Can I just say how this simple, little statement touches me to my core? How do we get so far away from the simplicity of this beautiful idea? Sometimes helping to bring joy to others by supporting them in their successes is a choice worth the risk to make.
We often stand at this edge of competition, we cautiously peer over as far as we can see, and do our comparisons. And standing there, because we do compare, we are mindful of our own shortcomings. Clapping for others can seem like a loss, it can seem as if you are handing over control. But control does not equal love. And choosing to support and love is not a loss, because it brings joy to others. And it’s not one sided because Joy does this beautiful thing. She comes back to you, and wraps her arms around your own heart and increases your joy too. The memory of competition fades.
Everything I’ve gone thru in the last 5 years has proven to me the one who truly claps for me is also the one who desires to add to my joy. What an epiphany to realize that the ones who do not clap for me, as painful as it may be, have no place in my life.
And if I’m privileged to have someone part of my life, it’s simple: I clap for them, I support them, I share in their joy and Joy always comes back to me. Every time, Joy returns, so maybe clapping for others really isn’t that hard after-all.
My Benjamin, who claps for me…he brings me joy.❤️
A woman who chose joy 