Finding Your Joy
Part 1 of 2: Finding It.
On the way to joy, we find many things. Joy is not usually one of them. ‘Fleeting happiness’ or ‘satisfactory glimpses’, perhaps. But not joy.
Joy is this lasting, enduring thing. We have this idea of joy that it is some kind of… glowing from within. Embers of an eternal fire. Ever new, ever entrancing, ever joyous.
When we seek joy, we unconsciously put it out there. Our very own carrot on a stick.
Our world teaches us that satisfaction, joy, and abundance live out there, apart from where we are now.
^This is a paradigm. And if we subscribe to this paradigm, we will never find joy no matter how long we seek it. Because in this paradigm, we are wrong from the start, when it comes to joy. This paradigm has us going —> this way —>. Out. Away from our Selves. Every step along this path will take us further away from joy. Every action we take will only separate us farther from our goal. Because every action we take while operating under this paradigm is us practicing separating ourselves from joy. The ‘better’ we get at practicing this paradigm, the less joy we will experience.
The truth is: Joy is not just our ‘natural state’. This always feels like an unsatisfactory description. Joy is not just our natural state. Joy is literally that of which we are made. Joy is the very stuff of our being.
This means: Once we give up going —> this way —>, the direction we can begin to look is: → this way ←.
At this point, a disclaimer feels right: If you still want to look for joy by going —> this way —>, do so. Continue to do so to your heart’s content. Continue to do so until you find yourself wanting to give up going —> this way —> organically. You may spend the rest of your life going —> this way —> if you’d like. There is no “right way” to live. There is just living. Live your way. Always.
That said, this article is written specifically for people who are tired of going —> this way —>. This article is written for people who have run into the limitations of our world’s teachings and are looking for insight on a different way. [End of disclaimer.]
When we begin to look → this way ←, we may encounter joy right away, or we may have some housecleaning to do.
3 Steps to Finding Your Joy
The first step in finding joy is to give up seeking joy. The very idea of seeking joy is a subtle going —> this way —>.
A second step in finding joy is one that may be helpful to people who enjoy concepts. Yogananda uses a beautiful metaphor to describe the soul, which I will paraphrase here. The soul (the Self) can be likened to an oil lamp that has seen heavy use.
As oil lamps are used, grime (residue from the burning oil) builds up on the glass. As this buildup increases, the light of the lamp is apparently dimmed. But this dimming is mere appearance. For, beneath the grime of the lantern glass, a bright light shines forth, undimmed and unchanged in its brilliance.
So, too, it is with the Self — our true Self — and with our joy. As we live in the world, we are like that lamp, burning brightly. The longer we live our worldly life, the more that ‘grime’ of burnt oil builds up on our lantern glass, hiding our inner brilliance.
Our world teaches us to look around for other sources of light to attach to our lantern. Other sources of light that are promised to return us to our former brilliance. Houses, jobs, cars, tech devices, followers, sexual partners, video game achievements. This is the method of going —> this way —>.
The truth is, we need only clean the glass of our inner lantern. We are the Light of Creation itself. Nothing more is needed. Nothing ‘more’ exists. You are That. This is the method of going → this way ←.
^This is what it is to look within.
As we take this step, we begin to understand several key facts about the nature of finding joy:
Joy is not something I get… it’s something I am.
Nothing is ‘blocking my joy’… only blocking me from experiencing the joy that already lives within me.
And none of it is actually ‘blocking my joy’… I was simply looking in the wrong direction.
There is nothing additional I need to do… my work is to stop doing the things that dim my natural brilliance.
My work is to do less… and in so doing, I free up bandwidth in my life for what I truly want to do.
Which brings us to a third step in finding joy: Move.
Go through the process of moving your home and life. You don’t have to put anything in boxes or bubble wrap. Go through the process as though you are moving.
Evaluate everything. You’re paying rent/mortgage on the objects of your life in more ways than just money. Try it and you’ll see what is meant by that statement.
Let go of that which no longer serves you.
Joy: Found
Remember: Your joy is already within you. Like the flame inside the glass of the lantern. It’s there already. Waiting for you.
Finding your joy is first a reductive process. A letting go of the things which block your joy. A releasing of the things that grime your lantern and dim your light.
Approach letting go in the way we approach our daily eating: it’s a process we do a little of each day, throughout the day.
It’s not a project we race through to forever-completion. (This is a subtle going —> this way —>; thinking we will ‘get’ something at the end of the race and never have to look at / deal with this thing again.)
Let letting go be a lifestyle. This is how permanent change is made — when we make things a lifestyle, rather than a to-do list item. A process, rather than a project.
Finding your joy is first a reductive process. But as you practice letting go of the things which block your joy, you will discover something miraculous:
There is no ‘additive’ portion of the process.
As you practice letting go of the things which block your joy, you will find your joy automatically rushes in to fill the void left behind by that which you have released.
And you may even find yourself wondering how you never thought to let go in the first place.
💠