Joy is not really an emotion. It is more like energy. Happiness is an emotion. Happiness and joy are not the same, though the words are sometimes used as if they were. Happiness is a personality reaction. It is the contentment of your personal emotions, and it disappears when you are disappointed. The search for happiness alone ties you to always seeking your pleasure and avoiding pain. Happiness is the goal of the separated self. But joy can flow through you even in adverse circumstances. I said earlier that unconditional love reveals itself through joy. 

Think of some of (and the sum of) joy's effects:

1. Radiance of the eyes and face.
2. Clarity of thinking, and understanding.
3. Alertness and sensitivity.
4. Vitality and health. Improved physical conditions.
5. Eagerness, and punctuality.
6. Diligence and perseverance in the face of difficulties.
7. Freedom to..... is more than freedom from........
8. Openness.
9. Cooperativeness.
10. Lovingness.
11. It regenerates and heals.
12. It purifies and disperses negativity.
13. It expands.
14. It links people.
15. It strengthens.
16. It helps to unfold the best in anyone or any situation.
17. It harmonises.
18. It magnetises you to the best - to your best qualities, and to the forces of abundance.
19. It energises.
20. It increases endurance.

Joy is increased by cultivating:

1. Forgiveness, deeper love, compassion, gratitude, and contentment.
2. Inclusiveness.
3. Dedication to the seeds of fine qualities within you.
4. Cooperativeness and cooperation with others.
5. Expansion of consciousness and a larger perspective.
6. Contact with your inner Self.
7. The striving towards beauty, service, freedom, and right relations with others and within your own psyche.
8. Causal thinking (thinking deeply about the causes of events, and working with causes more than with effects).
9. Meditation upon divine archetypes - the qualities and forces underlying beauty, wisdom, love, spiritual will, harmony, divine intelligence, order and goodwill, for example.

Joy is decreased by:

1. Anger, hatred, greed, ugliness in thought or action, jealousy or envy.
2. Causing fear to others.
3. Untruth.
4. Lack of goodwill and forgiveness.
5. Pressure.
6. Denying freedom to others.
7. Misuse of others and their belongings.
8. Arrogance, lack of respect.
9. Non-inclusiveness.
10. Insincerity.
11. Gossip. Nosiness.
12. Criticism. Setting goals and expectations for others.
13. Irresponsibility.
14. Trying to own or possess the object of your love.

We can give joy by:

1. Helping others to see truth.
2. Giving them vision and hope for the future.
3. Teaching them how to solve their problems and challenges for themselves.
4. Helping them to contact their inner Self.
5. Helping them discover and increase their creativity.
6. Helping them be grateful, giving, and sharing.
7. Helping them give joy to others.

To give joy does not mean:

1. To flatter people.
2. To bribe people.
3. To try to please people.
4. To yield to people's appetites and habits.
5. To allow people to deceive you.
6. To allow people to follow a destructive path.

There is also joy in service:

1. From working in with a group.
2. In the contrast between the dark struggle and holding on through difficult conditions and the light of fruition of wise and loving plans.
3. In the strengthened links of tried and trusted companionship that can arise through shared adversity or suffering.
4. In the peace that lies in the heart of any victory over odds.
5. In the consciousness of days well spent, bringing greater love, wisdom, or strength to people in a needy world.
6. In lifting up a needy brother or sister a little higher on the ladder of their growth, helping them to grow in love, wisdom, or inner strength. 

True love and joy increase in adverse conditions and when given away. Happiness can be foregone in trying circumstances, but joy can be known in the midst of profound personality distress and unhappiness. Joy is of the Soul. It has been said that we would do well to work towards joy, not for it. Happiness is but the result of achieved personality desire. Joy is the expression of the Soul, or Higher Self. Joy is a quality that grows out of Self-realisation. Joy lets in the light. Joy is a special kind of wisdom.

Points of crisis are useful
in calling in the
power of the Soul

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. Michael Jordan
	Fear less, hope more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Hate less, love more; And all good things are yours. Anonymous
Out of clutter, find Simplicity. From discord, find Harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies Opportunity. Albert Einstein Three Rules of Work
	Speak when you're angry, and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret. Lawrence J. Peter
There are no short cuts to any place worth going. Source Unknown
	Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments. Rose Kennedy
The country clubs, the cars the boats, your assets may be ample. But the best inheritance you can leave your kids Is to be a good example. Barry Spilchuk
	[My mother] said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors. Maya Angelou
Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it. Katherine Whitehorn
	He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
You cannot depend on your eyes  when your imagination is out of focus.  Mark Twain
	The place to be happy is here, the time to be happy is now. Robert Ingersoll
Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart. Confucius
	Now that I'm gone, I tell you; Don't smoke. Whatever you do, don't smoke. Yul Brynner