Experiencing life is ultimately experiencing joy. There are instances of such great intensity and passion that one is lost in the experience itself but there are also everyday mundane activities that provide stability and predictability: Neither of them is joy. Joy is the result of understanding the ephemeral nature of activities, the cyclical nature of history, the relentless murmur of the mind and still continuing on the path laid out for one. The understanding of continuing to persevere in the face of sorrow or great calamity without internal turmoil can only manifest through a sincere, genuine and natural reflection. Why be serious in life? When nothing is really set in stone, anything can happen at any time and for such an unpredictable concoction, why worry at all? Even if someone is a believer in fate; things will pan out the way they are supposed to, how can fretting about it help? Such is the working of nature and we need constant reminders to not get too lost in the games we play with ourselves and with others.
Watching a sunrise is joy, climbing a mountain is joy, playing with a dog is joy, spending quality time with friends and partners is joy, laughing till your face hurts is joy! Pleasure is only a physical and psychological sensation that feels good, joy is a spiritual sensation that satiates our humanness. Like emotions and mood, joy is contagious. The 'good and positive vibes', 'calming presence', 'wholesome aura' are all synonyms that refer to the joy that a person or a being radiates. When you come in contact with it, someone deprived of joy is really attracted towards it and moves for it. Being in the presence of someone living with joy and experiencing that joy is not some hocus-pocus, spiritual jumble but a very real experience. It's like the sun, always shining irrespective of the time, day and location. It is the energy that is available for everyone to seek which sustains us spiritually.
I know of a few people, very dear to me whom I respect with all my heart and spirit. They have been through a great amount of tragedy and have come face to face with trauma at a very young age yet they are the ones for which 'Joie de Vivre' is the motto. Anyone who comes in contact with this joy is left touched and feels the overflowing joy. You cannot but smile and listen to the internal music. Maintaining that joy and passing on the torch of kindness to everybody around is what we want to progress towards. Kahlil Gibran said that "people who aren't good are not evil; they just aren't good". No one is without joy or underserving of our love and touch, it's just that circumstances have been built around them in such a way that they are unable to see this part that is ever present, like clouds over the sun. A warm greeting to a fellow acquaintance, patiently hearing and validating a friend, asking how someone is doing, not taking someone's insult to heart are all manifestations of this joy. Smiling outside and inside is Joy.
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