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“Joy is not in things, it is in us”-Richard Wagner

Today’s post is about finding joy, not happiness.  Many people see them as the same thing but I have a slightly different view on both.  To me, happiness is a temporary phase that comes in and out of our lives do to certain events, experiences or people making us feel happy for that time being.  Joy on the other hand I equate with an ongoing love of living and an ongoing acceptance of being at peace with yourself and therefore the world and people around you.  Too often, people seek happiness as a way to find joy but joy cannot be found by bursts of pleasure it can only be found within you.   

When I was younger,  I never felt joy, only bursts of happiness.  I would always feel the need to be somewhere else.   I figured that somewhere else must be better than where I was.  When I couldn’t travel, I immersed myself in other things in order to get away: I read a lot of books, went to bookstores all the time, I would spend my time researching new bands, I took up a lot of different hobbies that I eventually never followed through with. I did everything and anything that could possibly lead me to a variation of being whole. Really, what I was doing was trying to do was to somehow find joy by escaping.  I was trying to find substance in the things around me only to find that I was leading myself  toward an unsettling road when the substance that I had been seeking was no longer satisfying.  

How can YOU find joy?

Like me, people try to look for joy in things or in people instead of finding joy within themselves.  It has taken me years and ongoing learning to understand where the joy in my life is.  Finding joy is so simple because it is wherever you are, not somewhere else and definitely not where other people think it may be.  Yet, finding joy is so difficult because it is so simple.   No one can teach you how to find joy, not even me.  But what I can do is give you the tools you need in order for you to begin your journey.

In the following weeks I will have a series of 5 posts, dedicated to the art of finding joy.  I chose to break them down into 5 post because I feel that it is important to sometimes focus, one thing at a time. 

Do not miss out on this 5 part series.  Everyone should be able to find the joy within them.  

Until next time, Mommy Friends!