Intensity,joy and more

With thanks to J Ruth Gendlers book of qualities my page today was Intensity, a shortish excerpt follows.

Intensity's shirts are burgundy and deep brown and indigo. It is easy for him to forget about the paler tones. Sometimes he seems to live as if the moon were always full, yet he knows her dark side well. He is very sensitive and when he was younger he worried about getting too close to people and driving them away. His family told him not to feel things so much and not to try to change the world. Trying to follow their advice he was sick and cynical. When he was scared to be himself he was scary to be around. He is healthier now.
Intensity is a splendid actor. He pulls each part out of himself. He has tried on many roles in his attempt to discover who he is and why we suffer.
When he is calm I am reminded of deep water on a quiet night.

There is more but this spoke to me today. A lot of what I was and what I tried to be, most of which was down to how I was made to feel in the past. Both from parents and from previous husband.
I hope I am not as intense, although Mr Mog said this morning when I showed him the page that I was very intense about how he was washing his cup:)
We met up with friends today, one who has just opened a new shop to keep her and her family. We have known her for years and it is always a pleasure to visit. She has such joy in life and lives each day to its fullest. She never gives up and is always busy yet never too busy for friends.
Then from this new shop we caught up with another friend we hadn't seen for around a year. She had been walking by,saw the shop and called in. She asked for our number and when we spoke invited us for lunch. She too works hard for her daughter and is also a foster parent for children with serious problems. Despite all the stress this causes she is also one who lives life as it is meant to be lived, with joy and an open heart for what the day can bring.
I find it very inspiring to be around people like this, no expectations from you or from the world. Just a need to live each day to its utmost. I try to do this and I know myself how difficult it can sometimes be.
They give me hope.

A poem I stumbled across in my journal this morning seemed to go with what I've written above
It is called Joy and is by Carl Sandburg

JOY

LET a joy keep you.
Reach out your hands
And take it when it runs by,
As the Apache dancer
Clutches his woman.
I have seen them
Live long and laugh loud,
Sent on singing, singing,
Smashed to the heart
Under the ribs
With a terrible love.
Joy always,
Joy everywhere--
Let joy kill you!
Keep away from the little deaths.