Recover your joy

When I first started with this blog, I struggled to find its name. I knew Joy had to be part of it, it was the foundation of my healing process. But what was the first word to be? Unearth. Reclaim. Find. Because my journey at that time was around recovery -- recovery of myself, my sense of wonder, my being, I settled on Recover -- and recover stuck on me.

I don't think much about the 'recover' or not word these days. But joy. Ah, now that's another matter. Because, I think about joy, a lot. Where does JOY come from? Where does it live? What's it all about? How joyful am I? What does joy do for me? What do I do for joy?

Joy is the essence of my being. It is the foundation of my living my best life yet, every day. Joy sparkles. I sparkle in its effervescent glow.

So, here's the question... what is joy? According to David Hawkin's "Consciousness Scale" our physical vibrations create a force field that attracts, or detracts, what we want in life dependent upon our vibration. If COURAGE is the starting point of 'good vibrations' with a value of "0", FEAR is the most negative of all vibrations, and ENLIGHTENMENT the highest vibration we can achieve. Before Enlightenment, there is JOY -- and we can't get to JOY without moving through and in LOVE.

Joy is the positive of all emotions. Saturated. Full. Complete.

Joy sustains me, regardless of the circumstances around me. Joy lifts me above the chaos of the moment into knowing, all thinking is an illusion. All thinking is the culmination of my mind's desire to make sense -- of nonsense and common sense. Thinking is simply my way of giving meaning as opposed to being in the meaning of the moment now. And often, my thinking around chaos, around things I do not understand, stems from fear.

Like the students, yesterday, who came to the homeless shelter where I work to help serve lunch and learn more about the shelter and homelessness.

"Did you feel a bit scared when you first walked in?" I asked.

Many heads nodded.

"What do you think caused the fear?"

Shoulders shrugged. Eyes looked down and then one courageous student answered. "I didn't know anything about it other than what I thought was true."

"And now?" I asked.

The student laughed. "Most of what I thought was real wasn't true."

It's often the case. What I think about something or something, isn't really what it or they are all about.

Yet, in my thinking, I cause myself angst. Cause myself concern. Dismay. Discord.

To recover my joy, in any situation, I need to let go of my thinking and move into my being In Love. With the moment. With me, myself and I.

Today's A Course In Miracles lesson speaks well to this learning -- I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.

I'm meditating on it. Letting it sink in without attaching myself to my thinking. Letting it 'see the light' without me clouding up my vision with my thoughts on what it means.

It's not easy. This getting out of my own way. But, to experience joy, to know true happiness, to create contentment within, I must get out of my thinking where I would believe -- I know the answers.

It was never about the answers.

It was always about the questions I'm willing to fearlessly step into and live without needing to FIND the answer. Because, finding the answer will never happen. Living my truth today is where I find my greatest joy. In today, there's only one real answer for me and that is to walk each moment, In Love, creating a joyful experience with every breath.

**************************************

Thank you Glynn at Faith. Fiction. Friends. for inspiring my joyful pursuits this morning. I'm feeling more joyful with every breath!