Finding the joy

Things are not always what they seem. On the outside, someone may appear like everything is fine. People often smile and laugh and act like they are fine when the turmoil is raging inside of them because they want to be fine. We all want to be loved, accepted, and happy. 

The problem is that we often look for happiness outside of ourselves. We search for it in things, people, and circumstances. This type of happiness is fleeting, and it doesn’t reach our soul. It is a brief interlude of what we desire. So we notice what gave us that brief moment of happiness and we try to reproduce it continuously. We want to live in a constant state of happiness. Then when we can’t achieve this long term, we feel as if there is something wrong with us. 

Being happy all the time is just not possible. Honestly, I don’t want to be happy all the time. Sometimes I need to cry. I need to feel compassion for others who are struggling. I need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Learning how to be in the present moment with my emotions has helped me so much. Allowing myself to feel the heartache and the sadness, without trying to push away has been so freeing for me. 

The worst thing that can happen to us is we might feel an emotion we don’t want to feel. But the emotion is there for a reason. Instead of stuffing down inside of ourselves, we need to be brave and feel the emotion. What is it trying to tell us? Usually, my anxiety is just my subconscious mind telling me that I am on the wrong path. If I continuously push the emotions inside of me and never explore them, then I will stay in the place of pain. If I write my emotions down and explore them, then I can understand them. 

Learning to silence my mind, even for a few minutes at a time, has been one of the greatest things I have learned. The more that I meditate and try to understand things, the more that I feel the love and peace of God in my soul. Living in the present moment has helped me so much. Noticing the world around me helps me to find the joy at this moment, and to release the heartache of my past as well as the worry of my future. This moment is all that we have. Let’s search for the joy in it. 

Photo by Simon Migaj on Unsplash

P.S. If you enjoyed this please share it so your family and friends can read it as well. :)