Joyful-a feeling or a state
Joyful is something I find a challenge to define. It’s bigger than happiness…happiness seems a result of an object that brings a feeling. Like the Happiest Place on Earth known as Disneyland requires that you be in Disneyland to travel the Happiest Place on Earth. Joy on the other hand seems to point to no object…just the feeling arising that carries a vibration of elatedness over no particular thing at all.
I remind myself of this possibility whenever I watch my terriers…they run outside and cavort about for no particular reason…they appear to do the terrier dance-rain or shine-mom in a good mood or not- with or without a friend to cavort with. It’s a simple type of glee that appears to overtake them with delight. I have a nearly one year old Norwich terrier who is inclined to do this daily…inside or out ..she frolics through the pine needles with a true smile on her face and a look like she is saying …”ain’t life grand”. I often ask myself why I don’t behave that way – dragging my feet in the morning…tsk tsking at the news…and wondering if life is ever going to seem joyful to me again.
Then I remember, joyful is a state…it can be called upon in times of struggle – on gray days or sunny – the power of joy is within me at all times. Suddenly I can feel it rising from somewhere near my feet and traveling up to my heart where the doors seem to fly open and I am dancing a bit myself. Sort of like turning on Bob Marley music and pretending I am on the beach in the Bahamas. All within the power of my imagination and capability to carry whatever vibration I choose.
I am not certain why we forget this power …or why we insist on believing that it comes from outside of us…when in truth it is inside all the time…waiting patiently for an invitation to take over the moment and give us a giant increase in endorphins. Managing the internal is what it is all about…terriers don’t seem to have to manage it…it manages them. Just for today I may try to imitate my little bundle of joy…I have a feeling it is easier than I think.
I invite you to emulate your sense of joy…maybe it’s a bird…or a flower turning to the sun …or a baby laughing at the sound of its own voice…whatever it is …go for it…joyful, joyful, we adore thee, as the song goes…thanks to that amazing man we knew as Beethoven
