Living life intentionally with a grateful heart despite my circumstances.

 

 
I was challenged by a friend to come up with my mantra in 10 words or less. This is what I came up with. Leave it to my verbose nature to use all 10 of them. In researching a little bit about the words intentional and grateful, I came across the word joyful.

Joy and happy are often used interchangeably but are very different in meaning. Happy is so much more of a temporary feeling that occurs when things happen to a person by chance. The root of happy, hap, actually means chance. Joy is a source of delight that is rooted deep inside of oneself. It is what lies underneath all emotions, no matter what happens to a person. It is completely possible to be sad or unhappy, yet still have a joyful spirit.

It is with that joyful spirit that I am seeking to live my life. Let’s face it – some days just stink. But I have to choose to live with intention, joy, grace, and gratitude. So it is with that spirit that I designed this once a month link up. On the fourth Friday of every month I will do a link up Living JoyFULLY. The general idea is to complete an item off of my (and your) life list. Everyone can do one thing a month – it’s manageable. Remember these do not have to be huge or expensive activities. But it’s important that if we want to dream big and live adventurous lives we have to start somewhere. Today is as good as any other day, so let’s be intentional and joyful together.
 

 
So today I packed up the oldest three kids and we headed out to the circus. As I walked into the convention center I was sweating from the 110 degree weather, running late due to parking lots being filled to capacity, and I had not had lunch. The vein on the side of my neck was starting to pulsate from the hot headed feeling that was taking over. I am FINALLY learning to recognize my triggers and told myself to stop the negative self talk.

While my purse was being checked at the entrance, I told Rebecca, Ben, and Emily three things I was grateful for about them. I loved Ben’s response as he looked at Rebecca…
 
“She’s doing one of those choosing to be happy things again. She must be getting frustrated.” Ben made me laugh, but really that “happy thing” works like a charm.
 

 
Despite having to spend $12 for a pretzel and bottled water, we had a fabulous time. At one point all three kids were clapping and screaming for the performers. And if nursing or blogging don’t work out, I am totally going to be a trapeze performer. That would be so cool. Except I would wear a red cape and bright yellow boots. Wonder Jenny.

Ben walked out and said, “Mom, I really like your list thing. We have done so many different things and you seem to smile a lot more and not work as much. I like when you don’t work.” So today, I am happy that I’m living a intentional and joyFULL life and that my family is noticing. Yes.
 

 
As I am finishing this post, I am sitting in a hotel room in Omaha, Nebraska. I’m excited to be attending the Swimming Olympic Time Trials tonight with Rebecca, Emily, and my dad. Meaningful, inspirational, and multigenerational. My heart is overflowing with joy and gratitude for this experience with three of my favorite people in the universe. I will be taking lots of pictures over on Instagram. Feel free to follow along with me (jennymeyerson).

Blessings sweet friends – Jenny

I’m choosing to live life intentionally after a battle with cancer. I’m enjoying life and marking items off my life list. Specifically, this was one of the 39 items I want to complete before I turn 39 in November 2012.

Please feel free to link up your Living JoyFULLY posts. The next Living JoyFULLY post will be on Friday, July 27th.