Joy, such a sought after emotion and it should be. Give thanks for the delightful moment it brings to you. The expansion, communion and inspiration it brings. Bask in it.
Then, let it go.
Yes, let it go. Like all of the emotions, it needs to flow naturally. Joy is in abundance. It won’t run out. It will come back as long as you let it go and flow. In its own way, not yours.
Really, I am not trying to bring the party down. There are many spiritual practices, self help gurus and healers who would love to jump all over me for suggesting that staying in joy for too long is not healthy. Staying in any emotion for extended periods of time is not healthy, including the ones we like to label good and desirable. Read more about emotions in Riding the Emotional Waves
Pixar Animation Studios did a wonderful job of demonstrating this in the 2015 computer animated comedy, Inside Out. Joy herself is the star of the show. She manages all the other emotions and keeps them in check because she believes joy is what keeps Riley (the person she lives inside of) happy. In her absence the other emotions try so hard to make Riley happy when Joy is gone. They do this by trying to be like joy, instead of being themselves. Mistaking being happy as dependent on joy, they fail in their endeavor.
Joy vs Happiness
Joy is a desired feeling but happiness (will get to that one later) is its own emotion. Being happy is a state of being that arises when all the emotions are welcomed and allowed to flow freely.
She (Joy) figures this out by the end of the movie (of course she does, it is Hollywood!). She learns that her nemesis, Sadness, serves an important purpose. sadness creates empathy in others when Riley was emotionally overwhelmed and in need of help. Joy doesn’t do that. Once she figures it out, she steps aside and lets Sadness do her job.
Go ahead and accuse me of raining on the bliss parade, but joy is ill equipped to do that job or the job of any of the other emotions and vice versa.
Enjoy your joy and then let it go. It will come back. It has to. It is how we connect to humanity and the world. Hoarding it or not allowing it to flow, will eventually isolate you. No other emotions can come in if you are insistent on only experiencing joy. Shutting down the other emotions, shuts down parts of you. True joy can only be experienced in full bodied wholeness.
Wishing you joyous moments in your day.
