What is JOY?

smell the roses

Hello friends!

We are approaching the end of our 60-day experiment in restoring joy by wearing wristbands infused with the frequency for Joy. Have you noticed a difference in how you recognize joy in your life?

As I participated in this experiment, I’ve recognized that the word “joy” has been in my thoughts more frequently and I’ve thought more often of what it really means to have joy and be more joyful. One definition according to the Cambridge Dictionary is that Joy is a noun that means great happiness or pleasure. Then a couple of weeks ago, I came across a paragraph written by Rachel Naomi Remen, MD in her book, “Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal.”  Her definition of Joy is one of the more explanatory definitions that I have read, and it struck a chord in my heart.

“…I had thought joy to be rather synonymous with happiness, but it seems now to be far less vulnerable than happiness. Joy seems to be a part of an unconditional wish to live, not holding back because life may not meet our preferences and expectations. Joy seems to be a function of the willingness to accept the whole, and to show up to meet with whatever is there. It has a kind of invincibility that attachment to any particular outcome would deny us. Rather than the warrior who fights toward a specific outcome and therefore is haunted by the specter of failure and disappointment, it is the lover who is drunk with the opportunity to love despite the possibility of loss or the player for whom playing has become more important than winning or losing.

This willingness to win or lose moves us out of an adversarial relationship to life and into a powerful kind of openness. From such a position, we can make a greater commitment to life. Not only pleasant life, comfortable life, or our idea of life, but all life. Joy seems more closely related to aliveness than happiness.”

Maybe it’s that exhilarating feeling that comes when I’m up to see the sun rise in its glory to light the new day. Maybe it’s that calming feeling of stopping to smell the roses or the rushing of love into my heart when I am with my loved ones. Maybe it’s that strength to meet each day with eagerness to participate in whatever the day brings. Or perhaps joy is the feeling of deep satisfaction and contentment I feel when, despite the challenges of the day or life, I can still count my blessings and have gratitude for the life that is mine

As I move forward from this “joyful” experiment, I hope to meet each day with that profound sense of gratitude that comes from just being alive and able to experience life on a daily basis with calmness and peace. That will be my joy! I hope that you can also find more joy in your life in whatever circumstances you find yourself.

With much love and joyfulness,

Roxanne

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