{"id":1001,"date":"2025-06-14T12:48:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T16:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/?p=1001"},"modified":"2025-06-14T12:48:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T16:48:15","slug":"a-crop-of-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/2025\/06\/a-crop-of-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"A Crop of Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"585\" src=\"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/files\/2025\/06\/garden-harvest-joy-stockcake-1024x585.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1002\" srcset=\"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/files\/2025\/06\/garden-harvest-joy-stockcake-1024x585.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/files\/2025\/06\/garden-harvest-joy-stockcake-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/files\/2025\/06\/garden-harvest-joy-stockcake-768x439.jpg 768w, https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/files\/2025\/06\/garden-harvest-joy-stockcake.jpg 1344w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Have you noticed that, except for around Christmas, we don\u2019t really talk about joy? At the holidays we wish \u201cJoy to the World!\u201d but in the day-to-day we don\u2019t think much about it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Joy is a deep emotion, and an important one. It is different than happiness, which comes in reaction to an event and leaves again. Joy comes from inside and is connected to the important things we value. (Check out this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org\/hometown-health\/speaking-of-health\/tips-for-embracing-joy-in-daily-life\">Mayo Clinic<\/a> article about finding joy and its impact on health.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Luckily, joy is something that we can cultivate. We don\u2019t have to wait for it to come to us. If we pay attention, we can grow our joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So how to grow joy? Here are a couple of ideas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Look for joy<\/em>. In our day there are so many little things that can give us joy\u2014a good-looking field, a hug from a spouse, a tug-of-war with the dog. Let\u2019s stop for a minute and let the joy soak in.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Listen for joy<\/em>. Is there a piece of music that always makes you smile? (I always grin if I listen to Willie Nelson.) Do you love the sound of birds in the morning?&nbsp; How about eavesdropping on a little kid singing to themself? Let\u2019s be still, listen, and feel the joy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Share the joy<\/em>. What\u2019s the old saying about blessings that are shared are doubled, and troubles are halved? Let\u2019s share the things that give us joy with someone else. Take pictures on our phone of that sunset and send them to a friend. Give a hug. Say out loud that we are grateful for something. There are people in the world who bring us joy just because they are part of our world (I\u2019m thinking of you, Steve). Let\u2019s tell them so.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>What things grow your joy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s each find 3 things today that bring joy. Let\u2019s cultivate our joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What a great crop that will be, and it will keep us all thriving!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you noticed that, except for around Christmas, we don\u2019t really talk about joy? At the holidays we wish \u201cJoy to the World!\u201d but in the day-to-day we don\u2019t think much about it. Joy is a deep emotion, and an important one. It is different than happiness, which comes in reaction to an event and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":1002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1001"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1004,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001\/revisions\/1004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}