I've spent a great deal of time reflecting on the concept of Joy; in fact, I've dedicated the beginning of my Steemit experience to this topic. For the second piece of this blog series, I wanted to present a concept of joy to you all and solicit your feedback.
"Joy is the daddy of happiness."
This expression came up when having a morning coffee with a friend of mine. He insisted that happiness was a fleeting emotion, something you experience, but don't sustain over time. Happiness - in his mind - could look like an innate laugh from hearing a funny joke. Joy - on the other hand - is a perpetual state of being that resonates from extended periods of happiness. Is this true? is joy just a product of being happy all the time? Are they synonymous?
“Joy is in fact our birthright and even more fundamental than happiness.
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
I encourage you to read this book if you have any interest on this topic!
Moving forward, like the Dalai Lama, I believe joy depends on a handful of things; spokes on a wheel, if you will. Each having equal importance towards the stability of the wheel and the overall likeness. Do any of you have some thoughts on what those might be? Let me know in the comments below! I'll be outlining my "spokes on the wheel" in my next post.
Check out my first post, and stay tuned for more. Thanks for reading!