Two Words to Help You Find Joy

One of the main goals people have is to experience joy in life. For some, it is easier than others. One of the greatest questions is how and where to find that joy.

People seek joy in many different places, such as life experiences, relationships, money, and careers just to name a few. Another question is, why do so many people have a hard time finding joy? I have learned and been recently reminded again, that it’s because they are looking in the wrong places for it. I have often been guilty of this myself.

So how and where do we find this joy that is so often elusive for so many? I can sum it up in two words…. Look inside. Look inside what? Look inside you. It’s so simple. In fact I believe it is too simple, which is why so many people miss it. There are verses all over the Bible that state that the spirit of God is in you. Since that spirit is in you, it is a part of you. You are in union with it! And one of the fruits of that spirit is joy.

You don’t have to go looking for joy. It is already in you and already part of your being. You automatically carry joy, along with the other fruits of the spirit such as love, peace, self-control, etc. with you wherever you are.

Knowing you are already the joy you are seeking, the challenge is to switch your focus. Instead of seeking joy, let the joy that already are shine out from you. How do you do this? There are many ways. What has worked for me is to focus on that joy in me, and also to focus my thoughts on the good in everyone and everything else. Another idea is to watch your thoughts. Remove any thought that interferes with the joy that is already part of you. Doing this follows the Biblical advice to take each thought captive. Feed your mind with joyful thoughts. Ones that are good, noble, and praiseworthy, which is another bit of Biblical advice. Remove the ones that have the potential to cloud the light of the joy that is in you.

I realize that this is a very simple, and basic post. However, as I mentioned before, this concept does not have to be complicated. Remember that joy is already yours. You already have it and are it. Instead of seeking it, let it shine forth brightly from you, without any interference. The Bible says it is God’s will that we are joyful always. Why not follow this advice and deliberately experience this joy that is a part of all of us. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

Does God Want You to Be Happy?

I was recently reading something that said it is God’s will that I experience happiness in my life. I took the time to reflect on that for a few minutes. I’ve been lucky that I’ve experienced mostly happiness over my lifetime, so this wasn’t too difficult to believe. However, one would think about this further and possibly question this statement. After all, there is so much unhappiness in this world. There is a global pandemic, crime and terror is on the increase, and generally, especially in the United States, people are more stressed and unhappy than ever before. So is this God’s way of showing who’s boss, and is this possibly His will instead of happiness?

Regardless of all the negativity we hear about, and some may experience, I strongly believe God wants us all to be happy. Here are some Bible quotes that back this up. Ecclestiastes 3:12-13 says, “so I concluded there is NLT. Psalm 35:27 says that the Lord delights and takes pleasure in the well-being, success, and prosperity of His servant.  Galatians 5:22-23 lists all of the fruits of the spirit. One of those is joy which is the root of happiness. Since God’s spirit lives in you, joy and happiness are an inherent part of your being! I don’t think God would include joy as one of those fruits if He didn’t want you to experience it.

I do understand that we all face situations and times in our lives that are not happy. However, God did say we would face trials. What some people miss when these occur is that God allows these trials to occur in order to help us grow. And I’ve learned that growth through these difficult and unhappy circumstances ultimately brings more happiness into my life!

To conclude, I will share what I Thessalonians 5:16-18 says to Rejoice always, pray continually, and be thankful in all circumstances, and that this is God’s will for you. When it says it’s God’s will that means it’s His intention. He created us with a happy, rewarding life in mind, even though He knew parts of this life would be difficult for us. The information I’m presenting here is a bit simplified. However, I believe some of you that read this may think that happiness is not what God intended for you in this life. I am hoping these verses prove that it is indeed His will that you ARE happy far more often than not. God is on your side, and your happiness brings Him happiness. And I can’t think of anything better than putting a smile on His face. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

Keep Your Vibration High by Taking Your Thoughts Captive

I’ve written often about the concept of vibration on this site. Basically, your vibration is the level of your emotional state. That makes a difference because your external circumstances reflect what your internal vibration is. When your vibration is high, with emotions like love, joy, gratitude, and peace, you experience joyful circumstances and are given more things to be thankful for. When your vibration is low, with emotions like doubt, fear, anger, etc., you are often faced with circumstances that bring about more of those negative emotions. I realize this truth more every day, as there are countless Bible verses to back this up, and I see it play out in my life experience.

