The State of Being That Changes Everything

Happy is a choice.
Joy is a being.

Happy is fleeting.
Joy is a place from which we live.

Happy is often dependent on things, people, and time.
Joy emanates from within, no matter what those things, people, and times look like.

A few weeks ago, I spoke at a conference. It was early, the kind of early that feels a little too dark and quiet for small talk. The conference center was huge, and in all the chaos, I realized I hadn’t actually registered like I was supposed to.

I apologized to the volunteers for my misstep and the extra work it caused, and I did it from joy. Later that morning, one of the volunteers found me and said, “Thank you for your energy. We need more of that in the world, especially in places like this.”

That moment has stayed with me.

The more healing work I do, and the more courage I choose, the more I’m learning that the joy I live from, the joy that is within me, naturally leads to enthusiasm.

Not the empty, inauthentic, “rainbows and butterflies” kind that denies the pain and difficulty of life. Rather, an enthusiasm that trusts:

that the dark never overcomes the light,
that this life is short and precious,
that miracles, both tiny and huge, are all around us,
and that people are amazing, complex, and created in God’s image.

When we live from this state of joy and enthusiasm, everything gets better. Our brains fill with serotonin and dopamine, our hearts open, and the lens through which we see and receive the world shifts.

I’ve always been excitable. I’ve always felt deeply. And I’ve always shown those feelings to the world.

What I’m learning now, though, is that living from joy and enthusiasm means all my feelings are welcomed, even the not-so-fun ones. I can befriend them. They no longer govern me. I’m not owned by them, nor do I serve them.

Instead, they all have a seat at the table where Love sits at the head, and Joy and Enthusiasm are being served.

Is it work? Of course.
Does it take time and effort to heal in this way? Absolutely.
Is it worth it? Very much so.

We are each more worthy than the world tells us, more beloved than our pasts would ever have us believe, and more capable of living from these states than we realize.

So I wonder… How will you move into the state of joy and enthusiasm today?