Unconditional Joy

There is a joy living deep inside us. It is always there no matter the circumstances. Like unconditional love, this joy requires no set circumstances to exist or be shared. It too is unconditional and doesn't rely on the 'right' situation or environment. This joy is always there, deep at the centre of us. 

Regardless of what is happening in our lives, this joy exists. Unconditional joy is the beautiful source of laughter you may have shared with family and friends at the deathbed of someone you love. When, even in deep grief, you laugh together at a memory involving the friend or relative who is at the centre of your bedside vigil. 

Unconditional joy is the warmth you may have felt in your body, regardless of how fleeting, when you were in a state of despair. A loving warmth that may have turned the corners of your mouth slightly toward the sun, as you were touched by the beauty of the colour of a flower, or the feeling of the breeze on your skin. 

This joy never goes away. It is always inside you and available for you to touch, to draw from and share. It is not reliant on external factors to exist.

We have come to believe joy is conditional and driven by this belief we are motivated to create these conditions. We purchase new things, which are beautiful, to adorn us or surround us. We go on holidays to awe-inspiring places. We eat or drink things we think will feed us joy. And yes, joy is created in these conditions, but this kind of joy disappears when those conditions are not met. When the holiday ends or we become bored with our purchases, so too ends the joy.

When enough is never enough, we create a cycle of always seeking these external conditions for joy. Always looking for it on the outside, when, in fact, it exists right inside us. It has been there all the time. Waiting patiently for us to notice it is there. 

When we touch unconditional joy resting deep inside ourselves, we see the world through eyes of love and joy. We breathe joy, touching it with every inhale and sharing it with the world with every exhale. We express this joy. We speak and sing it. We draw and paint joy. We write it. We dance it. We build things with joy. We walk in the world with joy. 

Unconditional joy is the way of our heart. It is our truth and is born through love. The beginning is being aware it is there. The next step is connecting with it, slowing down and pausing for a moment to feel it. Closing your eyes, going inward and just noticing the unconditional joy you have inside. Opening your heart to feel it and foster the joy within. To trust it will always be there. To keep looking for it, no matter what the circumstances of our lives.

"Keep knocking, and the joy inside will eventually open a window to look out to see who is there." Rumi