The Inner Workings of Joy

Where does Joy come from? Is it the same as happiness, or is Joy a truer reflection of our inherent nature? If Joy is different than happiness, do we handle them differently when we encounter them?

For every one of us, the answers to these questions may vary with time, space, environment, our health, our finances, our emotions, the state of our relationships, and more… When our energy level, in any state of our life, is receding, we may feel that a little bit of happiness can reverse the trend. Our mind switches into ‘seek pleasure, avoid pain’ mode, and off we go. It may be as simple as a cup of coffee, a smile from a stranger, a twitter message, a walk around the block, and so on…

Yes, a touch of happiness can keep us moving forward, one moment at a time, as it does it’s bit to enable the present. So, why even talk about Joy? If we are to ‘live in the moment‘ – as so many that talk about #mindfulness exhort us to do – is ‘being happy in the moment’ not enough?

I welcome your thoughts on the matter. Let’s talk about Happiness and Joy 🙂

Namaste.

Kumud

A panorama of Lake Erie – photo by Kumud Ajmani (c 2014)