Have you watched Marie Kondo’s ‘Tidying up’? It’s a phenomenon and her admonition that we to only keep things that ‘spark joy’ for us has quickly entered into our conversations. This can only be because it chimes with something in us, something we know to be true about life but perhaps we have forgotten about.
What is joy?
Definitions of joy include exultation, delight, great pleasure, rapture. Me, I get feelings of joy when I see a sun shining in the morning, when I have managed to get into the chilly North Sea and I’m bobbing around looking at the sky, exhilarated by the goose bumps, when I see certain friends, when I go for a walk.
But I’ve lived without it too.
There was a year or so in my life when nothing brought me pleasure, when I probably could have won the lottery and not felt joy.
What’s that all about?
In medical and pharmaceutical terms I think it is considered an inability to pick up on pleasure hormones in the brain and SSRIs (selective seratonin re-uptake inhibitors) are the answer.
But I don’t see it like that.
A lack of joy, a disconnection from life’s pleasures, is an indication that something is wrong. Your mind and body are connected; what happens in one affects the other.
It’s an indicator of our state of health
The ability to feel joy is a major indicator of your level of health. I think you might be at the end of your life, still feel joy in art or your family and be in a healthier state than someone in their 30s going about their life without feeling joy at anything.
I’ve been asking people coming to see me about joy in their lives for years. It’s often seen as an old fashioned concept but there is no other word for it and it’s key to the quality of life and well being.
Joy and homeopathy
For me, an important factor in the assessment of how remedies have worked is the joy in your life. If your aches and pains have gone, but there is nothing that sparks joy in you, we’re on the wrong track.
A good remedy will bring you back to a place where life can spark joy.
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I’m sitting under an old pine tree in Ashdown forest right now, in the warm and bright sun, with the sound of birds and a gentle wind brushing my face, and I feel joyful! It’s a wonderful to feel life spark that joy…..
I like your article, and seems a good question to ask people to help evaluate state of health or response to a remedy….
great! I experienced joy today going to bathe in hot mineral water. Before that I was a bit low but sometimes we have to chose to do the things that bring us joy rather than feeling ‘what’s the point?’ Thanks for the reminder about connecting to joy.