Opinion

OPINION | Maya Porter: Joy spreads and changes the world

Feeling gives hearts wings

As I contemplate the greenness around me, the chirping birds at my feeder, the calves kicking up their hooves in the pasture across the way, I feel joy bubbling up in me like an erupting geyser. Spring is a time for joy. Even as the world is embroiled in war, disaster, and conflict, it's possible to be joyful.

Where does joy come from? Do we create it ourselves, or is it granted to us, like grace? I don't really know. I know it comes from within, an inherent state of being that is immune to circumstances and is not easily extinguished by what happens to us. For instance, I am always heartened by pictures of children in war-torn villages, as they play among the ruins. They have the joy of childish innocence, even as they are surrounded by destruction.

The joy we feel isn't self-contained; it spreads out to the world, lifting spirits and encouraging the downhearted. It gains power as it spreads. David Spangler says: "Joy is like sunshine, an empowering source of energetic vitality and nourishment. Feeling joy doesn't blind us to the sufferings of others. It enlarges and expands us beyond our own personal concerns. Joy gives wings to the heart... Joy gives us a passion for the well-being of all and the courage to shape the world on behalf of that well-being."

Maintaining joy is not always easy; it may require tending. Sometimes I have to remind myself to find joy, to make an effort to remember what I have to feel joyful about. Like many things in life, it needs nourishing. A baby's smile, playful kittens, having a heart-to-heart conversation with a close friend will do it for me. Sometimes I simply sit and contemplate my blessings. By the time I'm part way through a list, joy has returned. It seems to be related to gratitude.

The world needs our joy, its sunshine, to soften the world's sharp edges. In that sense, being joyful is a service. It may seem a stretch to think that your individual self can have an effect on the world with your emotions, but when one person's heart expands, the energy radiates out far and wide -- which is no more unbelievable than hearing a voice on a cell phone from across the world.

Like most of us, I can't go big. I can't donate millions to feed the hungry, I can't end the war in Ukraine, I can't find a cure for cancer. But I can maintain joy to support the people who are suffering, whose lives are bleak and frightening. I can raise their level of hope, and perhaps give wings to their hearts. That's something anyone can do.

I like these lines from my favorite local poet, LaDeana Mullinix:

"We ought not to squander the light we dispense,

"But lighten the weight of sadness if we can,

"Allow joy to alight on a heavy world."

May we all find what brings us joy.

Maya Porter is a member of the Fayetteville Friends Meeting (Quaker). Her book "Recognized in Flight: A Memoir" is available on Amazon. Email her at [email protected].

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