Joy

You may remember that my word for the year is JOY!! When you think about it, most of what we do in our lives is with the aim of trying to increase joy and happiness somewhere down the line. But for many of us, our efforts of finding happiness are maybe a little misguided.

A lot of us focus too much effort on the material and financial aspect of life, but they are not the best route to happiness (as any miserable rich person will tell you).

This story is about a beautiful, expensively dressed lady who complained to her psychiatrist that she felt that her whole life was empty, it had no meaning. So, the lady went to visit a counselor to seek out happiness. The counselor called over the old lady who cleaned the office floors.

The counselor then said to the rich lady: “I’m going to ask Mary here to tell you how she found happiness. All I want you to do is listen to her.”

So the old lady put down her broom and sat on a chair and told her story:

*”Well, my husband died of malaria and three months later my only son was killed by a car. I had nobody. I had nothing left. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I never smiled at anyone, I even thought of taking my own life. Then one evening a little kitten followed me home from work. Somehow I felt sorry for that kitten. It was cold outside, so I decided to let the kitten in. I got some milk, and the kitten licked the plate clean. Then it purred and rubbed against my leg and, for the first time in months, I smiled.

Then I stopped to think, if helping a little kitten could make me smile, maybe doing something for people could make me happy. So, the next day I baked some biscuits and took them to a neighbor who was sick in bed. Every day I tried to do something nice for someone. It made me so happy to see them happy.

Today, I don’t know of anybody who sleeps and eats better than I do. I’ve found happiness by giving it to others.”*

When she heard this, the rich lady cried. She had everything that money could buy, but she had lost the things which money cannot buy.

I’m convinced that the greatest thing we can do for someone is to err on the side of loving them!! If you help other people, your life becomes happier and more fulfilling. The beauty of life does not depend on how happy you are; but on how happy others can be because of you. Happiness is like a kiss. You must share it to enjoy it.

You can’t get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make!! No, we don’t always get what we want! But there are people who will never have what we have! Never think what you have to offer is insignificant. There will always be someone out there who needs what you have to give!

Joy is not dependent upon outward circumstances. Joy is something that we can have under all circumstances when we are sad or happy. Outward circumstances are always neutral. They seem to be happy or sad according to the happy or sad attitudes of the mind.

Even if life gave you at one time everything you wanted—wealth, power, friends—after a while you would again become dissatisfied and need something more. But there is one thing that can never become stale to you: joy itself.