My word is JOY…The one word that sums up who I am and who I want to be and what I value above all. Joy. A feeling of great pleasure and happiness. Joy isn’t just happiness. It isn’t just pleasure. It’s both, and it’s more. To me, joy also contains gratitude, elation, excitement, contentment, and celebration. Happiness is much more conditional than joy. Being joyous is a lasting feeling. It’s a state of mind.
Another part in figuring this whole thing out is, I think, to understand who I am and what I value. When people ask what I want to do for the rest of my life, the answer is (and has been for as long as I can remember) to use my abilities to help people be happy. To take it a step further, I want to use my abilities to make people (in part or as a whole) joyous. Maybe it’s difficult for me to say exactly what I want to do because there are so many paths that lead to being joyful. Sure, I can find joy in anything I do, but I want to help others find it, too…even if it’s over something small.
So, what else do I value—either in myself OR in others?
-compassion
-understanding
-thoughtfulness
-kindness
-intellect
-creativity
-celebration
-positivity
-imagination
-ambition
-introspection
These things are essential to me to survive. If I lose them, I lose balance, and I forget who I am…and my sense of self is a top priority. These are things I hope to help others cultivate within themselves, too.
