External it is in the beauty of seeing someone we love achieving their goals. Graduating high-school, getting into the college of their dreams. A friend getting married to the love of their life. Watching our students struggle and overcome their difficulties to grow as learners. Internal it is feeling valued, understood and feeling like you belong. Setting a tough goal for yourself and over time with hard work and dedication achieving it. It is a deep sense of satisfaction from knowing you can do it. Taking a risk, pushing through the fear and win or lose entering the battle. It is a mindset, a thought that does not dissipate but adheres itself and leads us to be motivated and driven. Resilient and eager. All bringing us to a place of fulfillment and contentment.
It is an emotion, an expression, even a sentiment. It can lead to a prosperity of happiness and rejoice from the success of the day, if we heed its call. It can also be a momentary elation or amusement when revelry makes itself known. We embrace it when our family is near and the quiet simplicity surrounds us, while our children lay their head on our shoulder, just because they love us. Merriment and jubilation take flight as it approaches. Then they hunker down within its embrace when we focus on what is important, recognize our blessings and contemplate our impact. While it gives of itself freely we often take it for granted, losing sight of it when we are exhausted or dissatisfied. It need not be fleeting and can become a fixture of our surroundings if we simply breathe, focus and find purpose in everything we do- Joy.
Joy is illuminating. Bringing out the best in us. It is infectious and can begin with a simple smile or word of kindness. In order to perpetuate it and bolster its luminosity we must stay mindful. Slow our thoughts and narrow their beam to pinpoint focus. For many, joy is easy, they are optimistic and open-minded and see the good in things. For others, it can be challenging to maintain a gaiety for too long as outside forces cause a shift in emotion. Most of us live in the middle, finding joy with our lives at the end of a fruitful day or the beginning of a busy one. Many seek joy in their accomplishments or their work. Joy is personal and meaningful. But it needs nurturing. It requires balance or it slips out of focus. To stay motivated and driven the lens we interpret life through needs to be clear and sharp: exposing every nook and cranny, magnifying our gratitude, keeping our field of view indefinite and unrestricted. If we broaden our field of view we will recognize it all around us. Joy is abundant, we observe it daily in the laughter and giggles of our children. We feel it when we are generous not only with others but with ourselves.
Maintaining a constant state of joy is impossible. The forces of life knock us off kilter and we often get too engrossed on the expectations placed upon us to hold it in our grasp for too long. We need to welcome frustration, hindrance and disappointment in order for joy to have a reason to present itself, permeate through us and attract us to it. Joy is a temptress, it offers reward of hope and enjoyment, elation and forward thinking for we want to achieve it again. So we set it as a purpose, we are motivated to claim it and we put it to memory so when we feel down trodden and out of place it is the line of strength and fortitude that we can take hold of. If joy is a picture we carry with us we can take it out to remind us it is still there. Joy is indelible, universal and transcendent. All we have to do is be patient and it will find us, often when we least expect it.
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