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Home | Psychology of Wellness | Mindfulness Archive | Joy of Being

BY: T. Franklin Murphy | July 11, 2019 (edited February 12, 2022)

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We find joy in relishing small moments of simply being.

We drift through our days with blindness, repeating the same tired routines. Existence demands action just to survive. We put food on the table and shelter over our heads. In these necessary pursuits, joys get lost, subordinate to necessity, we sacrifice what we desire for what we need. Yet, joy gives life beauty, making everything a little brighter. We must configure life priorities to find joy in being. We need a little enlightened happiness instead of blindly marching to  evolutionary drives. Pause for a moment and feel the joy of being.

Where We Find Joy?

​While I’ll continue to delve deep into the study of human nature, motivation, and emotion, I understand that, perhaps, the most powerful influences on our emotional development are the simple joys. We must infuse days with moments that bring peace and provoke endurable joy.

What is Being?

​Susan David suggests, “Free yourself from pursuing perfection so you can enjoy the process of loving and living.” (2016. Location 3056).This is sage advice.
 
Erich Fromm in his classic work To Have or to Be warns that contemporary society isn’t conducive to joy (2013). The thrill-seeking generation miss understands joy. The joyless hole in their life creates a vacuum where seekers try to find satisfaction through uninhibited pleasures. The difference, however, is that pleasure is a peak experience. It begins, culminate and ends. Joy is different. “Joy is not the ecstatic fore of the moment. Joy is the glow that accompanies being.” (2013).
 
The Dalai Lama puts it this way, “True happiness relates more to the mind and heart. Happiness that depends mainly on physical pleasure is unstable; one day it is there the next day it may not.” (Cutler, 2009, p.33).

Books on Inner Peace

Focusing on the Joys

Thich Nhat Hanh adds to the discussion by focusing on joys availability. “Wherever we are, anytime, we have the capacity to enjoy the sunshine, the presence of each other, even the sensation of our breathing” (2005). These moments can be felt, giving life to the peace already living inside. We just need to quiet outside noises. 
 
We need the peace of nature, the joy of friendship, and the thrill of being alive. The inner pushes to achieve and possess drown out the soft voices that bring joy in being.  Break free for small moments. Give yourself an escape, take brief recess from the non-sense and breath in the beauty of life, feel the joy of existence, and rejuvenate with the power of being.

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Resources Cited:

Cutler, H.; Dalai Lama (2009). The Art of Happiness, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Handbook for Living. Riverhead Books.

David, S. (2016). Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life. Avery; First Edition edition.

Fromm, E (2013). To Have or To Be?. Bloomsbury Academic; Reprint edition.

Hanh, T. N. (2005). Being Peace. Parallax Press; 2nd edition

​Other Flourishing Life Society articles of interest on this topic: