unconditionally, taking time for prayer and meditation.
How do we lose our joy or give it away? It is a choice. We
are responsible for our own happiness and joy.
We lose our joy when we:
Compare ourselves to others
Complain and blame others for our problems
Beat up on ourselves and don’t feel good enough
Do not trust a power greater than ourselves to help us
See ourselves as victims and have a “poor me” mentality
Hold onto resentment and are unable to forgive ourselves or others
Believe there is lack and scarcity Obsess and worry about the future or the past
Try to please everyone at the expense of ourselves
Focus on what’s missing rather than be grateful now
Where does joy come from? I believe it comes from within. When we are connected to our Source, the God within, we experience joy. When we are connected to others, serving others, we experience
joy. When we give, without any expectations in return we experience joy.
Most recently, I experienced joy when I “got out of my own way” and reached out to another who was in need. My two sons and grandchildren live out of state. My parents are both deceased and I don’t have any siblings or family in the area. I felt lonely and felt sorry for myself on Easter Sunday. As I was driving home from my friend Carol’s house, I decided to buy a plant for a woman in a nursing home that I had just met at Christmas. Mary told me that she was all alone and didn’t have any friends or relatives in the area. She had a stroke a year ago that paralyzed her and she couldn’t walk anymore.
When I walked into the nursing home on Easter Sunday, I found Mary sitting in her wheelchair with the other residents at the nurse’s station who didn’t have any visitors. They weren’t talking to one another, just kind of staring into space.
I didn’t know if Mary would remember me from Christmas, but she did. She smiled and reached out for my hand. I remarked what a beautiful day it was outside. She told me that she didn’t have anyone to take her outside to get fresh air because the nurses were too busy to take her out look at this character and fruit of joy from God’s most precious.
aspiremag.net
Her face lit up like a Christmas tree when I asked her if she would like me to take her outside and wheel her around the nursing home. After checking with the head nurse, off we went. As we sat outside with the sun beating down on our faces, she apologized for being so emotional. “I have been here over a year and this is the first time I have been outside.” We sat and talked for awhile. She told me her life story and the tragedies she experienced. When it was time to leave, I bent down and kissed and told her I would be back.
A simple act of giving and thinking of another cured my loneliness and I experienced a deep sense of joy. There is more joy in giving than in receiving. We all have the capacity to give and love more; a smile at a stranger, calling a friend, offering to help someone we don’t know. Look for opportunities to increase your joy by being present to yourself and giving to others. Rather than remaining hostage to life’s changes and challenges, expect joy to flow to you and it will.
Pat Hastings is the author of the award winning book Simply a Woman of Faith, an international Inspirational Speaker, Spiritual Life Coach, Work- shop Leader, Psychotherapist and RadioTalk Show Host. Pat provides powerful guidance and wisdom and helps women rediscover their Spiritual Self. Learn more at www.SimplyA-
WomanofFaith.com.
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