when is joy

I’m continuing my questions on joy. to have “joy as my compass” — does it mean to only seek that which I truly enjoy, and abandon all else? how do I know if I am fully “enjoying” something, or, perhaps, is there always “joy potential” in everything? and what is the difference between “joy” and “pleasure”?

we’ve been raised in a culture where we are told that you won’t enjoy everything you do, but you must do it. it’s programmed into our brains that the right, responsible things will not always bring joy. and I’ve become very good at that — at pushing myself to do things.

but is it really true? is it possible to reprogram our adult worlds — such that joy could be the focus, the intention, the “goal”? or would that defeat the purpose of joy? or, could it be that everything we do can bring us joy? even washing dishes, doing finances, cleaning the floors, sending emails? perhaps it’s not about “finding” joy, but to simply cultivate a greater sensitivity to joy. the experience of joy, like the art of seeing beauty. here and now, always. perhaps, it’s a muscle you can stretch. a way of seeing.

perhaps the experience of joy needs to be an inward pointing compass — a specific scent only recognizable to one; like a thumbprint whose ridges and curves that only we would recognize, know, and feel. I feel joy most acutely while in glimmering sunlight, floating in the ocean, walking through mountains, or biking through shaded trees. joy, to me, feels like a simultaneous deep serenity, and ecstatic energy, in perfect balance. as in: this is it. I want nothing more than this.