JoY. What is joY, really? Is it when you are having fun with loved ones? When you’re watching a good movie or enjoy reading a book? When you enjoy a new hobby? Undertake a creative endeavor and succeed? Are able to make someone else happy? Or does joY pop around the corner of life when you observe someone you love master a new ability or when you yourself receive new insight; find yourself creating a new solution?
Take a moment to contemplate the concept of Joy. What does it represent for you?
I’ve done a lot thinking about the word ‘JoY. Even one of my energy counseling quotes says:
The Trick is to EnjoY it.
By that I mean that rather than to complain about or even avoid certain manifestations in life; one can also pick up the glove and regard whatever happens as a way to evolve; to learn, to overcome the muttering and moaning that comes from sitting in victim-mode.
At the same time however I’ve also questioned myself how I can ‘tell’ people to ‘EnjoY’, when they’ve just gone through a life-shattering experience, lost a loved-one through death, divorce or animosity or have been confronted with their own mortality or loss of physical, mental or spiritual independence. How does one ‘EnjoY’ that?
Perhaps ‘the trick’ – if I may call it that way- is preceded by something else. Enjoyment doesn’t come falling out of thin air by itself.It has to come from somewhere first. Could the origin of Joy and the ability to EnjoY, come from the precious quality of Gratitude?
Grateful to be alive; grateful to have been with and there for a loved one who passed away. Grateful for the things one has been able to achieve in a lifetime. We all ‘loose’ someone or something at some point. Everyone is mortal; everything here on earth is temporal.
Some cultures deal with that concept in an entirely different manner than in the western world. Some even celebrate when a person has
passed. Of course they grieve for the departed as well but they are grateful to know their loved one is now in a better place. But also in our western society it is possible. I listened to the precious account once from a mother who was in her eighties when her daughter passed from cancer. She expressed her gratitude to have had the opportunity to be there for her daughter, as a mother, and literally accompany her from the cradle to the grave.
Perhaps generally in the western world the concept of Joy differs from the beliefs of other cultures. Perhaps joY in the western world is regarded as something we use to sooth our need to own and possesses, rather than the need to be part part of the bigger life-experience.I know this to be true for me. I used to feel the quality of life was my right to enjoY; an almost some weird form of entitlement; regarding it as ‘perfectly normal’ to have what comes my way; even when many others are forced to live differently.
It wasn’t until I was tossed out of my golden cage through loss in many different shapes and forms; that I started to really appreciate the things I could EnjoY in life. It was a lesson I needed to be taught. An awareness that needed to be incorporated into my thoughts, feelings and actions. I named it ‘gratitude’ or beter even ‘gratefulness’ in the tradition of ‘mindfulness'; a sentiment so necessary to make the step towards feeling joY.
Explanation of the accompanying card:
In all cards ‘The Page’ always represents the student of the Self; the one learning how to be a knight in one’s own right and defend and stand for the things one finds important in life.
The ‘Challenges’ suit, represents the development of the I-consciousness; the ability to become aware of one’s own thoughts, feelings and actions and give meaning to the concept of life. Often ‘challenges’ are exactly that.
To read more, click the ‘Page Of Challenges’ card
