"I've come to understand joy
as very different from happiness.
While happiness is a mood,
joy is a state of being."
-- Mark Nepo
Just when you think your piece of coal is a perfect description of your thought, someone throws in a diamond.
I've talked often of joy because I have come to know it, and the natural result of that is to also share it. But, first we need to understand what joy is. I've talked often of happiness because I have come to know it, and the natural result of that is to also share it. But, first we need to understand what happiness is.
Over time, I have offered many different perspectives of both of these concepts, and yesterday, I heard the quote above by Mark Nepo, which simplified, and at the same time, clarified both happiness and joy. "While happiness is a mood, joy is a state of being."
This led me on a brief thought journey this morning and I began thinking about learning. First, I was celebrating how when you keep looking, you find more, and I am always open, willing, and even eager to learn more, understand more fully, feel more aligned. Mark's quote moved me quite a distance by resonating within me so that it was a vibrational match.
That caused me to think about learning in general, and somehow, I thought of school, and especially junior high and high school. I was thinking how some teachers might see some students as incorrigible, unwilling to learn, or as unteachable, maybe even worse--unlearnable. My thoughts about that was that these kids are not only willing to learn, but they cannot help but learn. If they are alive, they are learning. They may not be learning what the teacher wants them to learn, but that is a different issue.
Unteachable? Impossible. They are being taught all day every day. They may not be being taught what the teacher wants to teach, but that is a whole different issue. Unlearnable? Another impossibility, and only the opinion of the teacher. Incorrigible? Impossible also. They can be directed and moved and changed as they desire that or allow it. Another opinion of the teacher.
This train of thought led me back to the quote and my response to it. It resonated within me. It led me to more alignment, a greater and deeper understanding of things I have talked about quite often. This reminded me also how continually being open to learning the things that are important to me, I find better and more effective ways to share; to teach.
The kids in school simply need the knowledge that the school and/or the teacher are trying to teach to be as relevant as possible to them. They are eager to learn, and at the same time, impatient to learn. Aren't we all. We are all learning what we allow ourselves to learn, what things and ideas we are interested in learning about, and we all get excited when we find that resonate bit--that bit that resonates and causes more alignment within ourselves. That bit that helps us feel spurts of growth, of becoming, of our own unfolding.
It is true that some are patiently or impatiently waiting for that which they want so much to learn to come upon them. Of course, this isn't really how it works. Think of it like golf: If we put ourselves in the fairway--anywhere in the fairway, we've got a good shot. As we lounge in the rough, the opportunities are somewhat diminished. It's never about ability, intelligence, or even attitude. It's about desire. Get on the fairway of someone else's desire to know, and let the party begin!
How It Is Said Is Equally Important To My Proximity To It Being Said.
Spread Some Joy Today--You'll know it when you feel it.
No comments:
Post a Comment