advent: joy

Advent

What is joy...

joy

/joi/

noun

a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.

1. 
   

   "tears of joy"

   
   

   synonyms:

   delight, great pleasure, joyfulness, jubilation, triumph, exultation, rejoicing, happiness, gladness, glee, exhilaration, exuberance, elation, euphoria, bliss, ecstasy, rapture...

   • 
     

verb

LITERARY

1. rejoice.

   
   

   
   

   So if it is supposed to be a feeling of great pleasure and happiness then why does being joyful often feel like work or why does it feel that when we have a truly joyful moment they feel few and far between...  

   
   

   "Why is joy so important" 

   
   

   "The importance of joy is laughter,and play which stimulate the release of feel good hormones in our body. It shuts down cortisol, adrenaline, and other health deteriorating processes in the body. Our body can't heal when it's in a state of stress."

"How do you find joy in everyday life"

Stop waiting to be happy.

Add happiness to your life, right now.

Get in a joyful state of mind.

Appreciate the small things.

Surround yourself with positive people.

Laugh more.

Stop waiting to be happy, Mary didn't wait till she had the beautiful wedding, glorious honeymoon, laugh more, oh how Mary laughed when she held that baby the son of God, surround yourself with positive people could anyone be more positive then Jesus? Appreciate the small things, could in all of the troubles that couple in Bethlehem, had to face, many many troubles but I am sure that Mary and Joseph appreciated the stable, feeding trough, and the donkey that stayed with them through the whole journey, so maybe on this third week of advent we can try to be a little more joyful and like the picture below, lift our hands a little higher to rejoice the king that we celebrate!