JOY

Without a doubt, there is a good deal of confusion about the concept of "joy." Is it simply a deeper form of happiness? Is it something unto itself or is it the opposite of sadness or depression?

In the Bible, God commands his people to be full of joy. (Psalms 37:4; Philippians 4:4) Sikhism says, ‘in spontaneous joy is rising the mystic melody;’ (Adi Granth, Majh, M.5, p. 97). Buddhism tells its followers, that they should devote themselves to find joy in pleasures of the Dharma. (Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti 4.) Hinduism states, ‘The Infinite is the source of joy.’ Chandogya (Upanishad 7.23) Judaism proclaims, ‘The Holy Spirit rests on him only who has a joyous heart.’ (Jerusalem Talmud, Sukkot 5.1)

Clearly, whatever it is, joy is important and it is also something desirable even beyond happiness.

Happiness, according to the Oxford English dictionary, is based on luck or good fortune. Joy on the other hand, is described as a vivid emotion of bliss. To this extent, happiness then, depends on circumstance; joy, on the other hand, depends upon our emotional well-being. At first glance, joy and happiness may seem similar but, really, they are quite different. We may be happy if we win the lottery, but we feel joy when we think about a dearly loved child. Happiness might warm us, but it is joy that creates the fierce heat of emotion that takes our breath away.

Obviously I have been contemplating ‘joy’ for a bit and particularly at this time of year when so many are wishing each other a ‘joyous’ Christmas or holiday season. I have started to redefine my own idea of joy and where I have most often seen it. I realised that it is in the poorest places on our earth, in the simplest circumstances that I have seen the most joy. Children with very little, playing in the dirt have shown me true joy in their smiles and in the generous offering of a hand to hold, barefoot children and adults alike, passing me in my western finery have smiled with a warmth I have seldom found in the cities of my own country. Where there is great poverty, hunger and suffering is where I have witnessed the greatest joy. It is a sobering realization when I walk down the shopper hungry streets of town as Christmas time approaches and hear the crying of distressed children tired of consumerism in the heat or overwhelmed by all the possibilities for having and disgruntled because they are told they cannot have or must wait to have.

It seems to me that we feel joy when we value life-when we consider nature, when we identify our freedoms, and when we dwell on our loving relationships with other people; we feel joy when we have conviction in something larger than ourselves. Joy is all about trust and living in the moment. It is an unadulterated delight in the very act of living right here and right now. It is in the touch of the sun and the wind upon our skin, the breath that we breathe and the water that we drink.

That remarkable writer, William Blake, showed us the dichotomy between opposites. He wrote that two opposing emotions such as fear and joy expand and contract in direct relation to the presence of the other. We cannot feel total joy and total fear at the same time. This is why genuine joy is also the absence of fear .How can one be afraid, even in the direst of circumstance, if one is joyous about the very fact of life itself! Here in the western world we fear many things not the least of which is not having, often we fear this so much that we lose sight of having, and the wonderful free blessings of nature, love of a fellow human and the breath we inhale and exhale every moment of every day go un-noticed.

It seems to me that if we are to truly have a joyous Christmas season then we need to embrace this appreciation of what we have, every little moment of joy in every day. Every breath that gives us life and every smile that gives us hope! Forget about the ‘joy’ of opening presents on one day and think about the joy we have in every day….and teach our loved ones and our children to do the same. Embrace life, embrace the sun, the sand, the singing of the birds, and even embrace the struggles, the pain, because all have purpose and all affirm our greatest gift of all …life!
The most remarkable truth that I have discovered in a world with very few real truths is that you can have the same joy in terrible circumstances that you would have when all is fine, the same attitude of being on the mountain top as in the valley. It is up to you!

"Sometimes your JOY is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your JOY. -- Thich Nhat Hanh