Find The Joy

Audre Lorde once said, ~The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psyche, or intellectual forms a bridge between the shares which can be bares for understanding much of what is not shared between them and lessens the threat of their differences.~ Let me ask you this question, what brings you joy in life? For it's that type of permanent rather than temporary kind of joy in which your left absolutely fulfilled. You see, there are countless people, places, and/or things that can bring joy into our lives and the same can be said when it pertains to yourself reciprocating joy back as well. Yet, the question remains, how many of you have not only brought life to someone to where you've unknowingly made a difference in it as well?

If you think about it, when it comes to our job one can most definitely go through a seemingly gradual decline in enthusiasm. You see, from the point where each of us began to now we tend to somewhere along the line lose that go get'em attitude as certain aspects pertaining to the job itself affect you in such a negative way. One such negative aspect is drama related to a particular employee or group of employees who makes one's working environment non enjoyable as they have nothing better to do than to stir the proverbial pot to make the situation even more complicated than it already is. However, amidst the drama that can be physically, emotionally, as well as, mentally draining you can always count on that one person to make you laugh when drama in the workplace gets overwhelming.

Without a doubt, it can be difficult to understand the friendships shared with certain people because on one hand it can be considered a great joy and on the other hand it's also a great pain as well. What do I mean? Essentially, having the type of friends each of us are associated with we can put up with a lot that can test our patience and yet we are still able to laugh/hang around with him/her/them despite those particular annoying traits/habits that can get under our skin. Take a look at your own circle of friends and think about who amongst your crew has constantly tested the limits of your very own patience so many times over that you're not surprised you haven't killed him or her? What it comes down to is that without patience in the so-called friendship equation there is no joy.

For the question can be asked, how many of you believe joy can be experienced when you look at the face of an innocent child? I think many parents would agree that you can't explain the joy in having and raising kids unless you become a parent yourself, which can also be a catch 22...but I digress. Though I am not a parent, I do have many friends who are and from looking at them you're able to see the love in their eyes for a little human being that was created by two people as they experience/see firsthand the joys of parenthood. Such joys are watching them come into the world as they hear him or her cry out loud, having him/her see you for the first time with their own eyes, taking their very first steps, saying their first words, their first tooth coming out, and so much more.

In the movie The Bucket List Morgan Freeman's character shared information with Jack Nicholson's character about how the ancient Egyptians had a beautiful belief about death and that when their souls got to the entrance to heaven, the guards asked two questions inevitably determining whether they were able to enter or not by their answer. Those two questions were: ‘Have you found joy in your life?’ and 'Has your life brought joy to others?’ In retrospect, to answer those two questions you have to take a good look at your life and see if you found someone/something that gives you joy like art, dancing, or whatever the case may be and in turn see if that joy gives joy to others. In the end, find the joy that brings out the best in your life to where your life makes a positive difference in others.