Negativity surrounds us.

Don’t believe me? Watch 10 minutes of any news program or read a few front-page articles in your favorite newspaper . . . spend a few minutes wandering around in social media . . . chat with a friend . . . and you will be inundated by tales of health concerns, political divide, crime, wars and threats of war, and the list goes on and on.

Now go back and read the very first sentence again.

What word stood out to you? Was it “negativity”? Read it again, focusing on the second word.

“Surrounds”. Yes, you read that correctly. Negativity is “around” us; it is outside of us.

It’s up to us whether or not it takes root inside us, festers, and grows.

What can you and I do to stop that from happening? Fortunately, there are many, many ways we can find and cultivate a spirit of joy, of rock-solid peace and hope no matter the circumstances.

Let’s focus this week on joy. Finding it, if you seem to have lost it. Nurturing it and helping it grow within us so that each one of us is a bundle of joy. Exuding it so that we help others do the same.

Join me this week in the discussion here and on Facebook & Instagram (Patti Miinch on both) as we talk about finding, fostering, and spreading joy.

Let’s kick it off here! What in your life tends to rob you of joy? What have you found that helps you regain or nurture joy?