Joy Words

All my life I have been searching for happiness in many different ways, but have never found the real thing.”

You have been hunting happiness outside of you. You have expected happiness to flow from things into you. You have expected happiness as a result of making your environment fit you. All your efforts have been put forth in this direction, and you have constantly met with disappointment—and unhappiness. As everybody will whose happiness is pinned to his conditions.

Conditions, like people, are growing things; never two minutes in exactly the same state. If you pin your happiness to a thing, or a friend, you will probably have to unpin it before night.

Happiness, real happiness of the abiding, growing kind, never comes as a result of fitting circumstances to your notions. It comes from fitting YOURSELF to circumstances. In no other way can it be found.

After all this is much easier to do. There is but One of you to be adjusted; while all the rest of creation goes to make up your environment. And your power over yourself is practically unlimited; whilst your power over even your immediate environment is next to nothing. What power has a convict over his prison walls and keepers? But he has all power over his mind; and he has all power over his body within the limits set by his prison walls and his keeper’s rules.

A convict can be a fool and fret away his life within those walls; he can sulk mentally, and refuse to use his physical powers as far as permitted. If he does this he falls sick and dies, an unhappy man; unhappy because he fretted over what he couldn’t do, instead of doing what he could.

Or, the prisoner may use as he pleases that part of himself which cannot be walled in by any number of bolts and bars. He may think as high and as bravely and well as he chooses: and he may use his physical energies as bravely and well as he may. He may make the best of his opportunity to learn a trade, and to cheer and help others as he may, even in a prison. If he does this he will be in those grim environs a happier man than are three-quarters of the men who are outside prison walls. Not only this, but he will win from his keepers kindness and consideration not accorded the indifferent or defiant prisoner: and he will shorten his term of sentence. Still further than that, he will come forth from that prison a stronger, wiser, happier man than he has ever been before,—a man better equipped for success for having been in that prison; a happier and more successful man than he would have been without that bit of education. There are two of the world’s greatest railroad magnates who are examples of this very thing; one of whom is making over London today.

Now, every human being is in a prison of circumstances. He is there because he deserves to be. He has “attracted” it to himself. It is the particular sort of prison he needs just now. It is stocked with just the sort of things he needs to exercise mind, will and muscles upon, to fit him for the next higher class in the line of his desires.

Will he adjust himself to it all and work happily, faithfully, willingly; and thus shorten his sentence? Or will he kick the walls and curse his work?—and lengthen his sentence? Will he accept things and work happily? Or will he grumble and kick, and be unhappy?

It all depends upon himself. His environment is his friend if he works with it; his foe if he turns against it. One is happy with his friends, no matter in what garb they come; one is unhappy with those he is turned against, no matter how richly they are dressed or how fair they may appear.

Do you really want to be happy? Do you want happiness enough to pay the price for it? Happiness is a jealous god. He simply will not live in the same heart with fault-finding, growls, dislikes. Do you want happiness badly enough to make you turn out all these things no matter what happens? Then happiness will come into you and grow up in you until it fills every crack and cranny of your being and makes you feel so good that you will entirely forget to growl and find fault and dislike things.

Happiness and Good Will are Siamese twins. You simply must have ’em both, or live without either. Growls and dislikes always send Good Will into the dark closet and then happiness flies away. You must CHOOSE Good Will, and keep on choosing, until it fills you and radiates such positive energy that growls and dislikes simply shrivel and cannot get into your mind or heart at all.

That reminds me of Kipling’s “Just So Stories,” but it isn’t so imaginary as you might suppose. There are growls and dislikes flying through the air, seeking dark auras where they may abide. You have a Solar Center which is intended to do for your body and atmosphere what the sun does for its solar system. It is meant to radiate Good Will, or love, to fill you with light and real soul-warmth of the sort that is instant death to growls and dislikes—as light brings instant death to shadows.

But there is one little spot where a growl or grumble can always get in and turn off the Soul radiance and make your face and body and atmosphere all dark, so that all the other growls and dislikes will come in too, and hold high jinks where they ought not to be. Achilles had just one little spot on his heel (the feet represent the understanding, you know) where the enemy could hurt him. You have just one little spot where a growl can enter and shut off all your radiance of light and happiness,—the little spot of Choice.

If you choose a grumble as it presents its frowzy, bristly head, it hops over the sill and comes in. And the very first thing it does is to touch the button and shut off your Good Will radiations. Next it throws open the doors and windows of your mind and invites in all its relations.

To keep out growls just paste up a big notice:

NO GROWLS ADMITTED! NOT EVEN ON BUSINESS!

If a growl is impudent enough to come in when you are not looking just throw him down stairs, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put him together again.

Now growls are quite as intelligent as other folks. If they get an unvarying and decidedly warm brogan they give it up and go hunt for somebody who is in the habit of letting ’em in. All you have to do is to cultivate the habit of firing them. Then your Solar Center will shine brighter and brighter and Good Will and Happiness will hold open house to every little thought-body that’s nice.

And your sentence will be commuted and you will go into a bigger, better place.

And happiness will keep right on growing.

Smile. Smile alike upon just or unjust.

Get interested in seeing how happy you can be.

Take a few minutes the first thing every morning to cultivate real happiness, which is joy. Sit down with a pencil and paper, in a good, comfortable, straight-backed chair. Place the paper on the table and hold the pencil ready for business. Now say to yourself, “Joy”; and as you say it make a firm, bold dot with your pencil. Repeat. Make the next dot firmly right over the first one—right in it, I mean—simply make the one mark blacker and firmer. And mentally put that single word “Joy” right into that firm pencil dot. Put the real JOY into it. See how perfectly One you can make the pencil mark and the mental word. Bring JOY down to a fine point. Do this twenty-five or thirty times at a sitting, saying Joy very positively with each dot of the pencil. Do it all very deliberately, calmly, positively, resolutely.

Then go quietly about your work. You will be surprised to see how smoothly and pleasantly your work goes.

Whenever things seem to get into a snarl, or you feel discouraged or burdened, drop everything like a hot potato, go into another room and use this little Joy-exercise a few minutes. It’s magic. Just do it and see.

And you will be surprised to see how little time it takes: and you will be amazed at how much time it saves: time saved from wrangles and jangles, to be used in Joy.

This is what the Bible means when it says, “Break off thy sins by tightness.” Break off jangles with Joy brought down to a fine point.