There’s a common goal that sets people on a path of awakening their Divine Self. That goal is the desire to have more than brief flashes of delight, but to live a consistently rich, meaningful, joyful, and fulfilled life. But what is joy? Where is joy to be found? And how do we create more of it?
Joy is not a logical concept and as such can never be experienced by the mind. Joy is the result of love—or the spirit of an individual—becoming manifested in life. In other words, joy requires experiencing.
For example, joy can be experienced while quietly watching a sunset, cooking a meal, feeling the warmth of a southerly breeze, or in a moment of simple stillness. When we are playing, laughing, expressing ourselves, or even dancing, joy appears spontaneously.
Great pleasure fills us when we engage in stimulating or exciting endeavors. We “forget” ourselves and have a good time. In other words, we lose the tight control we have over ourselves, soften our bodies, breathe more deeply, and remain absorbed in the current moment.
What is joy?
It is a bird
That we all want to catch.
It is the same bird
That we all love to see flying- Sri Chinmoy
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I like your comment that “spirit of an individual – becoming manifested in life.” From a spiritual perspective the experience of joy is road sign, an outcome or a result of right mindedness. When you are exactly where you need to be, doing what you need be doing and in the right time, your soul resonate and you experience is joy. In a similar way, when the parts of the flute are aligned and only then, it sounds its perfect tune. The paradox of joy as an expression of alignment is that you can find yourself in a situation where circumstances are quite sad, maybe very sad and yet you feel elated because you are doing the right think, in the right place and time.
Avinoam, that is so beautifully spoken! As we learn to move beyond “thinking” our way through life and begin to feel ourselves alive, that is when we bring our spirit into life. We recognize that joy is not a fleeting emotion such as happiness or sorrow, but it is an awareness of being alive in the present moment, and filled with love through all our experiences. Our tears are as beautiful as our laughter.
Joy is sharing my daughter’s two year birthday with my family.