10 Insights to Fuel Your Joy this Christmas
For many people, Christmas is not a happy time. That may be due to a loss but it can also be due to a broken relationships, smashed dreams, unmet expectations, failure, or a health challenge.
We are impacted by our circumstances — negatively and positively.
Now, while some are unhappy, many this Christmas will feel happiness. Their family is looking forward to being together, the feasting will be amazing, there will be gifts given and received, and there will be a time to rest and be renewed in body and spirit.
The real question is, “If your life is extremely hard right now, are you destined to be miserable until things change?”
I say NO — but it won’t just happen. You must change the way your look at and respond to your circumstances.
That difference in how you look at and respond to circumstances will mean the difference between happiness and joy.
HAPPINESS is typically tied to positive circumstances while JOY is tied to your inner belief system and the way you see the world and respond to it.
I want to expand your awareness of what joy looks like and how it can be nurtured in your life — even when circumstances are at their worst.
10 Insights to Fuel Your Joy This Christmas
1. Joy shrinks when held tight
Joy, above all else, is a selfless quality which is magnified when it is shared and minimized when it is selfishly grasped. — Tim Hansel
2. Music helps dissolve perplexities and unleash joy
Music...will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you. ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
3. Joy is a byproduct of focusing on the good
Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are. ― Marianne Williamson
4. Comparison kills joy
Comparison is the death of joy. ― Mark Twain
5. Nature nurtures joy
There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice. ― John Calvin
6. Love fuels joy
A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love. She gives most who gives with joy. ― Mother Teresa
7. Joy is a daily choice
Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. ― Henri J.M. Nouwen
8. Spread joy and it grows
Scatter joy! ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
9. Joy increases our inner strength
Joy is strength. ― Mother Teresa
10. Gratitude is joy’s root
The root of joy is gratefulness...It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful. ― David Steindl-Rast
Reflection Question
What is your definition of happiness? Joy?
Which insight or quote resonates with you and why?
