"Long questions deserve short answers."
-- Alan Cohen
New: Audio version
[Classic post from 7-25-15]
So, here's a long question: What is the purpose of life? Here's the deserving short answer: JOY.
I've studied life in earnest since I was a youngster, and joy is the only answer that makes any sense. The more I learn, the more I see that is the desired result. Why do we like sex? For the joy it brings. Why do we buy shiny new things? The joy it brings. Why do we work at excelling at what we do to achieve mighty objectives? The joy it brings to have done it and to bask in that joy for as long as we can feel it. Whatever we do, we are hoping, wanting, expecting (or not, because it certainly is a choice!), desiring to feel good, to have more well-being, to be happy, to have and experience more joy.
To me, joy is like being super happy, yet at the same time not flailing about. Yesterday was Friday and I went to the bank to make a deposit. The bank is 2.5 miles from my home office. There are 10 stoplights between here and there. Having made this trip hundreds of times, it is very rare that all the lights are red when I get there. It is equally rare to find them all green.
At stoplight number two, I'm petting Charlie while waiting, and I have been in joy for most of the day already, and am still. A flashy custom, loud motorcycle goes in between our two lanes to the front of the intersection. It's a beautiful bike with deep red metallic paint. He's five cars ahead and he's revving his engine many times with increasing impatience. Then the light turns green. He's off. First gear, second gear, third gear, fourth. He's way down there.
I'm cruising on down and we come to the next red light and there he is revving his motor. The light turns green and he's off like a rocket! I'm cruising casually at the 35 mph speed limit (or close enough), and here's another red light. And, there he is at the front of the intersection.
Now the odds of this are pretty dang high, but he raced from one stoplight to the other and he won the First One At The Stoplight prize for sure, and I met him at nine of the ten stoplights on red. I think that was fricken amazing. I was laughing and enjoying the whole scene so much, that when I parked and went into the bank, my joy was spilling out of me all over the place. I announced boldly when I walked in at 5:30pm, "Thank God It's FUN!" (My version of T.G.I.F.) I found nothing but things to compliment, nothing but smiles and joy in return. You give joy and joy is returned!
This feeling of joy is a feeling of connectedness with all of life. That's why it is deeper than simply being happy. Joy is equal to love. I am so enjoying myself and those around me and if there were something that I would not be liking, it is not even on my radar. Even silly things like the motorcycle guy racing to the next 9 stoplights fill me with joy. And, the best thing is that this is the way I am most of the time now.
This paragraph from Abraham, Esther Hicks speaks to how I have arrived at this place and how we all can do the same: "You will never reach the place where you will not need to be diligent about your choice of thought. Because you live in a world that is determined to show you every pocket of despair. So you must diligently choose. But it gets easier and easier and easier to do so. Right now, it may feel to you like those moments of Connection are the rare ones. There will be a time when those moments of Connection will feel so normal that it will shock you when you get into a place of disconnection."
Choosing Is Always Our Choice. I Choose Joy!
Spread Some Joy Today--and watch it come back at you.
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