One of the things I enjoy about teaching young children is the unbridled joy they express when something pleases them. They express happiness for the the simplest of things: a sticker for doing a good job, their achievement at building something really big with the blocks, their joy at running free in the playground. Their smiles, their laughter and their entire body language reminds me of what it is like to feel joy unfettered by the cares and responsibilities of adulthood. It seems like a long time ago since I experienced this emotion which overpowers the cares of everyday life. I think back to the time I used to dance: moving across the floor without hesitation. The dance seemed to be an expression of the joy I felt when moving to the sound of music. Now the burdens and responsibilities I have seem to dampen the expression of unbridled joy in my life, leaving me with a feeling of contentment and acceptance.
Do you experience unbridled joy in your life?
(This post was inspired by the Five Minute Friday prompt: Joy)
© Colline Kook-Chun, 2014
Children do have such unbridled joy! I used to teach middle school, and even then, they were still retaining a lot of that uninhibition of emotions. Somedays it was so easy to make them happy. Visiting from FMF!
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That is so true. I have found my experiences of unbridled joy seemed to end when I married and then had children 🙂
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Hi! I am visiting from FMF!!! I loved your blog writing on JOY! thank you for sharing! nice to meet you from FMF 🙂
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I am glad you enjoyed my writing. And thank you for the visit 🙂
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I like to think that’s the feeling I get when writing sometimes.
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That means writing is something that you truly love 🙂
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When we grow up we are ( especially girls in our part) always taught don’t laugh like this or how to behave and our unbridled joy and laughter seem to lost. Nice thought provoking post.
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I find it sad that girls are encouraged to suppress their joy. Showing their joy makes them even more beautiful in my eyes.
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Sometimes I feel it when I am walking in the woods, or when I feel the sun warm upon my skin.
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The sun on my skin. How I look forward to feeling that when the weather warms 🙂
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I wish you that wonderful feeling of pure joy. And, the time to dance, of course.
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I am always wishing for the time to dance. Maybe when my girls are older …
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A tough one!!! 😀 I will have to think and get back to you 😉
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I agree, it is. When I look at my current life there are moments that I am happy but I do not feel that joy as expressed by a child.
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I think it is sad that growing up means losing that ability to grab everything, including joy
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The worst is when a person becomes blasé and cynical, I think.
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really enjoyed your succinct post – so meaty!!!
and to answer your question – yeah, we do have some unbridled joy around here – some dancing with the dogs – and sometimes some singing out loud while cleaning up – which I think developed for each of us in different ways over time – it is not “every” day – but many days –
for example, one day I was loading the dishwasher and just singing an old song “ring my bell….” and my husband walked in and said something like “nice song you made up…” and I told him it was an old song from the 70’s. He was like “no it isn’t – no way…” and I was like “really – it was super popular too” (even though I was young…)
So later -without me knowing – he finds the song and sneaks onto my phone as a ring tone – (which I think was one of those cool Razor phones – lol) and then – a few years after that – we had a really good laugh when the “ring my bell” song was in the “book of eli” movie –
okay, just had to share that – but I know what you mean with the innocence and pure joy children have over just the most basic things. and you worded this all so nicely – especially this:
“what it is like to feel joy unfettered…”
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I enjoyed your story – and I like that your husband went and found the ringtone for you 🙂
I remember that song – and singing it very loud with my friends 🙂
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colline – you made my day!! and actually this post/thread has been one of my favorites this month (even though I do not rate them – lol) but I have really enjoyed the comments and the original post – because…
so true – so true – the joy expressed by a child is so unique –
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Thank you so much. I enjoyed the comments made by readers too – they add so much to the original post whether they are short comments or expressions of people’s own experiences.
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Hey Colline – I came back real quick because I finally have my “joy” picture ready to share in a post! (I will link it to you later).
However, I also have to add a note.
As I re-read what I wrote, the first part got cut off – where I wrote about I agree that children do have that “joy unfettered” that gets lost the cares of adulthood…
and I also wrote you are so right, we get so serious – but I think I cut it out to have if flow better – anyhow, so when I answered your question I also meant to add the above…. 🙂 ha!
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Perfect 🙂
And by the way – I LOVE your pictures of joy 🙂
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LOLOLOLOL. I find it absolutely hilarious that your hubby thought you made this song up. I was imagining you(although I don’t actually know you) loading the dishwasher and singing this song. I guess it could sound made up.
