Pure Joy

Expectations in life whittle the plain joy of doing something down. The Buddha very poignantly says, ‘Desire is the root cause of sorrow.’ You write an article, you expect to get published. You expect to earn hoards of regular, faithful readers. You expect a shower of praises. You go for a run and expect to cover the distance in certain time. You deliver a presentation, you expect that your superiors will clap you on the back.

Now imagine a scenario where you do the work for the joy of it, for the love it. You write because you love the process of creating magic with words. You run, not to create new records or make it within a certain time span, but because you love the wind in your hair and the sweat from the muscles working themselves up. You give a presentation after you’ve read everything there is to know about the subject and you genuinely, truly want to share your knowledge.

The two situations would start the working of completely different systems in your body, in your mind and in the universe at large. The first scenario would lead to stress, burnout and would sap your energy in not much time. The second approach on the other hand would invigorate you to work harder and lead you onto the path of joy, meaning and fulfilment.    

Life is pretty simple. Do things for the joy of doing them. And don’t burden that joy with the weight of expectations, applause and external validation.