Avoiding Joy
Pain cannot be avoided, but joy can.
— Mike Mason, Champagne for the Soul, p. 52
Category: Joy
10 Posts
For or Against
Being for something creates positive feelings of interest, passion, or joy, which improve health and relationships. Being against something foments negative feelings of anger, contempt, envy, or disgust, which have deleterious effects on health and relationships.
— Steven Stosny, Soar Above, p. 161
The Courage to Live with an Open Heart
The Archbishop and the Dalai Lama had revealed throughout the week one of the core paradoxes of happiness: We are most joyful when we focus on others, not on ourselves. In short, bringing joy to others is the fastest way to experience joy oneself. As the Dalai Lama had said, even ten minutes of meditation on the well-being of others can help one to feel joyful for the whole day — even before coffee. When we close our heart, we cannot be joyful. When we have the courage to live with an open heart, we are able to feel our pain and the pain of others, but we are also able to experience more joy. The bigger and warmer our heart, the stronger our sense of aliveness and resilience.
— Douglas Abrams, The Book of Joy, p. 261
Joy Waiting to be Gathered
Every day joy waits to be gathered. Will you take the trouble to find it, cherish it, be grateful?
— Mike Mason, Champagne for the Soul, p. 50
Gratitude Transforms
The Dalai Lama’s ability to be grateful for the opportunities that exist even in exile was a profound shift in perspective, allowing him not only to accept the reality of his circumstances but also to see the opportunity in every experience. Acceptance means not fighting reality. Gratitude means embracing reality. It means moving from counting your burdens to counting your blessings, as the Archbishop had recommended, both as an antidote to envy and a recipe for appreciating our own lives.
— Douglas Abrams, The Book of Joy, p. 243
The Best Gift We Can Give the World
Many of us think our happiness depends on things outside of us. We think that we have to wait to be happy until some of these things are taken care of, but happiness comes from within. It is the best gift we can give the world, because happiness is infectious. Happiness is enlightening, and it gives hope. As a form of love, happiness spreads around. If a situation seems stuck, bringing happiness to it moves it forward, because there is so much creativity in happiness.
— Chuck Spezzano, If It Hurts, It Isn’t Love, p. 254
One of Life’s Great Joys
Visiting the library with young children is one of life’s great joys, because nothing compares to the experience of picking a book up, holding it, looking at it, seeing the colors, smelling it, and, if you’re really small, chewing the edge of it. One of the glories of books is how many of your senses you use to experience them, including smell and the delight of discovering books by serendipity. You simply don’t have that with ebooks. I have hundreds of titles on my Kindle, but I am very unlikely to go browsing on my Kindle for something to read. That’s the magic of libraries, that possibility of discovering something you didn’t even know you were looking for.
— Neil Gaiman, quoted in This Is What a Librarian Looks Like, by Kyle Cassidy, p. 15
Joy as Activism
Joy doesn’t betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated, and isolated, joy is a fine initial act of insurrection.
— Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark, p. 24
Treasuring our Core Gifts
There is a formula that I’ve seen proven true in my work and my life: to the degree that we treasure our Core Gifts (yes, treasure them; dispassionate acceptance isn’t enough) we attract caring, thoughtful people who are also (miracle of miracles) attracted to us. And, equally amazing, we become more attracted to people who are good for us, and less interested in people who diminish us or leave us feeling insecure.
— Ken Page, Deeper Dating, p.19
Gathering Joy
Giving thanks is a way of gathering joy. Imagine yourself in a meadow chasing butterflies with a net. Though the meadow is full of spiders, you don’t notice these, neither are you concerned with weeds or scraps of litter. You aren’t collecting spiders or weeds or litter. You’re collecting butterflies, and your sole focus is on capturing those brightly colored flecks of beauty.
Joy requires single-mindedness. The world is full of reasons to be sad or distressed, but beauty and goodness also abound. Which to look at? What you see is what you get.
— Mike Mason, Champagne for the Soul, p. 49-50