Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"When we’re feeling most things, most times, there’s an element of distraction to it. We’re sad about now and afraid about the future, we’re angry about something that just happened because it taps into a whole host of things that happened a long time ago. We are so often bound up into a whole, complex network of thoughts and ideas from the past and the future. We manage, sometimes, to be both in the moment and somewhere else, in another point along the spectrum of time — torn, ever-so-slightly, in two or more pieces.

"When we’re feeling joy, on the other hand, there’s only the moment of joy, and we take it in fully. We tend to experience more, and are newly attuned to the small, everyday flashes of beauty and grace that populate our lives. We suddenly notice the loveliness of the flowers on the side of the road, the crisp sweetness of an apple, the kindness paid to us by someone we encounter briefly. In joy, we feel more sensitized, more awake, more alive."

-- Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (TheRaDR), 2018-09-16, in a powerful thread that talks about joy and being fully present, in order to talk about Yom Kippur

[To my friends observing the holiday tonight/tomorrow; may you have an easy fast, and may you be sealed in the Book of life.]