let her bloom // The Phoenix Soul: Wild Joy

What if wild joy could be a living, breathing presence in your life?

My joy most recently bloomed with the birth of my son, Maverick Patrick, on March 25. My heart has never broken open so wide.

As many of you already know from following our journey on social media, our sweet Maverick had some serious health scares after birth (he's since gotten the all-clear!). Due to that and my own postpartum recovery, I decided to postpone publication for our Wild Joy issue. Wrapping final details since then and spending time deep in these healing pages as I've been emerging from new-baby bubble has been life-giving.

And now . . . WILD JOY is finally here! I'm thrilled to release this celebration of an issue, where we explore the primal power of wild joy's presence in our lives. As I learned with my son's medical scare and my difficult postpartum recovery, wild joy can bloom even (especially) in the spaces of deep ache in our lives. Joy is our salve, our healer, our companion in the dark.

We need not wait for our lives to look "perfect" to experience wild joy--far from it. She blooms right here, right now, and will blossom even more abundantly if we make space for her.

Dear phoenix, I don't know where you are in your life right now . . . whether joy feels impossibly far, or she is already within your daily being. But I know this: joy is waiting for you . . . and she's been here all along. The more we release our grip and let delight surprise us, the more readily and easily we will find joy in our everyday existence.

Will you join me in letting our joy grow wild?

I'm sending you so much love, phoenix. Do you feel it?

In gratitude,
Amanda
(your fellow phoenix
& TPS chief gatherer of good)