The Color of Joy, Part 2

Lightposts for Living: The Art of Choosing a Joyful Life
by Thomas Kinkade

(Page 2 of 3)

Look for Surprises

In addition to your deliberately planned perks, don't forget to watch for surprises. You never know what unplanned encounter will rescue a dreary day and add a solid brushstroke of joy to your heart.

The other day, for instance, I discovered a spot in my neighborhood I had never seen before. Choosing a slightly different route for my daily exercise, I came upon a wonderful little oasis of garden, lawn, trees, even a little footbridge - a carefully tended snippet of paradise. The gift of this discovery was a real delight. I returned from my walk with my joy-quotient bolstered.

The potential for such joyful surprises lurks around every corner of almost every day. A funny remark from a child, a spectacular cloud formation, a tree full of butterflies, a fresh breeze on a hot day, or just a simple, unexpected sense that all is well - any of these small experiences can be a gift of joy if you let yourself receive it. But in the rush of schedules and responsibilities and even recreational pursuits, it becomes far too easy to go through life with blinders on, oblivious to (and far too busy for) the joyful surprises waiting to be discovered at any given moment. If you want these little gifts of joy in your life, therefore, you may actually have to train yourself to notice them.

Keep a Glow Book

I suppose I really expanded my ability to notice little delights during the year when I was courting my wife, Nanette. Young, in love, and separated by hundred of miles, we were always on the lookout for innovative ways to keep our relationship close. One of our most successful strategies was the use of our "glow books" - little notepads we each carried with us constantly.

Throughout each day we would record good things we saw and experienced - small blessings, unexpected encounters, funny moments. I would receive an especially interesting assignment in my job as a movie artist, and I would write it down. My neighbor in the apartment next door would bring over a sample of her homemade stew, and I'd make note of that delicious offering in the book. Nanette would write of a dream she had the night before, a conversation with a classmate, a person she was able to help in her nursing position.

At night we shared our jottings in marathon phone conversations - creating burgeoning phone bills but also nurturing our growing relationship. (Even today, after many years of marriage, we share the joyful surprises of our days, notes in hand, during our nightly quiet time together.)

But my glow book turned out to have another benefit as well: It turned me into a more joyful person. During this phase of my life, I was somewhat impoverished and chronically overworked. I lived in a big, smoggy city far from the people I loved, and I had yet to have any success at selling my paintings. I had every reason to be discouraged or even unhappy. But as I jotted experiences in my glow book, I noticed I was becoming more and more aware of the beauty and wonder all around me. I was conditioning myself to look for joyful surprises.

Keeping a glow book or a joy-journal is something I would highly recommend if you find yourself a little rusty at recognizing the joy-gifts that come your way. You don't have to share it with someone else. The very experience of recording the miscellaneous "blesslets" you encounter in the course of a day - from the gold shaft of morning sun to the softness of your blanket at night - will build your receptivity and awareness. Once you begin looking, you may be surprised to discover just how much joy your world has to offer.

Be a Blessing

If we are fortunate, we learn this strategy as children basking in the joy of our mother's smile as we present her with the gift of a lovingly plucked dandelion or a crumpled crayon portrait. We learn it as teenagers participating in service projects, as adults involved in church and community programs. We learn firsthand the joy-potential in serving others, and we color our own hearts joyful with every blessing we give out.

If these were lessons we didn't learn early, or if pain and disappointment has caused us to forget, we can still begin to add to the joy in our lives through little acts of serving. Think of it as giving perks to someone else as well as to yourself.

Here as in other areas of joy, small efforts can bring large cumulative rewards. Try holding your temper when the cashier makes a mistake and say something pleasant as you wait. Hold the door open an extra few seconds for a slow-moving person behind you. Read to a child. Send a check to a homeless shelter or volunteer to ladle soup.

It's all been said many times before - sow what you want to reap, do unto others as you would have them do to you - but it remains eternally true. We humans are set up in such a way that giving joy to others actually adds dabs of joy-color to our own hearts.

Developing a servant's heart, in fact, is such an important ingredient of joy that I want to discuss it more fully in an entire chapter of its own. For now, though, it's enough to recognize that your heart will grow steadily and dependably joyful as you make a point of sharing the joy by blessing others.

Pursue Your Passion - Or Put Passion into Your Pursuit

If we are involved in doing what we were put on earth to do, a joyful heart is almost guaranteed - even in the midst of deepest difficulties. Consistent and durable joy is generated when we pursue a passion that is strong enough to carry us past pain, something so meaningful and absorbing that we can ignore unhappy circumstances.

I consider myself deeply fortunate to have discovered such a passion in my art. My work gives me deep pleasure and satisfaction; it provides me with a dependable joy-base. So does my family, the other joy-giving passion God has blessed me with. Like any family, we have our moments of difficulty and conflict. But loving each of them, being with them, building them up - these things are the collective source of my deepest joy.

Passion and joy, in other words, are intimately connected. If you find that durable joy is fading in your heart, you might do well to pay attention to your passions, your purposes, and your pursuits. Do you feel called to follow a direction that is not currently the focus of your life? If so, perhaps it's time to begin mapping out a strategy that enables you to pursue your calling.

At the same time, don't assume you can't be happy unless you're doing what you love most for a living. If that were true, only a tiny portion of the world's population would be eligible for joy! The truth is that deep, abiding joy is available to anyone who learns the secret of pursuing every task with energy and dedication, as though it were a calling.

In other words, if you are having trouble pursuing your passion, you can still find real happiness by putting passion into your current pursuits. Each of us can find our calling where we are, right now, if we only begin to see the higher purpose to our task. If your days are spent polishing floors, think of the lives that benefit from the cleanliness and order you are providing. If you teach children, focus on the generations of future families who will feel the impact of your efforts. The farmer provides nourishment, the builder gives shelter, the office worker offers assistance and solves problems for customers and fellow workers. The list is endless. Each of us, in our own way, has a high and unique calling on our lives, if our ears can only be opened to hear it.

The Book of Ecclesiastes advises us, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might."

Writer Carolyn Huffman (and countless posters I've seen) puts it another way: "Bloom where you are."

Wherever it comes from, it's still sound counsel. Approach every day of your life with dedication, as though you were an ambassador of a better world, and even the most mundane tasks can be transformed into inspiring sources of joy.

© 1999 by Thomas Kinkade

About the Author

Thomas Kinkade, the celebrated "Painter of Light"™ and subject of more than 45 books, is the most widely collected artist in America today. He lives in Northern California.