Isn't interesting in pursuit of joy, we forget that perhaps the simplest of things in life can be joyous? Reading a book about emotions, I came across something a sixteenth century French essayist Michel de Montaigne said which I find quite inspiring.
'Is there anything so delightful as the sudden revolution when I pass from extreme pain of voiding my stones (he suffers from kidney stones),and recover, in a flash,the beauteous light of health, full and free, as happens when our colic paroxysm are at their sharpest and most sudden? Is there anything in that suffered pain that can outweigh the joy of so prompt a recovery?Oh how much more beautiful health looks to me after illness'.
Perhaps, this will inspire some of us who have had some disappointments and challenges in life, where we have lost our sense of faith or hope that, the taste of joy is just within reach. Cliche has it may seem, having known what is dark and brooding, we can perhaps experience and appreciate joy when it comes our way.
The joy of knowing that despite our doubts, frustrations and set backs, we have emerged with the ability to experience life fully. Perhaps, in the misadventures of our lives, we have forgotten what joy feels like. The familiarity of the cloak of misery and darkness we surround ourselves with, blinded us to what is really out there.
Perhaps, we should all take time each day, to try to recall moments that made us laugh, made us smile or made us feel whole. It may be that reassuring smile and hug from a close one, when we needed it. It may be the smile and the gurgling sound of little baby oblivious to the world. It may be the first tender moment shared with a loved one. It may be sitting on the beach, looking up at the twinkling stars and listening to the sounds of the waves. Whatever, that moment was or whoever it was with, just take time to savour it and remember that we are sums of everything we have experienced.
There is no need to go searching for joy, it is right there...in our past... in our present and will be there in the future.
