Bringing Joy into Our Lives

“Enjoy your day”… What does that mean?

Katrina Bos

Jun 29, 2023

I am on the journey of winding down my world for the summer. This is uncommon for me. Being self-employed, I tend to always be working on the next project, my back-brain always engaged, always ready to launch the next thing.

But something inside of me said that I needed to breathe a bit, consolidate, let go of some things that I’ve always done, and see what new things want to be born. However, I’m finding it strangely harder than I thought. Maybe because my work also feels like a calling, it’s like I’m having a hard time leaving my Self to the side so I can breathe.

And so, part of my journey is to imagine what my days could look like. I have 8 weeks of a very different life… what would be my ideal time with me?

While journalling in a lovely café this morning (definitely one of my joys), the idea of “enjoying this time for me” appeared on the page.

Enjoy. En-joy. What does this really mean?

Intellectually, I think that I should enjoy my time no matter what I’m doing. SHOULD ENJOY. Hmmmm.

Emotionally, I want to relax so that I can enjoy my time… but maybe this is just a reflection of some difficult emotional times around me lately and I’m just emotionally tired.

None of these have anything to do with JOY and none of them feel particularly light and fun.

Adding Joy to My Life with “En”

There’s something about the prefix “en” that has me fascinated. When I read “enjoy”, I think of “infusing my life with joy”. To make joy inside of me.

Here is one official definition:

A prefix occurring originally in loanwords from French and productive in English on this model, forming verbs with the general sense “to cause (a person or thing) to be in” the place, condition, or state named by the stem; more specifically, “to confine in or place on” (enshrine; enthrone; entomb); “to cause to be in” (enslave; entrust; enrich; encourage; endear); “to restrict” in the manner named by the stem, typically with the additional sense “on all sides, completely” (enwind; encircle; enclose; entwine). This prefix is also attached to verbs in order to make them transitive, or to give them a transitive marker if they are already transitive (enkindle; enliven; enshield; enface).

To “En-Rich”, to “En-courage”, to “En-throne”… to “En-joy”.

Yes, this is what resonates with me.

What is Joy?

So, then we think of joy. What is this really? It’s more than happiness or pleasure. It’s a state of lightness. It’s a state of release and calm. It’s seeing the world with total ease.

This has been a personal goal for me for a long time. In David Hawkins’ book “Power vs Force”, he talks about the Levels of Consciousness that we live in, from lowest (or most difficult) to highest.

How to live in the joy-filled state? What would this look like?

What makes us happy? What literally fills us with joy? In a weird way, we could ask “What EN-joys us?” What would our days look like if we were to feel joy in every step?

Do we even believe that this is possible?

Letting go of Stressors

For me, the number one thing that I must do to be in such a state is to give up all the worry and drama that is created in all of the “lower” states. I have to stop worrying about how something will turn out. I must not take on the emotional load or concerns of those I love. I have to let go of anger that I may be holding onto.

Of course, none of these things are easy to just DO. Releasing anger first asks us to look at it and get down to its foundation so that we can see why it’s there, honour it, and make changes either in our philosophy or in our life so that the anger no longer holds us.

Similarly, if we are worried about how something will turn out, then we must look at our attachment to whatever that is and then look at our philosophy for living. Do we believe that worry will help? Why are we doing it? What does our True Self say about this issue? What’s really going on?

This is a class I once taught about Living in a State of Joy:

En-joying Life

So, in order to infuse my life with joy, it seems that there are two parts. One, I must let go of the things that are weighing me down. Then, I must infuse my life with the things that I love.

For me, these pillars of joy are Reading, Yoga, and Dance. These bring me back to me. These make me feel alive. These bring me to a state of joy. There are definitely other things that I love… but if each day includes these things, I am truly feeling joy.

What about you? What are your pillars of joy in a day? I’d love to know!

See you soon. May you truly en-joy your day!