People who know me, who have done the course work in, Prosperity Now! A 12-Week Journey to the Life of Your Dreams, know that my life-motto is:
Vivez Joyeux
“Live with Joy” or “Live Joyously”
Easier said than done!
A life motto is like a North Star. A fixed point we can use to navigate, to keep ourselves on course and steer away from danger. Having a guiding light keeps us from getting lost, distracted, or straying off, away from our good, wandering off our path and into the wilderness.
Most good organizations or companies have a motto that they use to tell everyone their purpose, their goal, the reason for their existence. A motto is short, sharp, and memorable. It encapsulates the energy and direction one aspires to.
Nike’s Just Do It
Apple’s Think Different
Panasonic’s Ideas For Life
McDonald’s I’m Lovin’ It
L’Oreal’s Because You’re Worth It
LG’s Life Is Good
Black & Decker’s The Power to Do It Yourself
And so on….
Not-for-profit organizations have mottoes and slogans too:
Baby2Baby provides children living in poverty across the country with diapers, clothing and all the basic necessities that every child deserves.
The Solutions Project declares they are: Bold. Inclusive. Resourceful. Equitable. Joyful.
As You Sow believes: Shareholders are a powerful force for creating positive, lasting change in corporate behavior.
I urge Prosperity Now! students to create a motto for themselves, for their life and their desires, to help them direct their energies – spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, financial – toward the life of their dreams.
Mine is clearly and simply to consistently live a joy-filled life. As I said, easier said than done.
How does the world define joy? How do the great spiritual masters and spiritual pathways define joy? How do you define joy?
We can “en-joy” a good meal. We can enjoy a movie or some music.
Is joy the same as happiness? Contentment? Serenity?
Joy has all these elements, but something more.
For example…
Happiness depends on something happening.
Joy is rooted deeply in something more, something substantial.
Happiness comes from external things: food, cars, vacations, etc.
Joy comes from within, from our higher self, from our heart and soul and every fiber of our being.
Happiness is somewhat random, dependent on circumstances coming together. On happenstance.
Joy is a decision we make, a determined choice.
Happiness comes and goes.
Joy lasts.
Pamela Ebstyne King, Ph.D., has sought to understand joy. She is the Peter L. Benson Associate Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the Thrive Center for Human Development in the School of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary.
In a Psychology Today interview, she says:
I have interviewed and studied exemplary and ordinary lives. I have observed that many people have an enduring and underlying sense of something that is deeper than the emotion of happiness, and I have come to describe this as joy.
In my study of joy, I have also noticed that joy is more complex than a feeling or an emotion. It is something one can practice, cultivate, or make a habit. Consequently, I suggest that joy is most fully understood as a virtue that involves our thoughts, feelings, and actions in response to what matters most in our lives.
Thus, joy is an enduring, deep delight in what holds the most significance.
Joy can be cultivated! In fact, it’s likely true that true joy only exists when chosen and nurtured as a state of being.
Of course, many of us are familiar with joy in Biblical terms. The Bible is full of joy (Pun and irony both intended).
When Jesus was born the angel said to the shepherds in the field, I bring you good tidings of great joy that will be to all people. (Lk. 2:10).
In John 15:11 he says, after telling people about God’s great love for us, I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
Indeed, over 590 verses in the Old and New Testaments speak of joy in some fashion.
In Prosperity Now! I tell of a time when I received a large insurance settlement and tithed 10% to places that had fed me spiritually. It was a large tithe, and I gulped, thinking of what I could do with that money.
But I tithed it, anonymously through a lawyer who wrote out the checks and the letters to the various people and organizations.
She later told me that it was just about the most fun she ever had in her law career. It not only brought me great joy, it brought her joy! And likely joy to the recipients as well. Or at least some happiness.
And although that was over 25 years ago, believe me when I tell you that today, I still feel that joy! The joy that I felt then, the excitement and positive energy – still echoes, as I gave back to the Universe a small portion of the good with which I had been blessed.
In my blog post, As You Tithe So You Prosper, I note that L.E. Meyer, the author of that Depression-era book, asserts that tithing is the best investment we can make. It pays lifetime dividends.
Psalm 30:5 says, Weeping may last the night, but joy comes in the morning.
And lasts into eternity!
I’ve heard it said that Christians focus too much on the suffering of Jesus and not enough on the joy, while Buddhists overly focus on the Buddha’s joy and not enough on his suffering.
I don’t know if that’s true. There is a lot of emphasis on suffering in Buddhism too, with the very first Truth of the Four Noble Truths being, Life is suffering.
The Buddha said, I teach suffering and the end of suffering.
The Tibetan Buddhist's Encyclopedia says: In Buddhist psychology, joy is seen as the result of virtuous living, a sign of successful meditation and as an indication of growing spiritual maturity.
I especially like that last indication. As we grow spiritually, we naturally are infused with more joy.
Finally, joy – like gratitude or love – is not something to be felt. It is something to be expressed, to be shared.
Receiving my insurance windfall gave me happiness.
But only when I gave some of it away did I feel joy.
Joy is not so much a feeling, as it is an action. When we share joy, our joy doubles, in keeping with the spiritual axiom that, We can only keep what we have by giving it away.
The only things we can keep are the things we freely give to God.
What we try to keep for ourselves is just what we are sure to lose.”
Cultivate Joy!
Seek Joy!
Give Joy!
Radiate Joy!
Give Joy!
En-Joy!
Happy Sunday,
Johnny
I am available to do Prosperity Now! individual or group sessions or general life-coaching, I Ching readings, dream interpretation or join us for our weekly Wednesday Course in Miracles group.
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