SPEAKING JOYFULLY
Does the Score Really Matter?
©Joy Dunlap https://joydunlap.com Thankfully my sense of worth isn’t based on my bowling score. When you’re bowling with a bunch of women called “Almost†bowlers in a...
Airline Delay is Music to the Soul
©Joy Dunlap https://joydunlap.com Sometimes a delay gives us time and space to open our ears to the music inside us. The announcement penetrated the din of the airport cacophony, wiping out my previous anticipation of getting home on time from...
Make Your “Thank You” Meaningful
©Joy Dunlap https://joydunlap.com In today’s busy world, getting a “Thank You†note is something to cheer about in itself. But how do we make our notes of appreciation less perfunctory and...
The Conversation Started with a Rembrandt Painting
©Joy Dunlap https://joydunlap.com In the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, my Russian guide and I got into a conversation about faith. In front of the famous painting portraying Abraham and his son Isaac, she questioned how a loving God could...
9 “L” Steps for Happiness
@Joy Dunlap https://joydunlap.com Everyone’s talking about happiness – how to find it, how to achieve it, and how to keep it. The United Nations even named March 20 as the International Day of Happiness. Can...
Fire! Wish I’d Looked at the Instruction Book
©Joy Dunlap https://joydunlap.com I was living on my own in a one-bedroom apartment and acting grown-up. I’ve never really enjoyed cooking – although I’ve certainly embraced eating,...
What Happens to Broken, Battered, Barnacled Shells?
©Joy Dunlap https://joydunlap.com The shell’s beauty and design captured my attention - a work of art laying on the sandy white beach. Almost as big as my hand, the perfectly-shaped scallop with ridges of orange and white...
When Waves Hit Hard
©Joy Dunlap https://joydunlap.com When gently rolling in, the waves tickle the grainy sand with white foam as if fingers dancing on a keyboard. The thing about waves is – sometimes we’re caught off guard...
Heart-shaped Messages for Me – and You!
©Joy Dunlap https://joydunlap.com Remember when we were young and used to exchange Valentines with our classmates? Sometimes we even shared those little boxes of heart-shaped sweetness that carried stamped messages on them. Today, around 8...
Heart Tugs to Chew On
©Joy Dunlap https://joydunlap.com Did you know that some 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolates are sold in the United States for Valentine's Day? Have you ever squished, or maybe sampled, one of the goodies inside only to find it...