Finding JOY in Your Journey {Me}

I have a riddle for you...

                         I am very small, but I can change your life. 

                         I can make you immune to worry and strife.

                         When you have me you leap like a little boy.

                         But I never come from getting the latest toy.

                         I can cure your heart when you're feeling blue.

                         No one else can destroy me, except for you.

                         What am I?

JOY

Last week I was privileged to have the great opportunity to speak to a group of women, that I did not know, and share my thoughts on JOY.  I'm neither a doctor or an expert in any way, but do have a lot of experience and believe that living a happy life and finding Joy in your journey is the only way to go!  I'm sharing a few key thoughts that I gathered to express what Joy is to me.

 
1.     Joy is a source or cause of delight, a state of happiness.   ~Merriam Webster
2.     "be joyful always"   ~1st Thessalonians 5:16
3.     J = Jesus    O = Others    Y = Yourself
4.     Seek Joy not Happiness.  Happiness is fleeting... true Joy comes from Peace.
5.     Joy is what lies underneath all emotions no matter what happens to a person.
6.     Joy is the feeling of grinning inside.   ~Melba Colgrove
7.     Joy is not in things, it is us.   ~Richard Wagner
8.     Who is the happiest of men?  He who values the merits of others, and in the pleasure takes Joy, even as though it were his own.             ~Joham Wolfgang von Goolthe
9.     There are those who give Joy, and that Joy is their reward.   ~Kahlil Gibran
10.    A joy shared is a joy doubled.
11.    Joy delights in Joy.   ~William Shakespeare
12.    I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitute for joy.   ~C.S. Lewis
13.    One joy shatters a hundred griefs.   ~Chinese Proverbs
14.    Joy is but the sign that creative emotion is fulfilling its purpose.   ~Charles DuBos
15.    Joy comes from using your potential.   ~Will Shultz
16.    Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of Joy.   ~SarahBreathnack
17.    This is my FAVORITE!  Jumping for JOY is great exercise!
18.    Comparison is the thief of joy.   ~Theodore Roosevelt
19.    God wants you to have Joy.
20.    EnJOY the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.   ~Robert Brault
21.    Life is a roller coaster.  You can either scream every time you hit a bump, or you can throw your hands up and enJOY the ride!
22.    Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.   ~Marianne Williamson
23.    Sprinkle JOY   ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Handmade Paperclip Bookmarks that I made and shared with the ladies!

We are all together on this Journey called LIFE and we will all eventually end up in the same place, but our Journeys are each so very DIFFERENT from one another.  Embrace this difference and don't wish for something else or compare yourself to others.  Take time to slow down and enJOY each moment that you can.  Be open to change and be spontaneous.  Learn from others and yourself.  Share your gift with others.  Don't let ANYONE else decide how you should feel.  Focus on the positive and move forward with JOY!  Demand JOY and don't settle for anything less.  
                                                                                    ~Wendy Walker Cushing

So tell me... what brings you JOY?  Is it something you strive for every day?