THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAPPINESS AND JOY
This will be my last post for a while. My heart surgery begins early tomorrow morning and it will probably be a week or so before I am out of the hospital. This will be a good week for me to contemplate the difference between happiness and joy.
Happiness usually comes to us when we get what we want out of life. Joy is ours when we accept and affirm the whole life process as it is.
Happiness usually feels like we are being lifted to an elevated emotional state. Joy is ours when we can stand on the firm foundation of what simply is. Happiness feels like a stimulant. Joy feels more like a nutritious meal.
Happiness and grief are hard if not impossible to experience at the same time. Joy can be often discovered deep below life’s storms shining through our tears even while we are still sad.
Happiness usually follows something good that happens to us personally. Joy is always available to us when we remember the tie that binds us to others. Joy is an gentle empathy that can be experienced vicariously through the laughter of distant children or the dance of fireflies at a setting sun. Joy is a sense of our common being.
Stay strong & give yourself time to heal. I know that in a few weeks following surgery you will feel so much better. A good friend of mine had a similar procedure 2 years ago and she was riding her bike 6 weeks later. Your positive attitude will help you heal even quicker. Trust your doctors & surgeon. They are the experts. Take good care of yourself.
Yessss! Your words and thoughts are always so like gifts from the Universe; like clean, clear water easing the thirst of the soul. Thank you!