by D.T. Waking

Created on: December 30, 2009   Last Updated: December 31, 2009

I had an absolutely amazing realization recently and to be quite honest I am not sure what to make of it!  A colleague asked the question: "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?"  It took me about 30-45 seconds to realize my answer.  And it is, "I would do exactly what I'm doing now...not much would change."  This was pretty surprising to me but I find that I am fairly pleased with the realization.  It reads to the reality that my life’s activities are completely in line with my true self.  This makes me very happy. 

This is significant because recently I have been contemplating the concept of happiness...again.  I have been in a fairly consistent state of happiness for the past five years in spite of life circumstances (with the exception of a 7 month stint, in which I was very unhappy).  And these days I am very happy.  I attribute some of my happiness to the state of my relationships and much of it to the state of my life activities, i.e. I get to do much of what I want to do and be the person I want to be. 

But my contemplations on happiness really revolve around the contrast between happiness and joy.  I have lived in a state of joy at many points in my life.  I have joy now!  And I believe that joy is an essential part of life, unlike happiness.  Happiness is optional, but if joy is not present, the individual life becomes cumbersome, frustrating and often bleak.  Joy essentially comes from a knowing; faith in our life and our future.  In this way, joy should be an integral part of some aspect of life for the sake of feeling alive and having a meaningful life. 

Happiness on the other hand is a different story.  We can live a fairly normal life without ever really being happy.  And for those who do live without much happiness, most don't even realize that happiness is missing.  But happiness is more than just optional.  Happiness is not just living a meaningful life; it grants us a feeling of fullness with life.  It takes life past the minimum of living and fulfilling a purpose to the act of enjoying the purpose and the life being lived.   Happiness essentially comes from the quality of the life we are living.  And here lies the contrast.  Joy will take us through the worst of times and give us strength to endure what we may not think we could.  We need that because life is unpredictable.  Happiness

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