Jumping for Joy - Joan
by Miracle Chasers on 02/25/17
Joy to the World...sounds like a message reserved for a Christmas Carol or the feeling when welcoming a new little one into the world as we did last month with our first grandchild.
I've always wondered where is joy the rest of the time. To be truthful, I think I am a joy-junkie. I can, as Katie says, "find whole scoops of joy with my children" (in my case, I'll admit it was mixed in with a bit of worry and a pinch of frustration), but I also find joy in the sunshine or the snow, in writing or in reading something that makes me laugh or cry or think more deeply. I find joy when I take the high road and don't cut off the silly driver who is attempting to run me down or try and be kind to someone whether I know them or not, even when I don't have the time or the energy. I have cocktail napkins that say, "Stop me before I volunteer again." but I never use them because volunteering brings me joy; it's my way to help contribute to the struggles in the world, doing my part to effect change where I can.
Sadly though, sometimes when I present my happy-to-be-alive and grateful-to-be-living-my-life face to the world, I have been accused of being a tad Pollyanna-ish. After all, the unasked question of "Don't I know that others are suffering?" hangs in the air; as if somehow by being really sad or at least more subdued I could make it better. At last, those days are over and I can express my joy (as well as my sadness) freely. My new lease on life came from a book a dear friend gave me for Christmas, Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, The Book of Joy, and I have embraced it more wholeheartedly than anything I have read since Our Bodies, Ourselves back in the 70's! I mean if Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama can find joy after all that they have been through, who am I to back away?
Apparently 2015, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu spent a week together in Dharamsala, India in honor of the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday and to discuss the subject of joy. As they spoke it became clear that at the core they both valued connection with their fellow human spirits, seeing suffering together as the birth of empathy and compassion. Together they recognize that, "Ultimately our greatest joy is when we seek to do good for others." I think I have felt this my whole life. In my medical profession, like so many of my coworkers, I thought a part of my job was to make the patient's life a little easier and to help them find joy and humor in the midst of pain and suffering. The importance of finding joy has stayed with me in other areas of life as well.
For years, I was drawn to the strength of Archbishop Tutu; his ability to stay strong and committed against all odds and to foster forgiveness after the atrocities that were committed in his homeland. I marveled at his fortitude and when I heard him speak years ago, I was shocked at how diminutive he was in physical stature and yet was a giant among men. When I read his words about joy and suffering, I feel vindicated for my years of being joyful in the face of sadness, and I think his words to the universe are directly aimed at me, "Discovering more joy does not, I'm sorry to say, save us from the inevitability of hardship and heartbreak. In fact, we may cry more easily, but we will laugh more easily, too. Perhaps we are just more alive. Yet as we discover more joy, we can face suffering in a way that ennobles rather than embitters. We have hardship without becoming hard. We have heartbreak without being broken." WOW. Now I have a benchmark, a goal and have found a calling not just to feel joy, but to spread joy. To help me practice that calling with the consistency it deserves, I have but one word that I will be able to rise to the challenge:
