Sunday, January 24, 2010

Joy... a habit worth having


It is said in many places that 21-30 days represent the magic numbers with habits.
21 days break a bad habit.
30 days to form a good habit.
Since the start of the new year, I have been practicing the "habit" of being joy filled. Now interesting enough, when I went to looked up the definitions of happiness and joy, at first, they appear interchangeable.
Dictionary says happiness is a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy.
Joy, it says, is the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying.
Then I found this definition...the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : delight.
The emotion evoked by well-being... that is my definition of joy.
Joy is not affected by circumstances.
Joy is not hinged on what someone does or does not do.
Joy is not about my satisfaction.
Enough about what joy is not...
Joy is powerful. It is larger than life to me.
Joy is the still small voice that reassures me of the long term goal.
Joy is the steadfast belief in myself and never wavering faith in my own talents.
Joy is looking sorrow in the face and letting it know - it is not welcome to stay.
Joy is knowing that my well-being, success and/or good fortune is in no human hand.
It's been 23 days and I have to admit - I've had some shocker days in that time but for the most part I have been joyful. And when I was not very joyful this past week, a co-worker reminded me of the source of my joy. How cool is that?
You see, when you practice living a joy filled life, others notice and are impacted by it. So much so that they take exception and help get you back on track when you fall off.
There is still time to pick up a new habit this year.
May I suggest living a joy filled life?

1 comment:

  1. A couple of months ago I went to an energy worker, with a skeptical attitude I should add. I was hoping to feel better physically and thought this would lead to a better emotional well being. I was shocked when she told me I had lost my ability to find my joy. Joy? Really? It hit me like a ton of bricks because the more I thought about it the more I knew she was right. She told me to spend more time with my friends and this is a big one, not in service to others. Turns out, my cup was empty and I had to fill it by (gasp) doing things to help myself. I'm finding my joy again, and this time I'm going to remember not to let it go so easy. Thanks for the reminder.

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