JOY VS. HAPPINESS

It took me years to not only understand but experience that there is a vast difference between happiness and joy.

I learned that happiness is needing something external -- things, people and events -- to provide an adrenalin-excited temporary state. Happiness is easy to attain, but like anything drug-induced, is an endless and often frustrating pursuit to maintain that high.

Joy, however, is a permanent state that comes from within. It has nothing to do with anything external. It is the result of feeling joyous about yourself. Attaining this state is what life is about and often a long-time challenge to get to.

Once you feel the difference, it is hard, maybe even impossible, to go back to settling for the momentary thrill happiness provides.

Don't get me wrong, happiness feels good -- it is thrilling to go to Disneyland. But that feeling is superficial, vanishing the minute you exit that final exhilarating Matterhorn ride.

Our society teaches that happiness is the ultimate goal. encouraging you to look for and find it in all kinds of places. Then, you develop an extensive list of requirements needed to provide it, filled with ever-shifting conditions.

Joy is a state of being that does not alter by situation. No matter what happens, no matter how much you had hoped for a different outcome, you appreciate the unexpected gifts life brings. You feel limitless joy at just being, not doing or having.

Inner joy transforms even those scary and difficult moments, providing deeper meaning to everything that occurs.

Joy transcends. Happiness reacts.

The question is, how do you get to joy?

The equation is simple: The more self-acceptance you have, the more joy you feel toward everyone, everything and life itself. Simple but not easy.

Joy arrives in direct proportion to how you perceive yourself. It is present when you know that what you are doing is what you are here to be do – fulfilling your soul’s unique true purpose.

Joy is knowing you are making a difference of some kind, giving and receiving love even in small ways. That impacts everything else you are doing.

Joy happens when you are living from authenticity and integrity.

Joy is knowing you chose to be here to clean things up that you may not even be aware of and doing so.

Unlike happiness, joy shares space with other emotions — sadness, fear, anger. Happiness is never present in darkness and difficulty. Joy exists underneath all hardships, providing meaning, purpose and truth.

Joy comes from your core and cannot be faked. Be wary of disciplines that claim joy is always a choice you can and should make no matter what you are feeling. Attempting to pretend you are joyous suppresses other human emotions that need to be felt.

Instead, notice your lack of joy, using that awareness to discover deeper issues and subconscious triggers preventing it.

When authentic joy awakens, you feel peaceful, trusting and supported. Once it does, the difference between joy and happiness is palpable. You will then know exactly what you want to maintain, what you are here to experience, what you deserve.

And, then joy arises more frequently. More permanently.

Joy is the foundation that elevates all of your life. Awaken to it. Deserve it. Embrace it.

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Royce Morales is a renowned spiritual trailblazer who has been teaching her innovative approach to inner transformation for decades. She developed Perfect Life Awakening, a spiritually-based program, to take you from triggered to empowered!