JOY: a favorite word

Referring back to Tom Morris’ book, The Stoic Art of Living: Inner Resilience and Outer Results, I’ve been thinking about what Seneca states about joy. I think this section caught my eye because up until lately ‘joy’ had been one of my alltime favorite words and was an emotion that I felt almost daily. I never took it for granted and knew that one day my sense of joy would be tested. When my Dad died my joy went with him. I knew it would leave me. I knew this by watching my many extended family members (cousins) bury their parents and observed how they changed. It's like a certain lose of innocence. It's a scar or wound that penetrates straight into your heart. The death of a loved one alters everything. Like my brother, I thought that if I grew old enough the death of my parents would be less painful. That's so not true.

But anyway, Seneca, who seems to be a great advisor on working ethics, has a few things to say about the feeling of joy. Seneca believes that a wonderful attitude to develop is one’s ability to enjoy the journey toward success and not fixate on the end result so much. In a letter to a friend who Seneca feels is moving into the fast lane and fears is becoming a driven workaholic , he advises: “Above all, my dear Lucilius, make this your business: learn how to feel joy”. In another area of the letter he states, “Joy is an elation of spirit—of a spirit that trusts in the goodness and truth of its own possessions”.

To experience joy, is an important part of living a happy life and feeling contentment and satisfaction. To me, joy coming mostly from an internal awareness of how sweet and delicious life can be.I hope that one day I will again feel joy. I have a sneaking suspicion it will occur once I have accepted the mortality of all things...which includes myself.

I enjoyed reading the following and thought I’d share:

Feeling Joyful
Meditation by Orin and DaBen

I allow myself to feel good right now.I feel my soul all around me,sending me its joy.I open to receive my soul's joy.
Joy is flowing into me.Joy is streaming into my cells and atoms.As joy flows into me I expand.I feel free.
Joy flows out from me,touching everyone around me.My thoughts are positive.I feel happy.
I think of my life.I imagine what would be differentin the next few hoursif I expressed my soul's joy.I now do it.
When I encounter someonewho is less joyful,I draw in the quality of joy,I fill myself with joy,then radiate joy to the other.
I now ask my soul and higher self,to send me a clear visionof the next steps of my path.I ask for greater clarityabout my higher purpose.
I ask myself each hour,"What am I doing next thatis part of my higher purpose?"
I create my higher purposefrom moment to moment.As I do, I feel joy,for joy comes from living in the flowand creating my higher purpose.
I let go of power struggles.Whenever I encounter power strugglesor people who are negative,I connect with my souland draw in its joy.I stay centered in my own energyand feel my soul's joyradiating through me.
I expand my potential for joy,I live in a rhythm of joy.I radiate joy to others.I am becoming more joyfuleveryday.
As I wake up tomorrowI connect with my soul's joyand let it radiate through meand out to others.
I am a source of joy to others.My joy lifts others andmakes their burdens easier to carry.I bring light to everyone around methrough my expression of soul joy.

Living a Life of Joy
May 13th, 2006 by Steve Pavlina

How do you know when you’re living your purpose?
When your present moments begin to feel perfect.
When you live on purpose, your relationship with time changes dramatically. You’ll no longer be looking for happiness somewhere in the future. You’ll stop saying to yourself, “Once X happens then I’ll be where I want to be. Then I’ll be happy.” Instead you will look to your present and say, “This is exactly where I want to be right now… and nowhere else. Nothing could be more perfect than this precise moment.”
The emotion that accompanies this state is joy. Joy results from total acceptance of your present moment. Whenever you project your consciousness away from the present moment and seek happiness in another time or place, you leave joy behind. When all parts of your being fully embrace where you are right now, you can’t help but feel joyful.
Most likely you haven’t reached this state yet. But it’s well within your capability to do so. You can reach it by following your internal compass. By assessing your current emotional state and comparing it to the state of joy, you can get a sense of your distance from this state. You can pinpoint where you are at any time along the levels of consciousness scale. Inner peace is right next to joy. Neutrality is a little further out. Far beyond that lies anger. And really far away is fear. The more powerless you feel, the further you are from joy, and the more you’re resisting what is.
If you are far away from joy, you cannot simply jump to this state immediately and stay there for long. You might be able to experience it temporarily, such as through meditation, but the circumstances of your life will soon pull you back to your previous level. But with conscious intent, you can eventually reach this state and make it your default. And the way you do this is to keep re-pointing your life in the direction of joy by making better decisions.
Whenever you’re faced with a decision, even a seemingly mundane one such as what to eat for your next meal, choose the option that brings you closest to joy. That will be the option that makes you feel the most powerful. It will not necessarily be what makes you feel joyful, especially if you are currently in a very negative state. If you’re currently depressed, you may have zero choices that will produce joy in this moment. But you will have some choice that makes you feel more powerful and alive than the others, and that is the choice that will turn your life in the direction of joy.
If you are feeling fearful and worried, perhaps the best action you can find is one which makes you feel greedy or angry. That is perfectly fine. Greed and anger are both higher states than fear; they are closer to joy. It is better to act out of anger than out of fear, since it will turn you in the direction of joy. And soon you’ll be able to progress beyond anger. Do not beat yourself up if a seemingly negative state like anger is the best you can muster at this time in your life. You cannot expect any more from yourself than your best. The anger will pass, and you’ll soon be able to climb the ladder towards more positive states. If you are in a deep negative state such as depression, you will have to pass through higher negative states first before you can reach the positive ones. So going from depression to anger is a very positive step in the right direction.
If you proceed in this manner with every decision you can, eventually you will reach the state of joy. It may take some time, but you will eventually reach it and make it your default state.
Joy is in fact your natural state of being. Babies enter this state very easily because they are fully in the present moment. They do not seek themselves in the past or future.
When you are joyful, your life flows with ease and lightness. Existence is no longer a struggle. Why? Because when you stop resisting the present moment, you stop creating problems for yourself. Resistance creates internal problems like stress, fear, and disease, but it also creates external problems like conflict, scarcity, and injustice. When you learn to choose the direction that creates the most joy in your life, your life will become a joyful experience in each and every moment. And of course it is easy to accept and embrace any present moment in which you feel joyful, so the state will naturally perpetuate itself. Joyful feelings create joyful actions which produce more joyful feelings.
The state of joy enables you to stop worrying about your survival, to stop fearing what may or may not happen, and to stop fighting your present moments. You’ll find it easier and easier to satisfy your needs. This will allow you to direct your consciousness outward and interact with the world without fear. People will seem much less threatening to you. Even strangers will smile at you more because they’ll pick up on your joyful state. Positive people will be drawn to you like a magnet, and you’ll soon find your life filled with empowering relationships. All the support you need will come to you. And this in turn will give you the energy and drive to embrace your true purpose.
Simply make decisions that bring you as close to joy as possible, even if it seems very distant at first, and soon you’ll find your life becoming more joyful. You have free will though, so in any moment you can decide to move towards joy or away from it. The choice is yours.
"Joyfulness is being filled with happiness. It is a peaceful sense of well-being. Joy is inside us all. It comes from an appreciation for the gifts each day brings. Joy comes when we are doing what we know is right, and when we laugh and see the humor in things. Joy is the inner sense that can carry us through the hard times even when we are feeling very sad."(The Virtues Project)