My kids make up songs sometimes but they usually embrace the quality of skipping rope songs – with a drum beat pedantic repetitiveness. The verse, You can ring my be-e-e-e-l-l ring my bell, has a different emphasis on the word ‘bell’ usually reserved only for those who write songs regularly and know how to capture the quality of emphasis placed on certain words to elicit absolute joy upon anticipating the lingering vocals.
Very funny that he slyly made it the ringtone on your phone, the very song you both had a connecting moment over. Sounds like the two of you have a very connected relationship based on mutual humor and playfulness. Lucky girl!
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Hi =- well I just saw your reply – and well, thanks for the LOL!!! and for the sweet note – how awesome of you!!!! 🙂
~yvette
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Contentment and acceptance are good things creating a deeper joy perhaps. 🙂
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I think you are right. Maybe a more mature joy?
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Lovely post, and please make time to dance, even if it’s just around the house.
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I should do so more often (though I tend to dance in the kitchen while I am cooking 🙂 )
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Anything is better than nothing 🙂
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It’s such a shame we have to grow up and lose this feeling. I see children in shopping centers walking along singing and sometimes dancing and I think if an adult did that we’d think there was something wrong with them. I’d love to do it, but our society has different ideas on how we should behave 😉
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I was saddened a couple of days ago when I was shopping to see a mom of an eleven year tell her daughter to suppress her expression of fun and joy. Such a pity she did not encourage her daughter to express her love for living.
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Funny this would happen now, isn’t it? When I was young, we were expected to behave a certain way that was really quite stifling. But today it seems that we are encouraging our youth to be more expressive. And, I notice that this seems to be a very good thing. I notice that today’s youth seem to be happier. I think the best time to develop a love for living is while we are still young so that this may carry over into adulthood.
There are many worries and responsibilities that accompany adulthood that can dampen ones enthusiasm for life. When it all gets to me, I try to restore that feeling of unbridled joy by listening to music, dancing and singing. These are the keys to unbridled joy for me.
It seems that these are also the keys to unbridled joy for many of your readers, too!
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What certainly helps me Darlene is to spend time with the young children who express their joy so fully 🙂
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we need to rediscover that joy Colline, thanks for your post!
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I think we do. As adults, we allow our responsibilities to suppress it.
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I am now trying to remember a time that I felt unbridled joy. To go back in time and reminisce about unbridled joy is certain to unlock the original feeling. Ah, yes, there it is.
I gazed out of the attic window in absolute wonderment at the thunderstorm raging outside our tiny cottage. My two cousins and I lay on our tummies on a double bed that was pushed up against the window. We waited for the clap of thunder and counted until we saw the flash of light. We were awestruck and excited. We were all under the age of 9 and I remember feeling the utter joy of deep connection to my two cousins. It was a complete sense of peacefulness and serenity as though everything in the world was as wonderful as it could ever be.
I also felt unbridled joy after my cat had kittens when I was five. On a Saturday morning when the kittens were about 7 weeks old, I cradled and cuddled them and enjoyed watching them play together. Unfortunately my joy turned to despair when we had to adopt them out one week later. My mother would not agree to keeping them, of course 🙂
As an adult, I also continue to experience this sense of unbridled joy while dancing to music that makes me want to get up and move!
I also feel unbridled joy when my family is very happy – like when we are on vacation.
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I love the description of your experience with your cousins. I have many such memories. They were fun times when we all spent time together. Much laughter happened – and of course, much crying too 🙂
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You made me think too Colline!! I do feel the joy, but have possible lost the ability to express it quite like children do 🙂
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It is a pity that we, as adults, feel we need to suppress the expression of our inner joy.
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I have joy in my life, Colline, but certainly not the joy that children reach so easily. It’s a shame but I think it’s one of the prices of maturity. For better or worse, we acquire a sense of propriety. I’m sure you’ve seen a happy child who’s just found a coin on the ground. What would you think of an adult who expressed that same amount of happiness in that situation?
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People would surely look at that person as if he/she had a screw loose 🙂
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Yes, I still get a spring in my step and a bounce in my heart sometimes, Colline. Usually when I’m out and about ‘being restless’ somewhere new. 🙂
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The secret, therefore, is to find out what it is that brings that bounce to your step!
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