day joy-filled. Life usually happens soon after, whether it’s a phone call, cancelled appointment, traffic accident, etc. Every incident trying to rob me of my joy, like bumping against a glass filled with water, the water representing my level of joy.

Needless to say sometimes there are spills, that can’t be avoided, and here is the secret to living a joy-filled life:

Before I enter my home at night, I think through every incident that day, that may have robbed me of some joy and I make sure I fill my glass again before I enter my home, so that its full for tomorrow. It’s that simple.

Most importantly those that matter most to me, receive me full of joy. I have to admit there are some days when I sit in the garage for a while to fill the glass again, but the glass always gets filled.

Living life with joy is a choice. How about you, do you live life with joy? Don’t let the sun set on your joy.