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What is joy?

• Joy is a sustained sense of well-being and inner peace.
• Joy is to awaken to the wonder of being alive and conscious in an extraordinary world.
• Joy is to feel connected to something deeply meaningful.
• Joy is the effervescent awareness that all is well and everything is consciousness.
• Joy is to realise that the treasure we have been searching for lies buried within us.

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Joy is my nature and springs from within

• Children are living expressions of joy. Then they grow older and their joy becomes obscured by shame and self-judgement. And most of all, by closing themselves off to pain.
• The joy I see in a child at play is still alive within me. Joy is the very nature of my Inner Being.  Joy is what I am.
• By finding ways to connect to the inherent joy of my Inner Being, joy flows into my life and the world. 
• The deeper I connect with my core, the greater will be my joy.

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Joy does not depend on circumstances

• While happiness only smiles when the sun is out, joy dances in the downpour.  When I am connected to my inner joy, I no longer need life to be a certain way.   

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Joy is my birthright

• The amount of inner joy and peace I feel is the truest measure of success in life.
• Joy is also the truest measure of well-being, wisdom and wealth.
• Feeling joy is the very purpose of life. I was created for joy.
• Joy is a conscious choice. I choose joy. I claim joy. I open up to joy. I express and share joy.
• I am worthy of joy. I deserve to experience a joyful life. Joy is what Life wants for everyone.
• I do not postpone joy. I embrace today and I live in the now. Now is the only place joy can be found.
• I don’t allow nay-sayers or critics to steal my joy. 

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Joy is powerful beyond measure

• Joy attracts abundance into my life.  Joy attracts more joy.
• Joy leads to success more than success leads to joy.
• Joy, collected over time, fuels resilience during difficult times.
• Joy sustains and strengthens.
• Joy inspires creativity.
• Joy energises and motivates.
• Joy heals and brings health.
• Joy is expansive and limitless.
• Joy is wonderfully infectious.

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Joy is on the other side of pain

• For joy to exist, there must exist its opposite.  Life is a mosaic of joy and sorrow. Joy and sorrow are finely woven.
• To numb my pain is to numb my joy. My painful feelings are crying out to be felt. When a feeling is allowed, it is no longer trapped. It flows freely, revealing peace and joy beneath it.
• Sorrow carves out my capacity to feel joy. Sorrow, deeply felt, often turns to great joy.
• Life is about allowing myself to experience fully every step of the journey, both the joy and the pain.

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Joy is triplets with peace and love

• Joy is peace dancing. Joy is the peace inherent in my awareness overflowing into the world.  Joy infuses the world with consciousness.
• Love is joy shared.  To be full of joy is to be full of love.

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Joy is found in simple things

• Joys come from simple and natural things: mists over meadows, sunlight on leaves, the path of the moon over water.
• When I get too busy chasing down the extraordinary, I miss the joy that is available right here, right now.

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Sharing my joy with the world

• My joy is my gift to the world. I serve the world with my joy.  My vocation lies in the intersection of the world’s deep need and my deep joy.
• My purpose is to tap into the energy and joy of my innermost Being and then allow that energy to flow into the world in a way that truly blesses the world.
• By sharing my joy with others, I double it. By sharing my sorrow, I halve it.

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1.  Love and connection

• Love, compassion, kindness and forgiveness
• Self-love and self-acceptance
• Connection and intimacy with others 
• Embracing my humanness, all of it
• Laughter and humour

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2.  Living from the heart

• Following my bliss
• Creative expression
• Living from the heart
• Living a life of purpose according to what I value most
• Being truly myself and following my own path
• Immersing myself in flow activities

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3.  Self realisation and connection to God

• Realising my true Self as limitless, every-present awareness
• Realising that everyone and everything is God’s Infinite Being, including my own being
• A deep sense of oneness with the universe and everyone in it
• Raising my level of consciousness
• Knowing that underlying this world of appearances, all is well and unfolding exactly as it’s meant to
• Truth and understanding
• Connection and surrender to God (Inner Being) through prayer, meditation, awareness, devotion, contemplation and worship
• Embracing mystery, letting go of the need to know

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4.  Living with awareness and acceptance

• Living a conscious, virtuous, principled life
• Being in the here and now and living with spacious awareness
• Finding meaning in life’s experiences
• Resting deeply in the awareness of being aware
• Exercise, sleep, rest, balance, healthy eating
• Living in integrity 
• Doing less, being more
• Stillness
• Acceptance
• Flowing with life.
• Inner contentment and peace
• Surrendering to and trusting in life’s flow

