A teaching about joy

“If you are not happy, you are just not serious enough” is a quote I heard the other day; it inspired this writing. It is mostly true, because happiness depends on creating conditions for it, and for this we must usually be serious and motivated.
I will say, “If you are not feeling joyful. you are not aware enough”. Awareness is needed to discover how to be joyful. It is also needed to realize what is in your way of being joyful; such as a belief you don’t deserve it.
Many think joy is the same as happiness, or similar. This is not true, they are vastly different. Happiness is that fleeting emotion you feel, when a desired condition has been met, when a dream of yours comes true, when some situation is perfect, or when someone says the right thing to you, etc, etc.
Joy comes from inside you, it is not conditional to anything outside you. Joy is a consciousness of your heart, loving acceptance of your mind, body, and spirit. Joy happens when you are present in any moment, doing anything. Joy is also a simply beingness, like your cat on a warm windowsill.
Once you know joy, you can be joyful any time or all the time. Should you find yourself not joyful, be more watchful. When I say watchful, I mean meditative witnessing. Witness your breathe, thoughts, and feelings to realize what has distracted you from your heart. Bring awareness to the distraction, see the truth of it, accept it, and by doing so, let it go.
from my book, “Moments of Lucidity”.