Joy in life can be complete only when people look at their lives as service. (Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy)
How often do you manage to experience a feeling of joy? This is a very wonderful feeling, and every person (if he is mentally healthy, of course) would like to rejoice as often as possible. Is it true?
And since there is such a natural need, then a person tries to satisfy this need.
How do people try to find joy in life?
And today the world offers a huge selection of entertainment that is precisely aimed at satisfying this natural need - to rejoice!
Someone buys themselves a huge TV and every evening plunges into a “different world”, someone regularly makes exciting trips, someone finds joy in sports... Well, someone finds joy in alcohol, drugs, pornography, visiting nightclubs ...or simply in expressing yourself in front of your own kind.
It’s easiest for teenagers in this regard: growing up is always joyful and carefree, so this layer of society is joyful most often for no particular reason. What a pity that this is only temporary...
Of course, in addition to this, in the life of every person there are many small joys, such as a cup of coffee in the morning, good weather or something like that. But we don’t swim so shallowly, we are talking about great things.
It would seem that everything is fine, everyone is happy... but no! Look at people's faces when you return from work. How often do you see truly joyful faces among them?
If tomorrow is not Saturday or, especially, not a holiday, then the percentage of faces beaming with joy is close to zero. Paradox?
Why is joy so short-lived?
But in fact this is not a paradox, but a pattern. The fact is that the pleasures that this world mainly offers today also have a second side to the coin.
The joys that this world sells must either be bought first, or paid for later. And they are so expensive!
So a man wanted to please himself after watching enough advertising, and decided that he deserves a new HUGE TV no less than his neighbor’s. But this requires money, and decent money.
A person begins to save money, deprives himself of sweets, walks around gloomy, and prepares for a dream. And then the magical day has come: he buys the treasured item and, beaming with a smile throughout the street, drags the valuable cargo home.
The first two weeks he studies the new “friend”, shows him to his acquaintances, in general, he is happy... But these weeks of euphoria pass, and the person gets used to the new “friend”, and he is much less happy with him.
And after a couple of weeks, he finally gets used to it, just as he got used to many things that made him happy on the day of purchase, but for some reason don’t make him happy now. And the only reason is that this person has not yet understood a simple life principle:
What becomes familiar many times loses its value in our eyes.
And now a person needs a new dose of joy, for which he will collect money for a long time, in order to rejoice for one more moment.
And so, like a squirrel in a wheel, he will exist throughout his short life. It will last. Materialism is also a drug that all narrow-minded people cannot live without. I feel sorry for them...
But there is another option, when a person pays for the joys that he received seemingly at no particular cost.
The simplest example is drugs. The first dose is free, the second is a penny, and so on in arithmetic progression. Ultimately, a person pays with his life.
Drugs are, of course, an extreme case, but alcohol, cigarettes, extramarital sex and extreme recreation are in the same category. Sooner or later, a person pays for these “small” joys.
But not everything is as sad as it might seem. In fact, there are plenty of reasons to rejoice, especially for spiritual, highly moral people. And the best part is that you don’t have to pay for them at the beginning, and you don’t have to pay for them at the end. But rather, on the contrary, joy will pay you back, becoming part of your personality, bright as the morning star.
What is anhedonia?
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Anhedonia is a state in which nothing makes a person happy. Statistics show that most often this condition affects those who have achieved heights in the professional field and can afford a lot.
Why does anhedonia occur?
- monotony of life;
- lack of physical fatigue - washing, cleaning, preparing cars;
- information flow, mental stress, lack of sleep, lack of routine.
Feelings that there is no joy in life are the first signs of anhedonia. You can fight it with artificial stress. The essence of the method is briefly summarized in an anecdote about a man who, having a grumpy wife, unpaid loans and an unloved job, wore shoes several sizes smaller. And when I took her off my feet, I rejoiced in life like a child.
So, you can go to the countryside, abandoning the benefits of civilization, go on a diet, go to the mountains, turn off the heating, try an extreme sport. The goal is to provoke a reassessment of values in order to re-experience the joy of life.
What can you be happy about?
First, I would like to draw attention to the one from whom Christians need to take their example: their teacher, Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, the church has greatly distorted the image of this remarkable personality. Have you ever seen at least one icon where Jesus smiles? Me not.
