It’s easy to get lost in the rat race of life, especially when you are running behind a train of cars with indifferent people to your plight. However, if you learn to “choose the road that brings you the most joy,” you will be able to enjoy your life even during the lean times.
A Course in Miracles teaches us that our mission is to experience joy on this earth. It is not our mission to accumulate stuff, make a lot of money, protect ourselves from pain or struggle, or even help others. Our only mission here is to experience joy. All the rest is commentary.
What we are here for is the action, not the result. The result is inevitable and perfect.
The first step in experiencing more joy is simply accepting that you are a joy-seeker.
The second step is to accept that you will never find “the thing” that will make you happy.
The third step is to decide to accept that you will simply be joyful anyway.
This doesn’t mean you have to like everything or even most things about your life. But, it does mean that you can let go of the goal of achieving some far-off ideal state of being and embrace the simple truth that joy is your natural state.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying this type of joy is unimportant. Quite the contrary, I believe it is critical for your personal and planetary survival. However, the kind of joy I am talking about is different.
It is simpler. It is simply knowing that you have a choice.
Happiness is something that happens the way you wanted it to happen; hence you’re happy.
But joy comes from the inside, regardless of what happens on the outside. It’s a conscious choice you have to make.
Here is an example: Suppose you are stuck in traffic, running late for an important appointment. You sit there fuming, wishing the other driver would just make the damn car move. But then you catch yourself.
You say to yourself, “You know what? Maybe this is where I should be choosing to be joyful. After all, if I let go of the goal to get to my appointment on time, maybe it will come out better eventually.”
See how that works? If you keep that thought alive long enough, you will find a way to change your situation, which will bring you more joy.
The idea is to “choose the road that brings you the most joy.”
If all roads lead to Rome, we will only remember the one that brings us the most joy.
Choose, therefore, the one that brings you the most joy.
