Joy: a new habit to transform your life

Do you know why you need to invest in the culture of joy? Because it is a very powerful ally! The desire to live is stronger than the pain of life.

Human beings know what joy is, because moments of joy happen to everyone. But precisely because it "happens", it is believed that it is something that happens without precise reasons. But those moments illuminate life, reveal its deep texture. For some they become so important that,  the need for change arises from them.

The experience of joy can generate a desire for change and greater care in the person. In others, however, due to the fact that joy is rare and evanescent, the thought is present that it is so short as to be more deception than reality. Personally I believe that the difficulties never completely remove  the pleasure of living; the desire to live is stronger than the pain of life: “This makes us think that life wants life”. Even in the suicide, a desire for life can be traced. The desire (de-sider = from the stars, something that transcends us) of happiness is what man's being is imbued with.:

Let's clarify our ideas:
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 1) What is joy?

What is Joy apart from the cultural, temporal and affective connotation? Joy is that something that we have lost and towards which we are walking and of which we are left with a pungent nostalgia inside: the thirst for Infinity? The human being is destitute and at the same time tends to the fullness of happiness, because desire is constitutive of the human being.
Joy is a feeling that explodes within: it is pulsating, propulsive, highly propagable. Joy could perhaps be defined as the nascent state of happiness, which is identified with wonder.

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2) What is happiness?

Happiness is that something to which we continually strive in our being in the world; it is the prolongation of joy, which does not end.
The thirst for Beyond that inhabits and interweaves us is the origin and profound essence of joy. The joy beyond the single episode, can it become an inner attitude? Joy thus understood arises from  knowing how to see beyond, knowing how to grasp and enhance spaces in which the person can express himself and respond with enthusiasm (en-theos = a god in us) to the solicitations of reality, and thus unveil one's own personality. He who educates himself to joy wants to become a fan in love with the infinite nuances of life, an attentive observer, listener and enhancer of vital stimuli.
Restlessness understood in this sense is the symptom of the presence of the infinite in man.

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3) What do we have to defend ourselves against in order not to be stolen?

The media give blatant evidence to the bad, tragic news, related to horror. When contrary phenomena of positivity appear, one overlooks the terrible prejudice that the "good news" does not interest anyone. We have fallen into the "anti-smile" industry, and the first to pay the price are the young and the very young. We marvel that violence takes hold of apparently decent boys. Perhaps the point is here; they have not been used to the smile but to the grin of bitterness and rancor. It is necessary to enhance the positive, re-educate to the value of the party, of the things that make you feel good.
Narcissistic pleasure is self-centered; it does not allow the profound encounter, the creative dialogue with the other; it is a clash of selfishness. Life thus remains imprisoned in the ravines of the ego, too busy giving itself satisfaction. If the ego does not enter a greater path of joy than life, an opaque shadow remains; it remains closed, tediously repetitive and blocked.

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4) What is the step to take to grow?

Man grows and develops psychologically to the extent that he passes from the logic of the ego to the logic of the you; from the pleasure principle to the reality principle. From I to You, from You to Us, from Us to reality, from reality to values, from values to the absolute Other, these are all steps that are based on overcoming the physical law of the center of gravity. 

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The prayer of good humor that invokes joy

“Lord, give me good digestion and also something to digest.
Give me the health of the body and the good mood necessary to maintain it.
Give me, Lord, a simple soul who knows how to treasure
of all that is good and do not be frightened at the sight of evil
but rather you always find a way to put things right.
Give me a soul that does not know boredom, grumbles, sighs, moans
and don't let me worry too much
for that too bulky thing called "I".
Give me, Lord, a sense of good humor. Grant me the grace
to understand a joke to discover a little joy in life
and also be part of it to others.
Amen."

(Thomas More)