I had thought joy to be rather synonymous with happiness, but it seems now to be far less vulnerable than happiness. Joy seems to be a part of an unconditional wish to live, not holding back because life may not meet our preferences and expectations. Joy seems to be a function of the willingness to accept the whole, and to show up to meet with whatever is there. It has a kind of invincibility that attachment to any particular outcome would deny us.
Interpretation
Joy is more resilient than happiness, rooted in acceptance of life as it is.
In this quote, Rachel Naomi Remen suggests that while happiness can be influenced by external circumstances and expectations, joy is deeper and more enduring. Joy arises from a profound acceptance of life, embracing its entirety without condition, and is thus less susceptible to the fluctuations of life's events. This understanding indicates that true joy comes from being present and engaging with life, regardless of the outcomes we desire.
In practice
During a motivational speech about resilience and happiness.
Helping, fixing, and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. when you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul.
In this culture the soul and the heart too often go homeless. Listening creates a holy silence. When you listen generously to people, they can hear the truth in themselves, often for the first time. And in the silence of listening, you can know yourself in everyone. Eventually you may be able to hear, in everyone and beyond everyone, the unseen singing softly to itself and to you.
At the deepest level, the creative process and the healing process arise from a single source. When you are an artist, you are a healer; a wordless trust of the same mystery is the foundation of your work and its integrity.
The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.
Grieving allows us to heal, to remember with love rather than pain. It is a sorting process. One by one you let go of the things that are gone and you mourn for them. One by one you take hold of the things that have become a part of who you are and build again.
Life is known only by those who have found a way to be comfortable with change and the unknown. Given the nature of life, there may be no security, but only adventure.
I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh.
Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.
We bring a deeper commitment to our happiness when we fully understand, that our time left is limited and we really need to make it count.
What I found does the most good is just to get into a taxi and go to Tiffany's. It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it;nothing very bad could happen to you there.
The greatest source of unhappiness comes from inside.
Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly.
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