It’s a simple formula. Instead of trying to control the circumstances in life (which is very difficult to do), we are solely responsible for controlling our inner state of being. I find this very comforting since I have full control of my inner state. I think you should find this very comforting too. The problem is that it is sometimes easier said than done. Many people have learned this same fact. Yet it is often difficult to control their emotions. As much as I’ve learned and shared about this regularly, I feel your pain and often have that same difficulty. Instead of trying to control my own state of being, I allow people or circumstances to dictate how I feel. It happens much less than it used to, but I am still learning in this area as well.

So how does one best control their emotional vibration and bring it to a level that will allow the manifestation of the ideal life? There are plenty of suggestions out there. One of the best I’ve been taught is from Esther Hicks. If you want to learn about the Law of Attraction and how to apply it, she would be one of my first recommendations. I have learned so much from her that has enhanced the quality of my life. She has a ton of videos on YouTube, as well as a couple of great books too. In one of those books, she shares the concept of the emotional guidance scale. At the top of the scale are the highest emotions, such as the ones I mentioned earlier. At the bottom of the scale are the lowest emotions, also mentioned above. She suggests using this scale as a guide. The recommendation is to have regular check-ins with yourself to see where you stand on the emotional scale. She then challenges you to deliberately think thoughts that bring you higher and higher on the scale until you are in the highest emotional state. One of the most important suggestions is to take things one step at a time, and not try to go from a lower emotional state immediately to the highest. That could be frustrating and end up defeating the whole process. For example, there are 22 emotions listed from lowest to highest. If I am at level 7 for example, which is contentment, instead of going directly to number 1, I should go to level 6 which is hopefulness, then to 5 which is optimism, and eventually work myself up to the highest emotions. Even if I am much lower on the scale, this is very helpful. For example, if I am feeling frustration/irritation which is level 10, it’s almost impossible to start feeling joy immediately. However, if I go up just one level, which is pessimism. Pessimism is still a negative emotion, but it’s better than being frustrated, so I am already feeling a little better than I was. Then I think thoughts that move me up to the next level which is boredom, and so on, until my emotional state has gone from bad to good, to awesome. Here is an excellent article I found that further explains and helps practice the process.

This process has been very helpful to me. However, like I mentioned before, it is sometimes more easily said than done. Sometimes, especially if I am lower on the emotional scale, it takes a long time to start feeling the higher emotions. That sometimes leads me to give up and I end up further down the list again by getting frustrated. Recently, I found other information that I believe is even more helpful than what I mentioned above. Now I am not going to argue with what Esther Hicks says. She is extremely successful, as she has used the Law of Attraction to bring major blessing into her life, and into the lives of millions of others. Her suggestion is excellent, and I know from experience that it works. However, what I am about to share has worked even better for me, and it has taken away the sometimes long and frustrating process of gradually working my way up the emotional scale.

The only problem with what I am about to share is that I don’t remember where I found this excellent information. I do so much reading and research on this topic, that I sometimes don’t save my sources. I cannot properly cite where I found this wonderful information. I can simply tell you that I can’t take credit for creating this idea myself. However, I can also tell that you that it is incredibly powerful, and it has really helped me increase my emotional state, and its resulting manifestations. Here it is… instead of starting from the emotion you are currently feeling and working your way up to the highest emotions, consider this… those highest emotions of love, joy, peace, and gratitude are your natural state! I recently wrote an article about that topic that you can check out here. Remember that the spirit of God lives in you. And the fruits of the spirit are those emotions I just mentioned. Love, joy, and peace are what you naturally are! The only reason you are not feeling that way all the time is because you allow other emotions to block those out. Here’s an illustration. I live outside of Buffalo, New York. This city is known for its snow (over 90 inches or about 250cm per year). From November to April we almost never see the sun. However, it doesn’t mean the sun is not there. The sun is still shining. We just don’t see it because there are clouds, and snowflakes that get in the way and prevent us from experiencing the light. (just for the record… from June through October the sun shines regularly here, and the weather is more beautiful than in many other places).  It’s the same with our emotions. The light of God is always there, right with us. If you are not seeing it and feeling negative emotions, it isn’t because that light of love and joy has disappeared. It’s just that the negative clouds and darkness are blocking the light and the corresponding positive emotions.

2 Corinthians 10:5 says that we “take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.” That means we watch our thoughts to make sure they line up with the truth of what Jesus says. In fact, another version says that we take it a step further, and “We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.” Here’s how I use this with what I was discussing earlier. I first reflect on who I am. I am a child of God, created in His image. I have all of His attributes. For that reason, I reflect on the fact that love, joy, peace, and gratitude (the highest emotional vibrations) are my natural state. In fact, I Thessalonians says they are God’s will for my life. In other words, God created me and you with the intention that we would live in love, joy, and peace, and have plenty of reasons to be thankful. When I get into this mode of thinking, I am starting off with a bright and clear sunny day. I am already feeling amazing! Now, I deliberately focus on my thoughts. If any clouds or raindrops come in, I cast them out. If they persist, I speak against them, reminding myself again that my natural state is love and joy.