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5.  Giving and sharing

• Serving with a loving heart
• Selfless giving
• Making a difference
• Sharing joy and bringing joy to others

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6.  Being fully and gratefully alive

• Exploring and discovering
• Having adventures
• Awakening to the wonder and miracle that life is
• Embracing new experiences
• Playing and having fun
• Healing past wounds and releasing repressed pain of the past
• Allowing myself to feel
• Appreciation and gratitude
• Savouring simple pleasures
• Celebrating every step of life’s journey
• Spending time in nature
• Opening my eyes to beauty and wonder
• Anticipation and happy memories
• Slowing down
• Smiling

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7.  Growth and transcendence

• Achievement
• Victory
• Making progress
• Growing, learning
• Transcending limits
• Realising my potential
• Focusing on my strengths and talents
• Gaining mastery

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• Enthusiasm
• Aliveness
• Vitality
• Delight
• Passion
• Laughter
• Wonder
• Curiosity
• Fun
• Excitement
• Anticipation
• Gratitude
• Celebration
• Peace
• Cheerfulness
• Enjoyment
• Happiness
• Pleasure
• Euphoria
• Rapture
• Ecstacy

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• Excessive thinking and labelling
• Excessive judging and criticising
• Resistance
• Complaining and negativity
• Fear, stress and worry
• Comparison
• Anger, resentment and hatred
• Taking things for granted, ingratitude
• Playing things too safe
• Excessive routine
• Being lost in separateness (ego)
• Numbing pain
• Closing the heart
• Excessive busyness
• Living in the past (regret) and living in the future (anxiety)
• Shame and guilt
• Lack of self-love, self-esteem,
• Lack of self-compassion
• Procrastination and indecision
• Excessive perfectionism
• Limiting beliefs, especially about one’s capabilities and personal power
• A victim mentality
• Addiction, craving
• Fatigue
• The excessive need to control and to know
• Excessive attachment to outcome and circumstances
• Apathy
• Approval seeking
• Mistrust in life, feeling like one is buffeted by fate
• Negativity and pessimism
• Ignoring one’s heart and soul
• Excessive attachment and materialism
• Jealousy and envy
• Stagnation
• Self absorption

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• Keep a joy journal – record all ongoing moments of joy.
• Keep a gratitude journal
• Write a prescription for increased joy and follow it.
• Create a list of all life’s simple joys that are free or cost very little.
• Notice moments of joy when they arise. Say “This is a moment of joy.”
• Meditate on joyful experiences in the past.
• Consciously search for the blessings in challenging times.
• Live with spacious conscious awareness in the now.
• Use Byron Katie’s process “The Work” to banish judgements and grievances.
• Gain a sense of spacious clarity for your life
• Identify “joy stealing” beliefs and transcend them.
• Identify the negative “voices in my head” and learn to smile at them.

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• What brings me joy?
• What would a joyful life look like?
• What does joy mean to me?
• What are my most joyful moments?
• What is keeping me from experiencing joy right now?
• More questions about joy

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• In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. Albert Camus
• Joy is not in things, it is in us. Richard Wagner
• The closer you come to your core, the greater is your joy. Torkom Saraydarian
• The only true measure of success is the amount of joy we are feeling. Abraham-Hicks
• The joy in life is to be used for a purpose. I want to be used up when I die. George Bernard Shaw
• Vocation is the place where the world’s greatest need and a person’s greatest joy meet. Frederick Buechner
• To be granted some kind of usable talent and to be able to use it to the fullest extent of which you are capable – this, to me, is a kind of joy that is almost unequaled. Lawrence Welk
• What brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I’m doing. Phil Jackson
• Joy is being willing for things to be as they are. Joko Beck
• The fullness of Joy is to behold God in everything. Julian of Norwich
• There are moments when I wish I could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but I have the feeling that if I did, the joy would be gone as well. Nicholas Spark
• Joy and sorrow are like milk and cookies. That’s how well they go together. Neil Gaiman
• Your joy can fill you only as deeply as your sorrow has carved you. Khalil Gibran
• Oh the wild joys of living! The leaping from rock to rock … the cool silver shock of the plunge in a pool’s living waters. Robert Browning
• You increase your joy by increasing the pure joy of others. Torkom Saraydarian
• Many people lose the small joys in the hope for the big happiness. Pearl S. Buck
• More quotes about joy

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• I am Joy
• Joy is my natural state of being
• I am joyfully alive
• I am joyfully connected to the Divine
• I am worthy of Joy
• More joy affirmations

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