By Y K Gupta
you might be believing that happiness and joy are the two names for the same feeling. However, it isn’t the case. Joy is much deeper a feeling compared to happiness. Sources for the same are also different.
Let’s probe a little deeper to understand the differences more clearly.
You feel happy when you receive
Money –
A luxurious house –
And a high end feature rich car –
From where you get happiness
You can become happy by many a things and activities like worldly possessions, being in good company, by being praised and appreciated and getting gifts and other honors.
However, this happiness is very fragile in nature. This short of happiness doesn’t stay with us for long.
And soon we start craving for the more as happiness so received through possessions start dissipating and leaves you in emptiness, sadness and depression.
This sort of happiness is like you being on cocaine, you get a high and as soon as high is over you are in hangover and then in sadness and depression craving for the more of intoxication.
The spiritual feeling of joy
On the other hand joy is a feeling more of permanent nature. And, in fact, normally happens when you become spiritual being.
This is a heightened and deeper a feeling then happiness. You don’t need repeated dose of outside pleasures as joy flowing from inside you eradicated the need for consistent outside doses of pleasure.
Instead, for a joyful person happiness start flowing from within. And you receive joy when you help someone without a reason. You give someone yourself without expecting anything in return.
You dedicate yourself for a cause or for a person or for a group of people with the intention of only welfare of that cause person or group of people.
As a matter of fact when you dedicate yourself for a cause you even start receiving happiness in the sufferings you go through for serving that cause.
Basically joy is about giving yourself up to the extent of sacrificing yourself for a cause, person or group of people.
And when you do this, then you are in a deeper and more permanent blissful feeling called joy.
A joyful person is not dependent on outside pleasures for happiness the happiness flows from within for a joyful person.
You may get further details on how generosity and kindness add to your joy here.
Y K Gupta
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