I have been very busy of late. Through my hectic schedule and attempting to squeeze everything in I have noticed a lack of joy and an abundance of anger. Not in my life, but in the faces of strangers and friends. Many people are trying to figure out how to find and add joy to their lives. In the news the anger in gun violence and hate speech, is running over in every city and snatching victims like candy from a baby. I have come to realize that the absence of joy and the proliferation of pain and anger are inherently connected.
First, we have to stop looking for something that does not exist outside of us. Joy can only be found within. Real joy. Not manufactured or temporary joy. I am talking about the feeling that wakes up with you every morning and falls to sleep with you every night. It is connected to how we see each other, how we treat each other, and how we speak to each other. It is not prejudice or unkind. It is honest and true. It is our ability to live with our fears and claim them as our own, as opposed to fighting them every step of the away.
On the polar opposite is anger. Anger is when fear bubbles out of control. It is when we are most uncomfortable with our surroundings and with the people in it. So instead of hugs we lash out hoping that it will make us feel better. We lash out with hateful words. We lash out by striking another. We lash out by shooting at others and ending a life. We become the grim reapers of souls because we are in a desperate search for our own heart and soul.
I am writing this because we need each other. This is a blog dedicated to relationships. Well we need to nurture and develop healthy relationships with each other, but it is not possible until we build one with ourselves first. That only occurs when we are able to stop being so angry and afraid of living. If we treat every day as if it may be our last, we may become unafraid to allow joy to enter our heart and mind. No self help book required. Just quiet reflection and knowing that you deserve happiness instead of death and despair.
