When I recently was encouraged to work with more joy, I truly listened and began to explore what that means. See, I am not sure I experience joy, based on what I know it to be. I experience peace and contentment….but joy?
With a psychology background, I have understood that happiness and joy cultivate in very different ways. Psychologies UK states: “Joy and happiness are wonderful feelings to experience, but are very different. Joy is more consistent and is cultivated internally. It comes when you make peace with who you are, why you are and how you are, whereas happiness tends to be externally triggered and is based on other people, things, places, thoughts and events.”
Psychology Today shares further: “Joy comes when you make peace with who you are, where you are, why you are, and who you are not with. When you need nothing more than your truth and the love of a good God to bring peace, then you have settled into the abiding joy that is not rocked by relationships. It’s not rocked by anything…It’s a spiritual quality that is internal.”
Since I believe this to be what joy is, I challenged myself to think about a time I have experienced joy in its truest form, regardless of an external experience. That’s hard! I think I experience overwhelming happiness, euphoria, in relationships or situations that I am in. I have probably had moments of pure joy.
If I am honest, I am too in my head…doing. Joy requires being (which is how this whole thing started, I asked a Champion Circle I lead about being! Dammit! LOL)
Then I started to think about people I know who live in joy. There are things that bring them happiness, but nothing brings them joy. That’s just it, they live in joy (I will share an example soon). So I live in peace. I live in contentment. Now I am learning to live in joy.
Did I live in joy as I wrote this? What do you think?
I promise to share more.