But, on the contrary, on all the icons he is depicted unhappy, sad, but not joyful. But was he really like that?
This is what the Bible says about Jesus:
- For the sake of the JOY that awaited him (Jesus), he, despising the shame, steadfastly endured the pillar of torment and sat down to the right of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:2)
The first thing that stands out is that Jesus expected joy even in difficult circumstances. This suggests that it was natural for him to rejoice! The person who rejoices when he feels bad will rejoice all the more when he feels good.
But there is another important thought in this passage of Scripture: the very expectation of joy can make us happy! How is this possible?
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Waiting for joy is already joy
Imagine that you receive a letter from your old friend, whom you have not seen for a very long time. He writes that in a month he will have a vacation, and he wants to come to visit you and have a good, joyful time with you.
And now you can already imagine how you will communicate with him and have a great time! What feeling will you experience? Joy! And for another whole month you will live in joyful anticipation of this meeting.
In the same way, Jesus rejoiced, piercing the time with his mind's eye and imagining the reward that he would receive from the Father, and the benefit that his future reign would bring to all sincere people. Such thoughts undoubtedly did not allow the flame of joy in his heart to go out even in severe trials.
Well, what about us? It happens that you come home tired of this corrupted world, or someone exhausted by old age and illness becomes sad and sighs heavily. But then we will sit on the sofa, close our eyes and imagine ourselves in a new world, when there will be no disease, death and old age on Earth.
Let's imagine ourselves among our friends, everyone is young, beautiful, healthy, joyful and happy. And my heart becomes warm and cozy. Yes, this is not there yet, but by thinking about it, you can already become at least a little more joyful...
But, of course, this is not the most important thing that can make us truly joyful today. It was just dessert.
Joy is so... fleeting, open and warm . Yellow-green in color, spring sweet smell and taste somewhat reminiscent of honey, rustles like a light breeze and rings with the voices of birds at dawn. Hugs and tickles... And grain by grain adds up to a lasting memory and feeling - into what people usually call happiness .
It gives hope, paints the days in bright colors, runs like a trail through our entire past and showers the imaginable future with magical shining powder. It inspires and fills with courage, pushing forward to the very heights and cherished dreams.
Joy rushes with open arms to those who have known her for a long time and smile sweetly at her when they meet . And she desperately hides from those who are not waiting for her, who are not ready, or who have already forgotten what our beauty looks like. Meeting her again after a long separation can sometimes be more difficult than getting to know her again: considerable effort is required not to be afraid of possible feelings, not to turn away and run off again about your business, pretending that you didn’t recognize her.
Or you really won't know. Everything depends on us. How ready are we to allow ourselves to experience joy? Only we know how much we need it. And you don’t need to deceive yourself that this is not so. Without joy, life is insipid, boring and empty. Proven by experience.
In the post about living from scratch, one of the stages in building a dream life in my plan is to find activities that warm the soul. At this stage, you just need to make a list of everything that makes you happy. And I’ll probably start doing it here. Filling your life with small but pleasant moments from this list makes the days warmer, happier and brighter, helps awaken feelings and a sense of life, teaches you to soak in the moment and savor reality.
MY JOY LIST
I love…
- breathe in spring;
- penetrate your consciousness into your favorite music, detaching yourself from the whole world;
- dream before going to bed;
- fruit and berry, fruit and pistachio ice cream;
- dedicate the day to traveling for pizza;
- hot chocolate;
- strawberries, raspberries and cherries;
- find new ways to promote projects;
- celebrate small victories;
- work hard and reap the rewards you deserve;
- look at the sea;
- cross stitching;
- Recently I started painting anti-stress coloring books;
- read inspiring books: business, psychology or fiction;
- series with an intense plot, where you have to work your brain hard;
- Guitar Hero with your favorite songs;
- spend time with your cats;
- rain for enhancing home comfort;
- snow for the feeling of magic;
- mountains for the feeling of freedom and the understanding that life is not at all what we think about it;
- time spent with family;
- a feeling of spiritual softness, calmness and harmony;
- visit a new city and feel yourself in the flow of bustling life;
- observe people who have achieved a lot or are just achieving;
- evening lights of high-rise buildings from the bus window;
Check out my soulful Instagram. Always happy to make friends and chat.
