We can start anywhere, with our joys or with our sorrows

May 05, 2018 1:35 PM

I recently heard a fascinating interview between two recovering workaholics.

Recounting the good old days of staying at the office way too late, one man laughed and admitted:

There was no joy in the act, it was just anesthesia.

Who can’t relate to that experience? Who hasn’t not been trapped at a crappy job or in a toxic relationship that systematically took all of the joy out of the experience?

It’s a dark place to live. One where here we’re solely motivated by the fear of pain. Where we’re simply numbing ourselves out to try and survive yet another day.

Pure addiction. Any process or substance that relieves intolerable realities. Bad times.

If we want to step out of that place and catapult ourselves into the undeniable aliveness of the moment, joy is the lever.

Cloud’s book on emotional clutter makes the point that joy the best way to counter the mechanistic view of life. Joy is the anchor that helps us center by locating the peace that is ever present.

Because it’s not an emotional end point, it’s an action verb. Something we locate by making a choice to participate in this moment.

That’s why I constantly ask myself the same questions.

What can I do to make this less miserable? How can I embed joy into this process?

It’s the best awareness plan there is. Having agency over the simple things that make life tolerable is a skill should be mastered by all. Because with joy, the very thing that’s valued is the very experience of living.

We give ourselves no choice but to engage with whatever is in front of us. And that’s a whole lot healthier than fleeing from ourselves and numbing out reality.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How do you use everything for joy and transformation? * * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com