Re-Sounding Joy


Right now, in my bedroom-writeroom, I have about 400 books big & little. I pick up a red book of 250 pages, Laugh Again by Charles R Swindoll, radio evangelist. I am Roman Catholic, but I read all kinds. My handwritten note says I first read it 09 September 2013, again 04 January 2020, and then 25 January 2020. Again today, 17 February 2020. 

On page 11, in Introduction, Mr Swindoll writes:

This is a book about joy.
It’s about relaxing more, releasing the tension, and refusing to let circumstances dominate our attitudes.

I myself need to be reminded to re-sound joy every single time, every time. (Image above is Windows 10’s own joyful creation)

I want to give thanks to God for the presences and essences of significant others in my life, my children near and far – as near as home and as far as Toronto and New York.

I want to give thanks to God for the presence and essence of my wife. For my presence and essence too.

In my creative life, I have been experiencing joy since 1975 when I began working out my creative thoughts into published pages at the Forest Research Institute, FORI, founding and editing its monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly popular magazine Habitat. Those 3 made FORI well-known in the Philippines and abroad in those early years. New ideas make me happy; I want to make you happy with my new ideas.

In January 2007, that international joy multiplied when I became an international consulting writer of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, when now-Secretary of Agriculture of the Philippines William Dar/Manong Willie was Director General – he was DG from January 2000 to December 2014. ICRISAT published 7 books of mine; all included articles previously uploaded in my dedicated blog iCRiSAT Watch, Blogger.com.

There is joy in discovering something good, or better, or best! There should always be joy when a baby is born, joy in marriage, joy in parenthood.

How can you experience joy among your enemies? Bask in the joy that God will take good care of you!

How can there be joy at the death of a loved one? Joy in the past, joy in the expectation of eternal joy.

If you cannot experience joy and re-send joy to others, you cannot enjoy life.

I always write thinking in joy because there is no creative writing without creative thinking first. And you cannot do any creative thinking if there is no joy within you.

Of the genius of writing, Talent is only 10%; Creative Thinking is 90%. If you do not have joy within you, creative thinking is Zero. Or Sorrowful.

On page 19, Mr Swindoll writes:

Someone once asked Mother Teresa what the job description was for anyone who might wish to work alongside her in the grimy streets and narrow alleys of Calcutta. Without hesitation she mentioned only two things: the desire to work hard and a joyful attitude.

My over-riding goal in writing?
Always I want to infect your reading life with joy!@517

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