Choose Joy - On Joy and Freedom for the Logically Minded

By Barbara Piechocinska

Learn to Reprogram Yourself for Joy
The moment we truly realize that we have the power to choose our emotions is exhilaratingly empowering. But it is not until we learn to use our emotions that we experience the liberation and the freedom to live in joy.
In this book you will find several viewpoints to assist you in moving into your power. Some of them are bound to shake you up, in order to pinpoint the outlines of the beliefs that currently hold you back. Alongside the different perspectives, you will find exercises to help free you from unwanted thought patterns and destructive, ingrained beliefs.
This is the first in what appears to be a series of short books of essays, all centered around what could be regarded as common sense…were it not for the fact that this sense is uncommon practice in today’s society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781365275005

Book preview

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Introduction

Would you like to attain a greater sense of freedom and joy in your life?  If so, then choose to feel more joy.

That's it.  That's the gist of it in any case, and it could very well be the end of this book.  The message is really that simple.  Though simple, it rarely appears satisfying.  And so, for the purpose of appealing to the mind, the rest of the book has been written. 

What does it take to convince your mind that choosing joy will bring it about?  Chances are that at least one of the perspectives presented in these pages will resonate with you and with your take on life.  Hopefully you will be able to use it as a permission slip, permitting yourself to practice more joy, and thus imbue your experience with it.

Moving towards joy is moving towards that which feels better.  Thus there is no end state in sight.  At some stage it may be the bubbling feeling of excitement that one recognizes as joy.  Perhaps later we may find ourselves in the throws of ecstasy.  But once there, if we ask ourselves how we could feel better, we might find ourselves moving towards a more pervasive and peaceful state of joy, one where equanimity resides.

None of the material found in these pages can be claimed to be truly original.  This is mainly because what you will find in here could be deemed as common sense... except that it is not all that common, judging by our ways of life.  Even so, most of it you will find echoed by a number of different sources, in fact so profusely, that uncovering the true origin is a task not even attempted by the author.  This is merely a compilation of perspectives for your explorative pleasure and satisfaction.

The main purpose is to provide an opportunity for you to come into your own power and choose the type of life you want.  It can be difficult to change our core beliefs and immediately start living a new life.  But this can be accomplished incrementally. 

By mentally exposing ourselves to the possibility of seeing the world differently, we are opening up to the possibility of changing our beliefs.  Our beliefs are the walls within which we spend our lives.  It follows that you would not know much about where a room is located and what type of room it is, compared to others, if you have only been inside that one room and never peeked out.  It is when we see a new perspective, peek outside of our room of beliefs, that we learn more about our own perspective and gain the freedom to choose. 

Thus, presented here are mental perspectives that afford us more personal freedom and a greater access to joy.  Even if you find yourself at odds with part of a particular position that is presented, you may still find it useful in identifying the borders and limitations of your particular viewpoint, and thus find more freedom.

My suggestion for reading these short essays is to take it one at a time, and not read more than one essay per day.  Read an essay and think about it.  Does it make sense to you?  How could you apply it to your life?  Once you feel done, move on to the next one.  Given that they all share the same message, you will find that they all weave into each other.

1:  You've Got What You Want; You Don't Need a Job

This is the story of the man who needed a job.  It exists in a number of variations.  This is only one of them.

There was a young man who desperately needed a job.  Walking down a dirt road he found an older gentleman sitting on the porch of a beautiful house.  In his desperation the young man called out to the older man:

- Excuse me sir.  You wouldn't happen to know of any work in this area.  I sure could use a job.

The older man looked up and replied with a smile:

- Why, sure I do.  If it is a job you need, I can help you.

- Thank you kindly, good sir, the young man cried as he approached his soon to be benefactor.

- Can you see this large hill behind the house?  The old man continued.  Down at the bottom there is a large round rock.  Go over to the rock and push it all the way up the hill.  Once you get to the top, let it roll back down again.  Then, come back down and push it up again.  You may choose the number of times you will wish to do this at your leisure.  If it is a job you need.  This should satisfy you completely.

- Well, no.  It's not a job that I need.  I need money.

- Oh, so it is money you need.  No problem.  I have big trunk of money up at the attic.  You are more than welcome to it all.  But, of course, you cannot spend it.  If it is money you need.  You should be quite happy.  There is a lot of it.

- No, it's not money I need.  I need all the things it can buy.  I need a house, car, clothes, and all sorts of things.

- Oh, so it is things you need.  Well, you're in luck!  As you can see I have a beautiful house.  And as it so happens, it is filled with all sorts of things.  You are more than welcome to all of them.  Of course, you cannot use them.  But if it is things you need, you have a bunch of them right here.

- No, it is not the things in themselves I need.  I need to use them.

- Why do you need to use them?

- Well, I need to live in the house so that I feel safe.  I need all the things so that I will feel comfortable, fulfilled, and satisfied.

- Oh, so it is good feelings you ultimately need.  Let me tell you a secret.  The old man leaned in and smiled.  You generate all of your feelings inside of you.  You have the ultimate power.  In fact, you are always the one who generates them.  No one else can do it for you.  Therefore, it is entirely possible for you to give them all to yourself right now.  You really do not need me, a job, money, things, or time to do it. 

Indeed, we are the creators of our feelings.  Imagine if instead of perfecting the art of getting all the things we believe we need in order to be happy, we started perfecting the art of generating those feelings within ourselves.  Once a positive feeling was generated, we could act from inspiration, instead of out of lack.  Our lives would no longer be based on lack and need, but joy and inspiration.  We would gain enormous freedom, as we would no longer believe ourselves dependent on outside circumstances to feel good.

Yeah, sure!  It sounds good, sort of like a fairy tale.  And sort of like a fairy tale, it stays in that unreachable realm and never quite becomes our day-to-day life.  And we all know why fairy tales never come true.  Pumpkins just don't turn into golden carriages.  No one can sleep in a glass coffin for a hundred years without aging.  We have a very real set of objections that make the crossover from the land of magic to the land of the real impossible.  But, what if we could address some of these objections?  Would that make a difference, and grant us a pass into the imagined worlds?  Given the allure of the promised inspired freedom, let's at least give it a shot.

Objections

For survival, not for positive feelings

At this point some people might object that it is not for the feelings, but for