“Find JOY in everything you CHOOSE to do. Every job, relationSHIP, home….it’s your responsibility to love it, or change it.” Chuck Palahniuk
A few weeks ago, before starting my day, I read my Daily Word meditation and it was entitled “JOY.” It reminded me that no matter what the day held, I could always opt to CHOOSE JOY. JOY is one of those words we don’t hear too often, usually we hear it a lot around Christmas time. But what is JOY? According to Webster’s dictionary JOY is defined as— “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.” As I continued to get ready for work, I reflected on the words of the meditation and decided that throughout my day, I would purposely CHOOSE JOY. Well at least that was my intent, even though my day would say otherwise. So for this week’s blog, let’s talk SHIP about the need for us to CHOOSE JOY!!!!
Since I had decided to CHOOSE JOY, I eagerly started my day and immediately encountered a not so JOYFUL situation. When I approached my car, I clicked on the remote to unlock it and nothing happened. I clicked again, and still nothing. My sister had used my car the night before and unintentionally left the car lights on overnight and the battery was dead. I was annoyed but remembered that I’d decided to CHOOSE JOY. Triple AAA came, jumped the battery and 30 minutes later, I was rolling. Later that day I had a dental appointment to be fitted for a new bridge. When I sat in the chair, the dentist informed me that he needed to do an extraction for the bridge to fit properly. An extraction? I was not prepared for that and was not expecting to have any more drilling going on in my mouth. Still annoyed, I continued to CHOOSE JOY.
Although, I wasn’t happy about the day’s events, I was still able to find JOY. How? Because I finally realized that there is a distinct difference between JOY and happiness. Happiness doesn’t bring JOY, nor does JOY cause happiness. See, happiness happens to us whereas, JOY is a choice that we must purposefully make. The opportunity for JOY is present in every moment. JOY can exist with other emotions — sadness, fear, anger … even unhappiness….but happiness can’t. JOY is not simply a feeling that happens, like love, JOY is a choice that we must make. We have to CHOOSE JOY!!!
We’ve all heard the phrase…”it’s been one of those days.” But we can’t fully understand the meaning of this phrase unless we’ve actually experienced one and whew Chile, this was one of those days!! I wasn’t expecting my car battery to be dead, or the dentist to attempt to pull my teeth. But, despite not being happy about the encounters that I’d faced on that day, I still opted to CHOOSE JOY. The very word “CHOOSE” infers that we have options and it is true. So, let’s be intentional. Regardless of what the day brings or what life brings us, let’s always CHOOSE JOY as our response!!!
SHIP TALK: Do you CHOOSE JOY?
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Shelia it is very hard. Joy is the ulitmate surrender. Choosing it in all situations requires a shift in our mindset. My day was long but at the end of the day I still had joy…maybe not JOY but joy nonetheless…lol
Whew lawd. A dead car battery sucks. But the cost and pain of dentistry immediately takes everyone to a whole different place. OAN, a lot of times we want to find joy. But choosing joy says it’s always here, we always have it available, and we always have the choice. But whew, it is hard. It is a hard mindset to override all the crap that we see, experience, and deal with daily. Thanks for the reminder.
Thanks D. I agree. We can still have JOY even when we aren’t happy. People tend to believe that the universe conspires to get them personally. A friend shared with me when you complain, you are giving the devil praise.
This really hit home this morning. I have a friend that is suffering from depression among other things and he asked this morning, “why am I so sad?” My response to him was, “because you choose to be.”
I choose joy always. No matter the situation. I can have a bad moment, however, I refuse to let it ruin my whole day. I am grateful for every experience because I know it all works out in my favor, even when I don’t see it.