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by Melanie Votaw
Recently I was reading about how people are
suffering in the Congo; how girls struggle to be educated in
China; how a huge number of people in the world live without
safe sanitation, and on and on and on. It seems endless! There
is war, hunger, corruption, greed, and incomprehensible pain on
our planet. How can I allow myself to feel anything positive
when so many people are suffering?
But the right question to ask is, "how can I allow myself
to NOT feel positive and joyful when so many people are
suffering?!" If we are all connected to one another in a
collective consciousness, as psychotherapist Carl Jung
suggested, then perhaps I have a responsibility to the world to
experience as much joy as possible! What's the use of drowning
in the pain and simply perpetuating it further?
If we are all part of the same consciousness...
I can either go down with the ship, or I can try to pull it out
of the water. I choose the latter! Sure, there's activism, and I
take part in as much of it as I possibly can. I sponsor the
education of a woman in Iraq. I write letters. I pray. I send
love through the ethers. But, mostly, I try to remember how
lucky I am and how ungrateful I would be if I squandered my
blessings.
In this journey we take in physical form, we are bound to
experience pain and lose some of the exuberance that we brought
into the world as children. It's an inevitable part of the human
experience. But a big part of the lesson of this journey is to
find our way back to that place of absolute openness to the
wonder of the world. With our food and shelter taken care of, we
are the lucky ones who can work toward elevating everyone to a
higher state of consciousness - which is indeed a higher state
of joy!
As you connect more and more with the joy in your life - without
guilt - you begin to connect with your soul's purpose. The
universe is very economical. It has designed your true work to
bring you the most joy and fulfillment, while at the same time
providing some service to others. So, joy is both the ticket and
the destination. Climb aboard!
From an article published at the Awakening Path
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