A lot of people, particularly in Western culture, have a misconception of joy. They point to their great job, their bank accounts, their 2.5-children family and say, “Yeah, I’ve got it.” But what they really have is happiness.
Happiness is a definition that most of humanity can understand. But joy is something much more personal.
One of my friends is a very talented artist. She recently hosted an unveiling of a painting she created entitled Joy. I was amazed at her authenticity and honesty around her discussion of how she created this artwork. She spoke of how she spent a year experiencing joy and, to her surprise, it was not all joyful.
She said the process included many emotions like fear, anger, sadness, doubt, and other shadow energies that surfaced. She said sometimes she’d have to put the painting away for days or even weeks on end because she did not feel she was in the energy of joy. But she soon realized that this experience was the journey to joy. She said she realized joy is about forgiveness. And she needed to learn to forgive others and herself in order to fully welcome this energy into her life.
She also spoke about the process around creating the painting itself. It took on many layers and many different forms. And instead of starting from scratch each time, she painted and created right on top of the original. By the end, there were multiple paintings beneath the final version.
I loved learning this because as an artist (writer), I used to expect the process to be a straight line. But art isn’t like that. And neither is living. We are all comprised of so many layers, some we’ve created and some we’ve allowed others to create for us. All of these layers serve a tremendous purpose in our journey. We learn from them. We grow from them. And when we’ve learned to forgive, we can even find joy in them.
Joy, above all else, is a choice.
When you’re ready, allow yourself to welcome joy into your life.
Let go of all expectations of how or when it will arrive, what it will look like, who will come along with it, and where it will take you.
This is a journey similar to the depths of the ocean. It’s unchartered territory. There may be shadows. There may be darkness. There may be times when you think you’ve hit the bottom, only to find you have a much longer journey down ahead of you.
But one thing is for sure: the journey to joy is spectacular.
The beauty, the mystery, and the Divine secrets that reveal themselves to you will make every moment worthwhile. And when you reach that spark of Light within you, you will know the true definition of joy: unconditional love.
It’s within you now. All you have to do is open yourself up and dive in.
Unconditional Love and Light,
Lauren
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