What makes you happy?
What fills you with joy?
I am not referring to the long walks on the beach, winning the lotto or
indulging in feel good juice – but what fills you with joy on the inside? The type of joy that makes your eyes well up
with tears when you think about it? Many
people I talk with seem to just not be that filled with joy but do experience much
happiness. Why does it seem that some
people are always filled with joy and others not so much? What is it that they have that many of us
don’t?
What fills you with joy?
For me joy is always inside whether I am feeling happy or
sad. I know, how can I feel both ways at
the same time? There are many things that
make me feel happy but only a few things that bring joy every time I think
about them – like being alive; or the feeling I get when I think about my wife;
or the feeling I get when I think about the day each of my children were born;
or how being with my family makes me feel so good inside when I am with them.
The Difference
Many people confuse happiness and joy as being one in the
same. They are not but both can exist at
the same time. Happiness is the way you
feel when you receive material things such as gifts or experience events such
as graduation. However, joy is a gift
from God which can be present and experienced during both happy and unhappy
times. Joy is a positive aspect that is
bigger than the individual. There are so
many things that make me happy like having a new car, new furniture for my
house, an RV, a cruise and many other things.
However the joy inside me doesn’t come from material objects rather it
comes from my heart. Another way to look
at it is I am very happy exchanging Christmas gifts with family and friends
however I feel much joy in the awareness of what Christmas is really all about
– joy is lasting while happiness exists in the moment. I believe being a joyous person is more than
being happy, more than having a feeling of contentment, more than the feeling
of gratitude rather joy is the deep feeling and attitude towards life.
2 comments:
Jeff thank you for reminding me that it is joy and not happiness that we should strive for in our daily lives!
You are a joy as a friend - thank you!
Donna D
Joy is the state you want to be in to create your life. Family, Friends, Birds at the feeder; these are part of my joy. I know many people who see only the bad. That is not the world I live in. 6 billion people; 6 billion worlds. Choose a world that brings you joy.
Barry
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