People think joy comes from avoiding painful emotions.

It doesn’t.

Joy comes from no longer being afraid to feel any emotion.

Most people suppress anger, grief, jealousy etc. not because these “negative” emotions are unbearable, but because they feel dangerous.

They believe that they lose control and don’t find their way out of these feelings any more.

So people numb them.

But emotions don’t work in isolation.

You cannot suppress pain without suppressing joy too.

The more emotionally shut down you become, the less access you have to aliveness or joy or happiness.

Joy is not feeling only the pleasant emotions, but

Joy is the capacity and willingness to feel ALL of life.

Can you relate to this or do you have a different experience?