You might have seen the cards and stickers and posters around town lately for the Bend JOY Project. In light of everything that’s been going on in recent months, this is an interesting project that exists to bring, well, joy to the community:

The Bend JOY Project is a challenge, a conversation, an opportunity, an experiment and a mission to bring joy in meaningful ways to keep our community happy, strong and beautiful.

It’s pretty simple, and pretty earnest. I’m still figuring it out myself a bit, but they suggest three steps to help share the joy:

1. Think of something that brings you or someone else joy. Kind words, generous actions, small deeds…they all count.
2. Do that thing, and capture it. Keep noticing and generating joy. What if the Bend JOY Project could touch and inspire goodwill in every single person in our community.
3. Keep it going. Share the moments that make you happiest. Share in person, on the mountain, at the dinner table, in the halls and online #bendjoyproject.

Keep an eye out for the orange cards around town, out in the wild as it were, 50 different “action oriented” version to share. And then, you know, share them!