Scattering Joy?

This morning I read the words "scattering joy" in an article, and it reminded me of just how often all of us educated, knowledgable people (who know better) spend a big part of our days scattering anything but joy. Yes, there's a lot going on right now that is frustrating; our time is taken up in putting out fires, motivating the unmotivated and perhaps just surviving. But absolutely all of us get to choose how we're going to think as we go through our day. One of my favorite books, "Man's Search for Meaning," the story of a Jewish psychiatrist in a German concentration camp, taught me that there is no such thing as having no choice. The author (Viktor Frankl) observed that every day the prisoners got to decide if they would keep on living, or just give up. Some just chose not to go on any more. Others chose to do whatever it took to stay alive and find their missing relatives. The only difference was their attitude.

So we get to choose today where we find joy, and how we can scatter it around to those whose concentration or concerns are just too great for them to scatter any happiness whatsoever. We know people always learn from watching how we respond to things, so if we can scatter a bit of joy , it can certainly have a ripple effect.

In the next book I have coming out on human potential I tell the story of Dave. One day I was rushing from the airport to make a meeting and discovered I had a tire with almost no air. Driving at breakneck speed to the filling station, I discovered ( to my embarrssment) I couldn't figure out how to make the air pump work, and a fellow named Dave who was working on the awning got down when I called up for help. He said you had to add money to operate the pump, but that I had a bigger problem, my tire wasn't low, it was flat. I asked if I could pay to have him change it, which he did, adding (and paying for) air to the spare. When he was all finished I offered him a $20, wondering if I was being too cheap. He turned to me and said "no way, pass it on."

So I did, and I am. He made the rest of my day, he scattered a little much-needed joy.

Look for where you can do the same. It's surprising how good it feels to add a little bit here and there.