How You Can Create a

Genuine and Joyful Experience

from our Angel Messenger Creative Team

Hot or cold. Happy or sad. Black or white. Ying and Yang. We live in a binary world where we feel like we can’t have one thing without getting rid of another. So, many of us think that we can’t feel joy until our lives are perfect and positive.

But joy doesn’t fit into the old binary mold we’re used to. In fact, joy is very different from happiness. And because of this difference, you can have joyful experiences no matter what’s happening in your life.

Joy versus happiness: what’s the difference?

Perhaps the best way to understand  joy is to understand what joy isn’t. We always confuse it with happiness. But happiness and joy are light years apart. Here’s why:

Happiness comes and goes

Happiness is transitory, and we feel happy depending on what happens on the outside. In fact, you can remember that happiness is fleeting by remembering that happiness happens to us.

We constantly see images of “happy” on social media, so we chase after it to make some of our own. We turn to happy-inducing experiences like shopping, eating, drinking and drugs, just to name a few.

We’ve gotten very good at making happy experiences for ourselves, but that happiness doesn’t last, does it? It brings to mind Albert Einstein’s axiom, “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

In the same way, happiness is real, but it doesn’t have much-staying power. Joy, on the other hand, does.

Happiness doesn’t hang out with negative emotions

Usually, when we’re happy, we don’t feel negative emotions, too. We feel happy and that’s it. But as soon as we feel sad, angry, frustrated or irritated, the happiness slips away. This is very different from how we experience joy.

So, now that we know what happiness is and therefore, what joy isn’t, let’s explore the quiet, powerful nature of joy.

Joy starts on the inside

As opposed to happiness, joy doesn’t depend on outside influences and factors. It begins with you and for that reason, no one (or thing) can take it away from you. So, whether life is good or bad, joy remains nonplussed and constant.

Joy exists in the simple state of being. So, in a way, it’s always available to you. And it’s up to you to cultivate and increase it by being connected to the Source. (We’ll talk about how you can do that below.)

Joy isn’t a black and white experience

Do you remember how our world is binary? It’s either hot or cold, happy or sad, up or down. But joy isn’t like that.

According to an inspirational speaker, Danielle LaPorte, you don’t have to “choose between hardship and joy, or support and separation, or light and dark.”

In other words, you don’t have to have a perfect life to have joy. Joy coexists with other emotions and experiences.

If you’re a visual person, here are some images of joy:

• Joy is like the sky. It has room for everything – the sun and the clouds. Joy can hold lightness and darkness.
• “Happiness is like rising bubbles – delightful and inevitably fleeting. Joy is the oxygen – ever present.”
• Joy is like the roots of a tree. They remain firm and foundational no matter how much the storms rage and rock the branches and leaves.

How to Cultivate Resilient Joy

So, if you can’t depend on outside factors to make you joyful. How do you create genuine joy for yourself? Let’s take a look.

Be grateful

Researcher and bestselling author, Brené Brown told Oprah Winfrey that “there is no joy without gratitude.” So, no one can experience joy if they’re not experiencing gratitude, too. It makes sense then to cultivate gratitude – joy will naturally follow in full bloom.

• Start a gratitude journal: the 5 Minute Journal is an easy and fast way to increase your abundant mindset, and it literally only takes five minutes each day.
• Practice mindfulness: meditation has innumerable benefits for your physical, emotional and psychological well-being. By practicing meditation every day, you will become more equanimous and less influenced by the positive and negative events in your life.
• Meditate on gratitude: as a spiritual teacher, Jack Kornfield suggests, you can meditate on gratefulness. And when you focus on gratitude, you can increase it. And the more gratitude we feel, the more joy we develop, too. Gratitude is like the soil and joy is the lush garden.

Connect to the Source

 Whether you practice an organized religion, or simply identify as spiritual, you can tap into the Spirit to increase your joy.

You can connect to the source in so many ways. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

• Prayer and contemplation
• Mindfulness and meditation practices
• Yoga
• Immerse yourself in nature
• Journal
• Increase gratitude
• Connect to your spirit guides and angels

Stop Comparing

Theodore Roosevelt was exactly right when he said that comparison is the thief of joy. The more you compare your life situation with someone else, the more envious and discouraged you feel. And when you’re not grateful for what you have, you’re not experiencing joy.

So, stop comparing! If you notice that you feel down about who you are and what you have when you’re with certain people, maybe it’s time to take a step back and return to your gratitude practices.

You may also need to limit social media – most of the time, it showcases a filtered and edited version of life, and we have a hard time separating fact from fiction.

Replace limiting beliefs

The Law of Attraction holds that what we focus on, we attract and increase. So, if you have negative and limiting beliefs about who you are and what you can have, guess what? You bury yourself in a scarcity mindset where joy can’t thrive.

If that’s the case, dig deep and ask yourself what you believe about yourself. Write these beliefs down. Then, ask if they’re truths about you, or merely beliefs that you’ve carried with you your entire life.

Chances are, they’re “just” beliefs. But because you’ve been believing them for so long, they’ve become truths for you. It’s time to start believing these truths about you:

• You can experience genuine joy.
• No one can steal your joy since it’s something within you.

Joy is light, yet runs deep. It has room for every other experience – the good, the bad and everything in between. Are you ready to create a genuine joyful experience in your life?

Much Love & Angel Blessings,

Angel Messenger