Joy
"The joy of brightening other lives becomes for us the magic of the holidays." - W.C. Jones.
The word joy is used often around Christmas time. I think this is because those who love the season are in a giving mood, and being generous brings a feeling of joy. What exactly is joy? It is more than just being happy. Several people have shared their ideas about what it means. "Joy seems to me a step beyond happiness... happiness is a sort of atmosphere you can live in sometimes, when you're lucky. Joy is a light that fills you with hope and faith and love." - Adela Rogers St. Johns. "A light that fills you with hope, faith, and love." I like this definition. It holds to how I feel joy.
"Joy is prayer- Joy is strength- Joy is love- Joy is a net of love by which you catch souls." - Mother Teresa. Prayer, strength, and love. There seems to be a spiritual component to joy, and joy seems to require action.
Such as a decision- "Joy is a decision, a really brave one, about how you are going to respond to life." - Wess Stafford.
Or a choice- "When you choose joy, you feel good, and when you feel good, you do good, and when you do good, it reminds others of what joy feels like, and it just might remind them to do the same." - unknown.
How does one find joy? "The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." - Russell M. Nelson. This makes sense in that we get more of what we focus on, so why not focus on things that bring joy? This will require some inward reflection and a belief in the soul. "The body heals with play, the mind heals with laughter, and the spirit heals with joy." - unknown.
Are you grateful? "The root of joy is gratefulness... It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful." - BR. Steindl-Ras. If you are grateful, you are less likely to complain. "Joy is vulnerable, alive, and strong. Complaints are easy, deadening, and weak. Practice joy... for it takes immense courage." - Kathy B. Overmn. Why would joy take great courage?
Joy takes courage because it can be chosen even in the midst of some horrible situations. "Joy is a mystery because it can happen anywhere, anytime, even under the most unpromising circumstances, even in the midst of suffering, with tears in its eyes." - Frederick Buechner.
Unlike happiness, being joyful does not rely on outside circumstances. It comes from within. It is a byproduct of giving, gratitude, a hope that all things will work out in your favor eventually, and love. "You don't have to hunt for joy, manufacture it, or figure out how to lead a stress-free 'perfect' life. You can allow joy to live alongside whatever else you're experiencing. You can welcome it into the messiness of your life in every season." - unknown.
Hunting down joy cannot be done, but seeking joy is like hoping to find it and being pleasantly surprised when it crosses your path, and then allowing it to accompany you and influence your attitude. "Don't seek happiness; seek joy. Happiness is an emotion; it's temporal, but joy is a way of thinking. Joy is your overall perception of life." - unknown.
Not all who find you in a joyous state will think that it is proper behavior. "To be joyous is to be a madman in a world of sad ghosts." - Henry Miller. That is alright. When you are feeling joy the most intensely is when you are the closest to living the life that you were sent here to live. Your soul is ecstatic; it shines forth, radiating outward and blessing the world with its energy. You are not acting, you are being. "When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy." - Rumi. If you find yourself being joyful this season, keep it up! Do more of those things that bring about those feelings and try not to lose them as you go throughout the new year. Merry Christmas!
Love and Hope,
Big Sky Baby