Is Joy A Top Core Value? Do you feel joy? Is joy just another form of happiness, or does it have a deeper, more profound meaning? I investigated the subject and here’s what I found.
What is joy?
Joy can be described as a feeling of great happiness, exuberance, contentment, elation, and rapture and delight. However, some argue that happiness is an altogether more superficial feeling we can feel happy about buying a new car, feel satisfied when we’re given a gift, or experience intense pleasure. But joy is altogether more intense and strikes at our foundation or our inner wellness.
Joy As A Core Value?
Core values keep you grounded and true to your beliefs and ensure you don’t stray off the beaten path, doing things that are not in keeping with your fundamental values. Core values also provide a navigational system guiding you towards your life goals.
Such goals might be being real with your friends and family, being honest, acting with integrity, being open-minded, loyal, hardworking the list goes on. If you haven’t already defined your core values, click here to discover how.
“joy means that you open your heart to receive love.“
When you practice joy as a fundamental value, you embrace real contentment not because you are happy, but you have reached a destination within yourself that creates a profound reality, peace, and hope.
You can feel joy even if you are experiencing sadness, joy means that you open your heart to receive love. That is why joy should be one of your top core values. Part of joy is graduating to be the best version of yourself, even if things aren’t going your way. It’s a difficult thing to do but it’s definitely achievable to discover how you can achieve this by clicking this link.
Find Joy As a Core Value by Living
Moment to Moment
If you’re anything like me, I spend a lot of time inside my own head. I think about the past and the future but very little about the present. I think the same could be true for most of us.
However, it was John Lennon who said —
“Life is What Happens To You While You’re Busy Making Other Plans.”
But how often do we forget that this moment was, in fact, the future and that the future will never come because it will always be the present? The fact is that once you come to terms with living every moment to the fullest you will harness real joy.
In his book, New York Times best-seller “The Power of Now”, Eckhart Tolle explains three important principles
- Life is just a series of present moments.
- All pain is a result of resistance to the things you cannot change.
- You can free yourself from pain by constantly observing your mind and not judging your thoughts.
This simplistic yet appealing way of looking at life frees us from constantly blaming ourselves and encourages us to take action to resolve our pain. Because we can only change what we have the power and influence if we don’t have these two components resisting it is pointless.
Real joy, therefore, is appreciating that we may not be able to change the weather but we can change our attitude towards it. We can also take steps to lessen the effects of the weather by wearing a coat and sensible shoes and by living moment to moment.
Along with this Tolle, explains that we should remain conscious of our thoughts and not judge them. This, in view, creates a level of peace and joy most of us merely dream of.
I have included Tolle’s amazing book in my list of recommended readings which you can access by clicking this link.
Christians Believe That Joy Is Born
Out of Love
Joy to a significant part of Christians’ core beliefs. Galatians 5:22-23 states:
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law.”
To Christians, the fruits of the spirit signify liberation because Jesus died and was resurrected and his presence as the Holy Spirit allows Jesus to live in us. Christians experience all the fruits of the spirit, joy being one of them.
“Joy as a core values means you lose sight of your own selfish needs“
Joy, means you lose sight of your own selfish needs and feel inner personal satisfaction. Your self-denial is worth it for the greater good. Joy brings you closer to a deeper and more profound sense of who you are, because, like love, it’s much bigger than ourselves.
True joy is getting to a sweet spot where you find that holistic balance between your love and work. There are some amazing tools that provide a beautiful way to achieve this and I highly recommend that you hit this link to find some amazing tools that will help you on your journey to discover true joy. Click this link to discover more….
“Joy is prayer; joy is strength: joy is love; joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.”
Mother Theresa.
When Do You Experience Joy As
A Core Value?
By doing good to others, you can experience love and selflessness, and pure joy. So you experience joy by seeking to gift it to others allowing it to reflect back onto you.
Think about a moment when you have experienced pure joy.
Was it the birth of your child?
Or when you met your partner?
What about when you got your ideal job or achieved a goal you were really passionate about?
“When someone causes you emotional pain it can be soul-destroying“
What was it about the event that made you feel joy?
Did you feel any of the other emotions stated below?
Selfless? Contentment? Love? Sorrow? Peace? Relief? Hope?
The esteemed Russian writer Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy said:
“Joy can only be real if people look upon their life as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.”
If you would like to discover how you can introduce more joy in your life by being at peace with yourself and accepting yourself for who you are, I have listed some powerful tools that will help you to find your hidden joy. Click this link to find out out more.
Can Joy Create Freedom As A
Core Value?
Earlier I explained how Christians feel liberated by Christ as the Holy Spirit living in them.
The Cambridge English Dictionary states that liberation is “an occasion when something or someone is released or made free.“ So with liberation comes a sense of freedom and with it empowerment and control.
“we should cry acknowledge our pain, seek help if we need it”
When someone causes you emotional pain it can be soul-destroying and leave you heartbroken. Being open to dialogue to express your feeling of hurt and disappointment is important. When we open up and share our feelings it acts as a way of releasing our suffering.
Emotional pain can bring with it physical pain placing stress on our body. Our brain sends signals to our body that we are experiencing emotional stress which can damage our long and short-term health. Going through pain can also weaken our faith in humanity and leave us feeling empty.
When we extreme pain it’s important to find a way of releasing it and not allow it to define you. Christian approach to dealing with pain is summed up neatly in Psalms, 30:5 which says, “Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”
“Joy comes from being able to let go of pain“
It means that when we hurt instead of internalizing it we should cry acknowledge our pain, seek help if we need it but appreciate that “joy comes in the morning”.
Joy comes from being able to let go of pain and remember that you’re responsible for your own happiness.
Find out just like I did, how you can introduce a new way of thinking that promotes your well-being and a sense of peace and happiness. Click this link to discover your hidden happiness.
Does Joy As A Core Value Give
Rise To Hope?
If you have a goal or mission for your life, joy can help you achieve it because joy can fuel your ability to hope.
Imagine standing on top of a mountain looking down on the vision you want for our life. You unearth the building blocks to make our vision come alive.
“Don’t let anyone steal
your joy“
The hope of what you plan for your future can introduce a sense of joy and fulfillment. This is because your hope produces faith in your ability to grow and persevere through hard times which gives way to joy.
Inner joy brings not only hope but self-love born out of the freedom to accept yourself for who you are and not based on how society defines you. When this happens, your life and opportunities become so much richer and deeper. So let joy become one of your top personal values and use it to fuel your vision for your life.
If you would like to promote self-love or find joy through meeting your soulmate, I have put together some powerful books and tools that will transform how you view love.