Joy in Living is the Goal

Yes, when we align ourselves with even one esoteric quality we fill our lives with joy. This is so, because the esoteric qualities pull us out of the world of opposing positive and negative energies, into our unchanging state of being, where we are aware of ourselves as constantly in control and able to navigate effectively in the changing world.

This is not to say that we won't go through challenging situations anymore. The situations will be there--that we may continue to make choices for the lesser or higher good--but we will be able to see what is for the higher good almost automatically and will have the guts--the strength of will and energy to act on the higher good consistently.

And as we consistently make choices for the higher good we raise our own consciousness and serve as an example to others--an example that we do have choices in life and can choose for the good, which we show by being and doing good. What we ourselves realize by our choices for the higher good, and others see in us, is that we are calmer and concurrently joyful in our lives--we enjoy our state of happiness.

The esoteric qualities are those attributes that lift us from the quagmire of 'muddy living.' Muddy living being when our lives are not congruent--we are not accurately describing what we are doing, and the reverse--we are not following through on what we say we will do.

Taking just one uplifting quality such as kindness as our 'staff of life' we begin to be consistent in thought, word, and deed.

Here is how my own life came to be aligned in joy…

My upbringing was in the Catholic faith. I can still see the dark blue paper cover of my New Baltimore Catholic Catechism and the writing on page one, lesson one: "Our duty in life is to know, love, and serve God in this world." This message made such an indelible imprint on me at 7 years old that it has focused my entire life. For years, growing up, I asked myself what each part of that duty meant. And here is what I came up with.

To know God. To discover a personal relationship with what I call my Inner Resource--my Higher All-knowing Power within. This I discovered and have nurtured in the depths of the prayer process--supplication, meditation, appreciation, application.

To love God. The way I love God is by realizing that my Inner Resource is also the Inner Resource of everyone and everything. So, to me, it follows that by loving and caring about others and all creation in thought and action that I would be fulfilling the dictum to love God.

To serve God in this world. That means right now. To serve the best interests of all in each situation in my life. To love and be kind and caring as I go along daily--not in some future time when I'm not so busy.

All along for me, in the process of discovering and living in joy, it was, and still is, keeping conscious of the esoteric qualities that lift me out of that quagmire of muddy thinking and indecision.

For my New Years resolution this year I choose to emulate the quality of kindness in my thinking, speaking, and acting. If we all align with an uplifting quality in this last year of the century, last year of the millenium, we will be doing our part to bring joy forward in our lives, and by critical mass--uplift the consciousness of our world.