Is Joy Our Birthright?
Dear friends,
Yes! Thus completes the shortest newsletter ever. See you next week. :-) Oh, maybe I should explain? Well... since you asked...
We tend to think of things as outside of ourselves. "Looking for inner peace." "Trying to find myself." The search for happiness." But this is a confusion of what is really going on. Joy is our nature and joy is within each of us... even you!
The more appropriate question is, "If joy is within me, what am I doing that prevents me from knowing it and feeling it?"
The major delusion on this planet is that we need circumstances to be a certain way for us to feel happy, content, peaceful, and uplifted. Thus we spend virtually all of our time adjusting our life conditions to get them just right. And then, in an even deeper fantasy, somehow expect that if we ever do get them just right they will magically stay that way.
In fact it is our emotional reaction to situations that thwarts our joy. Having said that, I know that the mind immediately goes to an extreme and then says, "How am I supposed to feel joy given that?" But there are hundreds (thousands, actually) of situations that arise almost every day where we allow our joy and peace to be diminished. We don't think about it till an extremely difficult situation hits, and then ask what we are supposed to do. This reminds me of a story...
There was a man with a leaky roof. He noticed when it rained, of course, but thought, "It's raining. I can't go up there now." Then the sun came out and he forgot to deal with the roof because, after all, who thinks about rain with the sun shining?
May we learn to fight our little battles every day, moment by moment. May this give us strength and help us develop the habitually right attitude to face with grace and poise whatever big challenges inevitably come our way.
Blessings,
David G., manager
For the staff at East West