Opening Yourself to Joy
Joy. Today, I’m feeling called to write about joy, and more than that, to experience it, to savour it. Of course, even as I feel called to joy, I find myself getting curious about what it means. I mean, I know what it feels like, I know what I feel as the quality of joy. But what is it outside of myself?
Free Online Dictionary defines “joy” as “intense or especially ecstatic or exultant happiness” — yeah, that works for me. And when I think about how others describe their joyful moments, I feel like this definition works for them too. There is something that goes beyond mere happiness that is found in the quality of joy. Joy is happiness enriched, heightened, and magnified. In other words, it’s like the best of happiness, concentrated. Yummy.
One of the things that I find myself currently curious about, is the “how” of things, in this case, “how” to experience joy. I mean let’s face it, some moments are joyful, others are not, some are in between. And while I do hold as truth the idea that all moments are inherently good, even when they feel icky, I’ve gotta confess, I do prefer joy — I am human after all. So if I can find out how to experience more of the joy, I’d like to do that.
A couple of years ago, when I was engaged in a leadership course, one of my journal entries explored the nature of joy. And I remember writing something which still feels like a paradoxically simple yet profound realization: the key to experiencing joy can be found in the acronym of the word “joy” itself. “J.O.Y.” can be used as an acronym for Just Open Yourself — and my experience, when I bother to examine it and contemplate it, reflects this instruction.
When I just open myself to life experiences, when I stand in a state of openness to the world around me, I inevitably invite and experience more joy in my life. In truth, I experience more of everything when I open myself to the world — and joy becomes part of that. I guess what I’m realizing is that, in order to experience more joy, I must open myself to all of life, knowing that experiencing joy requires me to experience more of life as a whole. The condition of being joyful, implies and indeed requires an openness of heart — and openness to all that life has to offer, so that joy can be experienced fully.
My bottom-line today is this: you can’t open yourself to only one aspect of life. When you move through life in only a semi-open state, you only experience a semi-life. In order to experience life unequivocally, you must open yourself unequivocally and see that all of experiences, even the icky ones, lead to joy in some measure. Just Open Yourself. Joy is yours when you do.
