"the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation"Some things that elicit joy in my life:
- Waking up on the weekend after sleeping in. And realizing it's still only 7:00am
- Winning a softball game in the bottom of the 7th inning
- Watching the sunset from my favorite beach
- Getting licked by a happy dog
- A cat resting on my chest while I nap
- Seeing someone smile when they don't notice anyone's watching
- Watching someone open a gift they never expected to get
- Seeing a funny movie
- Watching a baseball game from any seat in the stadium, beer and hot dog in hand
- Just Like Heaven
- A cuddle in the middle of the night when she didn't even know she was doing it
- Pictures of my me and my dad and me and my mom
- Reading a book that speaks to me
- Realizing I've grown
I think the only way to really feel joy is to get lost in it. The moment I recognize it as joy I start to lose it. In the Pray portion of Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, she talks about experiencing something so fantastic she gets lost in it. She describes the experience as though she's living it right there in the pages of the book. And she realizes shortly into her experience that she doesn't want it to end. And the moment she has this realization is the moment the experience begins to fade. The more she tries to hold onto it, the quicker it slips away. I believe this is how joy works.
The most important part of happiness and joy and all things good is to actually experience them. "You had to be there," is so true. Even when a story is told well, it is impossible to recreate the atmosphere, recreate the action, the words, the laughter, the moment; something different has ultimately been created. The importance lies in living the moment rather than reliving the moment.
For me, complete joy is the act of experiencing these things that bring about emotion of great delight, keen pleasure, and elation, without stopping to wonder how it happened, why it happened, when it's ending, or when it's coming back. So...what is it for you?
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Great post.
ReplyDeleteLet me think...I experience joy:
Watching a friend laugh
Eating a great meal
The feeling of freedom
A hot bath
Re-connecting with friends
Completing a difficult task
Inspiring people
doing something I've never done before
being in nature
feeling the rewards of challenging myself to do somthing I didn't think I could do
Getting lost in a song
ReplyDeleteA glass of wine after a successful day
A cold beer outside on a warm day
Playing golf on a weekday
Your explanation of joy resonated with me (getting lost in something). To me, joy is also when I'm doing something and I stop and think how lucky I am to be doing that thing.
Mine is being with my kids (any or all four of them). I often think that it's unfortunate that we don't live closer - but maybe it's more joyful because of the distance and infrequency of visits.
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