Joy . . . comes when you make peace with who you are, why you are and how you are.
Last night I walked through my home and realized I felt something I hadn't felt in quite some time. I stopped in my kitchen and looked around. I have all new appliances that replaced the very dated and wonky appliances that came with my place when I bought it 3 1/2 years ago. Everything looked nice and clean and well ordered. As I wandered through the rest of the condo I realized again the peace, ease, and comfort I was feeling. I wondered what to call that feeling.
Just before heading to bed I checked the list of prompts for this challenge. I like to sleep on the next word. To let my resting mind play with it before I write the next day. The prompt was "Joy", and when I woke up this morning I had the name for my feeling.
By now you know words are extremely important to me. I try not to choose words randomly, but rather with care and consideration. There are nuances that I need to express in the words I use especially those used to describe feelings. So it was vital to find the right word to describe what I had felt.
I did a quick Google search and found the quote at the beginning of this post. I really liked the word "peace" and the ideas of who, why, and how. The next line in the article compared joy and happiness -- whereas happiness tends to be externally triggered and is based on other people, things, places, thoughts, and events.
And that's it in a nutshell. Joy is of my own making and doing. It's a choice. A place I come to on my own. Happiness is externally triggered. Joy is internally triggered.
Let's be clear, I'm all about the happiness and I have lots of people and things that trigger me in very lovely ways, but joy. Ahhh, joy is mine alone to trigger. To create. To embrace. And that is an affirming and validating thing.
Yes, internally triggered! I have to choose joy.
ReplyDeleteWe do have to choose joy.
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