A Passion for Joy

The pursuit of happiness is perhaps our most basic drive. It is even mentioned in the United State Declaration of Independence. How we pursue it, and even how we define it, varies from person to person. Perhaps what makes it so elusive is our problem in not only not knowing how to obtain it, but how to keep it around.

our highest spirits can be so quickly conquered by adversity.

The well-known writer William S. Burroughs once stated in an interview that for him, happiness is a by-product of "function, purpose and conflict; that those who seek happiness for itself seek victory without war".

Ancient Egyptians believed that upon their death they would be asked by the god Osiris two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was, "Did you bring joy?" The second was, "Did you find joy?" These goals then became a sacred charge in life and the only way to obtain eternal happiness.

These are questions no less vital today than they were in ancient Egypt. They are ones we must continually ask ourselves. Most of us have our own strong sense of purpose to celebrate life and spread all the joy we can.

Think of the happiest people you know. They're the ones who seem to be able to find joy everywhere. If we study these people very closely and analyze just how they do it, we may find some answers far simpler than we would have believed. We've heard them before:

"There's good in every person. It's up to me to bring it out".

"There's a light side of everything if you look for it."

"I see each new day as a challenge. What I make of it is up to me."

Our search for happiness and our capacity to bring it to others leads us back to ourselves, for we start by finding joy in ourselves. The inner joy we develop becomes the wellspring from which we draw to use in every encounter.

I am amazed at the human capacity to find joy even in the harshest extremes, the cruelest of fates, the stories of people with broken bodies, whose spirits remain high. We admire their courage but seldom consider the profound example they provide for all of us, especially those of us who hide behind despair and hopelessness.

As a coach, I always encourage my pupils to keep a journal as a record of their innermost thoughts and feelings. Occasionally I ask that they show them to me for our discussion. I've noticed a tendency in them to emphasize the negative in life. There are the "Oh, woe is me," stories. The "Life is miserable, boring, depressing, confusing, unfair, cruel, etc.,etc." stories. Each day seems to be a test of endurance rather than an adventure.

"Why don't you write of the joy in your life?. I ask them. "It's really your choice."

The answer is always that the bad things just seemed to have more impact than the good things. They seem to take joy for granted. Their problems touch them more deeply than their moments of joy. That notion is perhaps what inspired a study done few years ago to determine the dominant mood of currently popular songs. The finding revealed that about three-fourth of the songs dealt with pain and anguish of love. You know the type:

      "You broke my heart, I'm so alone,

       all day long, I sit and moan."

Or a current favorite, "Love is a battlefield." (Whatever happened to "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing"?

Soap operas so frequently capture this spirit with their unending tales of sorrow and affliction. People say that their soaps help them endure their own problems. but we need more out of life than just physical ease and freedom from care. our goldfish has that.

The happiness in life that we all seek so often involves what we give to others. Ancient Egyptians understood that finding joy in life and bringing it to others were one and the same. It is as Louis Mann once wrote, that " happiness is a perfume which you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself."