Friday, January 9, 2009

True joy

When you think of "joy", what do you picture? Many people imagine a giddy euphoria where your head is in the clouds and your feet are floating above the earth. They believe joy is about being excited,wound up and bursting with exuberance. Usually people look for joy in the external circumstances. They try to get things going the way they want in their world so then they can feel happy. Johnny cooperates. Liza cleans her room. Tommy gets good grades. These are external sources of pleasure, many of which believe will give you joy, yet you have no real control over them. I have realized that the place to find joy is in your heart. Joy is not a heady, out of body experience. Joy is the warm, grounded delight you feel deep inside. It's the hearing the laughter of your child, seeing your child's face light up with happiness, watching your child sleep peacefully and looking in your child's eyes and feeling the unspoken profound love,caring, trust and respect that we share for one another.

"So what's the source of my joy?" you ask....






1 comment:

The Daily Stroll said...

Look at those happy faces! Too cute!