I have found that this way of thinking and living is highly effective. As I start with my focus feeling and believing on the highest emotions, those positive manifestations begin to occur, and even begin to multiply! Then it gets even easier to stay in that high vibration. Instead of living in dark and cloudy Buffalo, I am living in bright and sunny Los Angeles! And even if there is some temporary smog that blocks the sun, if I continue to live in this state, it eventually burns off and becomes perfectly sunny and clear. I will say this though… the more you live in this higher vibration and continue to take your thoughts captive to maintain this high emotional level, the smog, clouds, and even storms tend to disappear. Even if they don’t completely go away (God says we will ultimately face trials in our lives) you can still deal with them on a much higher level and find positive solutions much quicker and easier.

Remember, you were created to live joyfully and lovingly. That is who you are. When you make the effort to control your thoughts and emotions to ensure you are thinking those kinds of thoughts, you will end up living those kinds of circumstances. The great thing about it is that it’s all in your control. So take that control and enjoy the blessings 🙂

Joy is Your Natural State

It is very true that people are always looking for more joy in their lives. Millions of dollars are made on books and programs that show people how they can be happier and more joyful. In fact, we have our greatest desires not so we can feel more accomplished or successful. We have our greatest desires because we believe they will bring us greater joy and a more rewarding life experience.

The problem with this is that we are searching in all of the wrong places for our joy. I’m not saying it’s wrong to read books or do things that we believe will make us happier. Nor am I saying we shouldn’t have the dreams and desires that we do. What I am saying is that we don’t have to go looking on the outside for the joy we are so desperately craving. Instead, we need to realize that joy is at the essence of our being. It is one of the fruits of the spirit that we are all part of. Joy is not something we need to go out and find. If we can spend enough time to meditate on who we really are, and realize that love, joy, peace and the other fruits of the spirit are our true, intended states of being, then we won’t have to seek joy. It will automatically manifest because, again, joy is our natural state. Sadness, anger, and negative emotions are NOT natural. They are only emotional states that we bring upon ourselves.

I understand that things happen in our lives that make it difficult to experience joy. People or experiences hurt us, or we lose people in our lives because of disagreement, break-up, or death. I’m not at all saying that we shouldn’t feel sad in those circumstances or angry at an injustice. At the same time, I am saying that we shouldn’t let any circumstance determine the level of joy we experience in our lives.

The question that may be asked now is, “how do I allow this joy that is my natural state to manifest in my world?” There are several ways you can do this. These work for me, so I share them with you. First, as I mentioned earlier, take breaks throughout the day in meditation, reflection, prayer, or whatever you want to call it. Reflect upon the fact that the spirit of God lives in you. It is part of your essence. Remember again that joy is one of the fruits of that spirit. The Bible also says that when you seek that spirit first, above all else, you receive all else (all else shall be added onto you)! That includes joy.

Another helpful hint is to actually do things that make you feel joyful. Whenever you can find time during the day, do something that makes you happy. Listen to your favorite music. Take a nature walk. Play a game. Talk to a friend. Anything you can do that will increase your level of joy.

It is also said that emotions follow the action. That’s why I always recommend smiling as much as possible. When you carry a smile on your face, it automatically brings more joy. This never fails!! Even when I’ve been in the worst of moods, and I’m forcing the fake smile on my face, it always gets me out of the funk, and the smile becomes real, and the level of joy increases. Sticking with this theme, it’s also true that the more you focus on joy, the more reasons in life you will be given to be joyful.

Once again I will say it. Joy is your natural state. You don’t have to seek it anywhere else but inside of you. Make it a point to focus on the joy that is a part of you, and you will experience it.

It was certainly a joy to write this. I hope it is equally joyful for you to read it. Have an excellent day 🙂

Share What You Have

I just want to provide a reminder for you. The very Spirit of God dwells in you. That means you already possess all the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and self control you can imagine.  It also means you are connected to everything and everyone in the universe. Once again…whatever it is…you already have it!

Knowing this, I challenge you to share as much as this love and light with as many people as you can today. It doesn’t have to be anything major. You can share your joy with a simple smile. You can share your love with a simple act of service. Think about how you can share any of these spiritual gifts, then do what you are inspired to do. It will make someone’s day, and yours too. Enjoy the blessings : )