When recently have you experienced pure joy? I had to ask myself this very question as I watched a recent episode of Oprah Winfrey’s new Lifeclass. Leave it to Oprah to get me thinking.
In this Lifeclass she showed several episodes of the Oprah Show when people experienced “joy rising,” including one I wrote about before. (This one always makes me feel great!)
I watched her show and laughed and cried. And I admitted to myself that I have had little joy in my life over the last four or five years.
Oh, I’ve received joy from watching my children grow and excel and mature. I’ve had some joy from my work. But I haven’t had the type of “joy rising” experienced by those on Oprah’s shows…or by Oprah herself in some of the situations she aired.
How many of us do experience that type of joy? What can we do to allow it in, to make it happen? I think that’s really the question.
The answer I think comes in giving and receiving. That’s what I saw Oprah doing—giving in so many, many ways. And that created joy rising inside her—and inside the people around her. They received her gifts. They had to be willing to receive.
I read a book an participated in its challenge earlier this year. It’s called 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life. It’s an amazing way to change your energy and to focus on giving. My book, The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation, also talks about the need to give and to receive.
However, I think there’s even one more step: to feel grateful for even the smallest things.
Tonight I was grateful to laugh and to cry and to vicariously feel joy because of the joy rising I saw in other people.
Life’s too short not to enjoy at least some of it. I know we should enjoy every moment…but we can start small if we aren’t finding enjoyment now. We can enjoy the sunset, the cat purring, the smile on a child’s face, a hand holding our own, the fact that someone loves us, the tweet or email saying our work is appreciated, the yummy ice cream we treated ourselves to after dinner. Or we can enjoy giving something…anything to someone we know that brings a smile to their face.
When and how do you experience joy…and can you experience more of it? I’m surely going to try.
Hi, your posts are very inspirational. If you have time take a look at my blog at http://www.thefinalcallministry.com. Read my experience on “The Driving Force” page.
Thanks for your comment, Greg, and for reading my blog. I visited the page on your blog. I am not a believer in sin or in the devil. I think of sin in the Jewish light: as a missed mark. We try and we don’t achieve our goals–or we don’t even try to achieve our goals of being better people or more spiritual beings. Judaism talks about Satan, but there is no stress on this figure. I don’t believe in fear of evil, just in focus on doing good…on being a “mensch,” a good person, or a “tzaddik,” a righteous person. I do believe in devoting yourself to God, to putting God at the center of your life and to making your purpose to help bring others to God.
Best wishes and blessings,
Nina