Joy
Sometime yesterday in the middle of riding a super huge wave of overly emotional giddiness after Shah Rukh made a few tweets of sheer poetic brilliance it dawned on me that if they don't know what's going on in my head people might think I'm seriously strange. =D If they don't know what's going on in my head. Too much really.
No, for serious, I was sitting around thinking about it and realized that 99% of adults in this world, or at least the ones I've run into, don't like to let themselves feel joy over trivial things. Joy! And joy, by the way, is different than happy. Happy is nice and reliable and comfortable. It's a wonderful warm fuzzy feeling. Awesome stuff. But joy kicks it up a notch. Joy is an emotional high that has you wanting to sing and dance and wear bright colors for no apparent reason. I see a lot of joy in children sometimes. I mean heck, we just finished with the Christmas season. Kids experience high levels of joy at Christmas. They get so freakin' hyper that their parents look for ways to keep the lid on. Interesting. But kids experience joy a lot more often than we do simply because they're not self-conscious about overt displays of extreme emotions.
Me, I have no problem with overt expressions of extreme emotion. Like hyperventilating and running around in circles and trying to explain to my cats how awesome it is that Shah Rukh Khan now has a Twitter account. OK, yeah, maybe not the most dignified thing to do on a Saturday evening. But when something so simple brings me so much joy I am not going to question it. Something free, something positive, something that reaches out and touches the whole world. I mean, the whole Bollywood thing has brought immeasurable happiness into my life. I really am going to write a blog entry/book about the healing power of Bollywood someday. Preview: it's not really Bollywood, it's finding something, however unusual or unexpected, that brings you joy.
Joy comes in different forms for different people. And again, I don't know if it's just my own experience or if it really is true that so many people withhold joy from themselves, settling for just happiness, because they want to fit into standard perceptions. Or maybe they're uncomfortable with feeling strong emotions of any kind in fear that it will upset the apple-cart. One of the most vivid and telling episodes of my early adulthood was this brief conversation I had with my Mom years ago. Something had happened, I think at the Academy? and I was telling her about it. I was telling her about it in loud, dramatic language with lots of gesturing. She got this scrunchy look on her face and said "There's no need to get so upset about it." I blinked, dropped my hands, and said, "I'm not upset, I'm just passionate!" And when it comes to my own quirky passions I also remember one of the best lines from the Anne of Avonlea movie (can't remember if it was in the book or not) when Anne said something to the effect of "I can't help but fly up on the wings of expectation. The flying almost pays for the thud." Yes! You tell 'em Anne!.
Anyhow, the long and the short of it is that yes, I am fully and completely aware that being mind-numbingly hyper obsessed with Shah Rukh Khan and insanely giddy over his tweets (I'm Twitterpated! *LOL*) is absolutely silly. Of course it is! But the free emotional high is so wonderful that I wouldn't give it up for anything. I love being happy. I love feeling this joy. It makes the sun shine full strength even in this nasty cold winter. And major snaps to my man Shah Rukh for being one of God's special people who has the ability to turn on the tap of happiness for people and let it flow freely. It's amazing. And to show you why it's amazing, here is a series of tweets from him from yesterday. Keep in mind the man was tweeting at about 7:30am Mumbai time after being up ALL NIGHT working:
iamsrk apologies fellowmen and women...dubbing just finished...so dropped my kids to school...and have come to keep the promise.
iamsrk todays expression is faith and belief : an anon poem i read in a book sort of covers this rasa. lemme know wot u think faith is.
iamsrk COME 2 THE EDGE..no v cannot v r afraid COME 2 THE EDGE..no v cannot v will fall COME 2 THE EDGE..they came & he pushed them..and they FLEW!
iamsrk got to go and sleep a bit. my dreams come on at 8 a.m...don't want to miss any episodes.Todays r without commercial breaks too. love u all
He drops his own kids off at school after being up all night and still has the energy to be profound and funny! How can you not find joy in that?
=D
No, for serious, I was sitting around thinking about it and realized that 99% of adults in this world, or at least the ones I've run into, don't like to let themselves feel joy over trivial things. Joy! And joy, by the way, is different than happy. Happy is nice and reliable and comfortable. It's a wonderful warm fuzzy feeling. Awesome stuff. But joy kicks it up a notch. Joy is an emotional high that has you wanting to sing and dance and wear bright colors for no apparent reason. I see a lot of joy in children sometimes. I mean heck, we just finished with the Christmas season. Kids experience high levels of joy at Christmas. They get so freakin' hyper that their parents look for ways to keep the lid on. Interesting. But kids experience joy a lot more often than we do simply because they're not self-conscious about overt displays of extreme emotions.
Me, I have no problem with overt expressions of extreme emotion. Like hyperventilating and running around in circles and trying to explain to my cats how awesome it is that Shah Rukh Khan now has a Twitter account. OK, yeah, maybe not the most dignified thing to do on a Saturday evening. But when something so simple brings me so much joy I am not going to question it. Something free, something positive, something that reaches out and touches the whole world. I mean, the whole Bollywood thing has brought immeasurable happiness into my life. I really am going to write a blog entry/book about the healing power of Bollywood someday. Preview: it's not really Bollywood, it's finding something, however unusual or unexpected, that brings you joy.
Joy comes in different forms for different people. And again, I don't know if it's just my own experience or if it really is true that so many people withhold joy from themselves, settling for just happiness, because they want to fit into standard perceptions. Or maybe they're uncomfortable with feeling strong emotions of any kind in fear that it will upset the apple-cart. One of the most vivid and telling episodes of my early adulthood was this brief conversation I had with my Mom years ago. Something had happened, I think at the Academy? and I was telling her about it. I was telling her about it in loud, dramatic language with lots of gesturing. She got this scrunchy look on her face and said "There's no need to get so upset about it." I blinked, dropped my hands, and said, "I'm not upset, I'm just passionate!" And when it comes to my own quirky passions I also remember one of the best lines from the Anne of Avonlea movie (can't remember if it was in the book or not) when Anne said something to the effect of "I can't help but fly up on the wings of expectation. The flying almost pays for the thud." Yes! You tell 'em Anne!.
Anyhow, the long and the short of it is that yes, I am fully and completely aware that being mind-numbingly hyper obsessed with Shah Rukh Khan and insanely giddy over his tweets (I'm Twitterpated! *LOL*) is absolutely silly. Of course it is! But the free emotional high is so wonderful that I wouldn't give it up for anything. I love being happy. I love feeling this joy. It makes the sun shine full strength even in this nasty cold winter. And major snaps to my man Shah Rukh for being one of God's special people who has the ability to turn on the tap of happiness for people and let it flow freely. It's amazing. And to show you why it's amazing, here is a series of tweets from him from yesterday. Keep in mind the man was tweeting at about 7:30am Mumbai time after being up ALL NIGHT working:
iamsrk apologies fellowmen and women...dubbing just finished...so dropped my kids to school...and have come to keep the promise.
iamsrk todays expression is faith and belief : an anon poem i read in a book sort of covers this rasa. lemme know wot u think faith is.
iamsrk COME 2 THE EDGE..no v cannot v r afraid COME 2 THE EDGE..no v cannot v will fall COME 2 THE EDGE..they came & he pushed them..and they FLEW!
iamsrk got to go and sleep a bit. my dreams come on at 8 a.m...don't want to miss any episodes.Todays r without commercial breaks too. love u all
He drops his own kids off at school after being up all night and still has the energy to be profound and funny! How can you not find joy in that?
=D