Imagine Life as Containing Joy

I'm sitting at our PC at work - doing a night shift... alone with my thoughts and with my patients.

"Life as containing joy..."

"Make others delighted to know and love you..."

 

As teenagers we (girls) used to exchange love poems. I always remember some - one of them was: "If he loves me, it is not a merit of mine but if he ceases to love me, I am to blame."

This is something I've been thinking a lot about in the course of life. About how much we want to be loved... Till the end of our lives. I see it daily in my work - how much it means to the old people to feel they are taken care of, they are still important to somebody, they are loved.

The hardest lesson, though, is to love even if you don't get it "back". Love in spite of it and especially because of it.

Love even when your heart is broken and aching like hell.

I once read somewhere that when the pain is at its greatest, you must open your heart even more.

I also love the German expression "Humor ist, wenn man trotzdem lacht." To me it contains the great wisdom about Life. You should not take anything too seriously, not even Life. At the end of the day - it was just one big laugh...

 

I've come to the conclusion that there is not much I can do to be loved and to bring joy - the only thing I CAN do is to forget about myself and just love. Love others and try to make them smile, laugh, try to make their eyes twinkle and shine.

Humor is not to "be funny" but humor is the art to laugh about yourself, to make others laugh.

Love is the most difficult lesson in Life. To love in spite of the pain. The more it hurts, the more you must open your heart...

I always think about the famous prayer of Francis of Assisi:

"Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, the faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen."

 

Some thoughts from a night shift...

Imagine Life as Containing Joy

“Loving yourself is imagining life as containing joy: joy in experience, joy in relationship, joy in the contents of your own being, and joy in the delight that others feel in knowing and loving you”.

                               Daphne Rose Kingma: A Garland of Love

If you want to live a life as containing joy, fully loving yourself, you need to strive to “be your very best” at all times. The best possible version of You!

It is as if there were two of us: the basic version, living life on automatic pilot, doing what we’ve always done, what comes easy and doesn’t require any specific effort. We might be okay living a whole life like that – but it’s not the best we can do. Because there’s an advanced version, too, where we become aware of our thoughts, words, and actions, and deliberately choose what is most in line with our true selves.

The more often the advanced version is in charge, the “better” we live: we consciously choose what to think, say and do out of love for ourselves and for others, and life suddenly makes more sense – and is much happier. 

What words can you utter today, what actions can you do today to spread that inner joy? How can you make others delighted to know and love you? 

Have an extra joyful week! :-)

The Happiness Network