Absolute Joy

Every morning I post on our Time to Play News social media pages. 

Usually I wait for something in the news or something in an experience that hits me to share a thought of something I learned. 

I’m just a person – and we all are people – who have something to offer to someone else, whether through life experience or education or seeing something that could help another.  This is really the vision behind all I’ve been working toward – to bring people together to help each other, people helping people.

This morning I was giving my dogs a bone and my dog Charlotte’s face beamed in absolute joy.  . . Joy that was so strong that it was tangible and I felt her joy. 

I searched Google for “absolute joy” to post a picture or a meme.  There was NOTHING for me to use to depict “absolute joy” that came up.  Just information on depression, things about rescuing animals, articles on easy to implement ideas to bring joy into your life and things like that.

Wow.  What a message, right?  This was a clear picture of our focus.

For years I have been researching statistics on the lack of happiness in our lives and the increase of sick and sad and need for healing and change and existing and surviving.  Did you know that the self-help and recovery industries have grown to $50 billion a year with a 77% recidivism rate that keeps people coming back again and again? 

My goal has been to shift our thinking and perspective instead to an enjoy life solution focus and encourage us to shift our thinking to the positive and possibilities — to make the moments of our day feel like we are at play instead of just struggling through each day existing and surviving and living in pain and despair.

After today, I see that the work I have been striving to achieve is even more needed than I thought.

We each deserve to live in absolute joy. 

We deserve to savor our moments and to see the beauty in the world.

Today I wish you absolute joy, to see something that makes you smile.

It is possible to shift our thinking and perspective to make every moment feel like we are at play.  It is always our choice.

After all, it is time to enjoy life. It is Time to Play.

Love, Doreen

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Doreen Guma, MA, FACHE, CPC, CLC:  Doreen holds a Bachelor of Science in Management, a Masters in Business and Policy Studies, is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, a Certified Social and Emotional Intelligence Coach, Certified Professional Coach, Certified Life Coach, and the author of the book, If I Knew Then What I Know Now, Our Quest for Quality of Life.

Doreen is the founder of the Time to Play Foundation, a 501c3 not for profit organization with the mission and purpose to enrich the lives of others through programs, public awareness outreach activities, events and learning opportunities that further the concept of enjoying life.  The Foundation’s website, www.TimetoPlayFoundation.org, has resources, events and articles for a person to learn what they need to know for a better life.  

The Foundation offers an unconventional approach in a non-threatening manner to provide solutions for the life situations that people may encounter.  Working in healthcare since 1987, and with her background in quality improvement, she has followed statistics showing our society’s current evolution to be more “sick and sad”.   She developed the Time to Play Philosophy:  you have to be happy, healthy, have money and a work / life balance for quality of life and believes everyone has the ability to enjoy life.