Happiness. Are you happy? What makes you happy? What does happy feel like? If something can make us happy, doesn’t it make sense that something could make us unhappy?
I believe that happiness ebbs and flows and is contingent on externally triggered stimuli: other people, things, places, and events. Happiness is a destination.
Joy is an attitude. It’s more consistent, longer lasting and is cultivated internally. It carries with it no burden or expectation. It comes when you are at peace with who you are, why you are and how you are.
When people say they are happy I wonder if contentment, a peaceful easy feeling or satisfaction is actually the feeling and the word happiness is just a synonym for these feelings.
The world we experience is seen through our lenses, our filters, which colors our perception of it. Which also means we can manage our experience, by choosing how we’d like to see things. Here’s a little something to think about.. How would you like to experience your life? You get to decide.
One example of the difference between happiness and joy is: winning the lottery would bring happiness, building a business that earns that same money would bring joy.
Gratitude evokes joy. Living within your moral code, Inner peace and contentment, serving others gives rise to joy. Your spiritual connection, regardless of how you define it, inspires joy! I purposely didn’t say these things create joy because joy is already within us. And because joy is part of you, you can even experience it during dark times by appreciating the little things that already bring you joy. That morning cuppa, a walk, hobbies…
You can absolutely live a life that’s happy. You can have fun, connect, laugh, and as long as that is happening, it’s all good. And when it’s over, Then what? Happiness fades.
On the other hand, you can invite in or allow that complete feeling of joy that only you are experiencing because it is in you. It is a part of you. Never to leave. No one or no thing can take it away from you. Ever.
Happiness or joy? Your choice.
Actually, there’s no reason we can’t have both.
Just sayin