Joy is such a high emotion that many people think of it as belonging in the realm of shooting stars and giddy heights such as falling love or winning the lottery. Your first step towards joy is willingness to experience it, despite circumstances and conditions.
For a deeply spiritual friend of mine, joy wasn’t her word. Highs for her are peace, connection and contentment. Her traumatic childhood has made it harder for her to be fully in her body and soar into ecstatic heights of bliss.
Yet, this same friend dissolves into smiles and joyful laughter when she sees cute kids. Captivated, she often walks up to the parent, with exclamations of delight.
Could it be that we sometimes miss our moments of joy because our mind has ruled out the possibility of experiencing it?
After all, a moment is gone in the blink of an eye. Moments become compressed into the passing of hours and days and weeks. We forget what we did last weekend, when we are in the midst of all the activity of the following week.
A moment of joy grounds us into a state of awe at the beauty of life.
Joy is about being fully alive and present. We slow down and experience joy with all our senses aroused. Gone are the problems and worries, the mental obsessions and niggling concerns.
Some people wonder, with the world in such turmoil, is joy even a subject that’s worth talking about?
Yes, I believe it is.
The more we can experience the freedom and delight of joy, the easier it is to navigate life’s challenges.
When we open to joy, we reveal opportunities to grow and surprise ourselves.
Joy and pain are two sides of the same coin. After plummeting to the depths of despair, the taste of joy is all the sweeter. Like a beautiful poem, joy opens your heart.
Joy is not dependent on what is happening in your life. I’ve felt moments of joy amidst extremely upsetting times in my life. Life is a series of moments. When a loved one is sick or when you’re grieving, you feel a wide range of emotions, from raw pain to fleeting laughter or a sudden moment of joy.
You have the power to increase joy in your life, regardless of your circumstances. In fact, joy uplifts you so you can handle a grueling or frustrating current situation with a fresh perspective and positive attitude.
Joy is a choice. You can choose to invite joy into your day.
When I’m feeling weary of a lingering situation in my life that I want to either transform or move on from, I make sure that I choose plenty of joy to bolster my spirits.
I discovered this strategy years ago as a way to manage my fears, when I went through a period of housesitting and quasi-homelessness. When fear or sadness shut down my ability to think clearly, I drove off to the beach. I relaxed and exhilarated in the beauty, the liveliness of the waves and the soaring screech of the gulls. I would take a journal and pen with me and after cracking my heart open with joy, I wrote myself wise messages and instructions for next steps.
When you savor moments of joy, time dissolves into the expanse of the present moment.
Take your first step towards joy by being willing to experience it doing something you love or enjoy. Become fully present, engage all your senses. Fill your heart with gratitude.
Regardless of who you think you are and all your experiences, current and past, you can feel joy when you slow down to make room for it in your day. Dive into joy while it’s happening; sip it like nectar. Your body and mind retain the memory of all your joyful moments so you can feast on them at any time.
Nicola Walker is an Anything is Possible mindset coach, with over 25 years of combined life coaching and hypnotherapy experience. She guides people at a turning point in life, to navigate and fulfill their dreams and deepest desires.
Nicola is the author of the forthcoming book, Joy in the Middle of the Mess: An Evolutionary Adventure on the Quest for Success. One of her greatest joys is to walk and hike in the hills and along the beautiful California beaches, near her home in the San Francisco Bay Area..
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