Joie de Vivre, a love of life

Joie de vivre, in French; joy de verve, or joy of living, as we may say it; is hearty, exuberant, carefree, enjoyment of life; a delight in being alive; a love of life. Joie de vivre can be a joy of conversation, joy of eating, joy of anything one might do… and may be seen as a joy of everything, a comprehensive joy, a philosophy of life; and in fact, a celebration of life. Joie de vivre is to realise our unrealisable dreams.

Joie de vivre is, when our thoughts take wings and transport us to the seventh heaven. Joie de vivre is that moment of intoxication, when the heart palpitates, the eyes flash, the blood rushes through the veins, the soul is elated, and the hands tremble and the lips moisten from desire, at seeing our loved one. It is that instance of mental malady called love, less rare in our epoch of hysterical insanity and of corrupt decadence, except among the uncontaminated teens.

It is as essential to, love, living, and life, as is breath to body. Though this word originates from France, it has significant meaning in Poland. It describes an amazingly beautiful woman named Magdalenka Kozakowski and is used commonly today to liken other women to this glorious being. On reading this, it is likely that many of my male readers would think of at least one such, joie de vivre; and the female readers may hope, hopefully, that they are a joie de vivre to, at least, the person they love and trust.

Planet earth is full of joie de vivre, and they all are, not necessarily women. Joie de vivre, in fact, is an expression for a rare quality that simply shines forth in some people: an ability to love life to its fullest, and to reflect this in both personality and deed.

Unfortunately, for many of us the hustle and bustle of everyday life can wear us down to a pile of complaints, so that all we see is the less joyful side of things, and we sidestep joie de vivre under piles of duty, worries, and the occasional catastrophe. Yet, recapturing love and enthusiasm for simple things in life, a quality that came effortlessly to us as children, is important for our sense of well-being and fulfilment.

It is not about being ‘happy’, a word rooted from happen-stance, fully dependent on the situation. But, joie de vivre comes from something deep down. Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path to joie de vivre. “Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy,” said Joseph Campbell, American mythologist, writer and lecturer.

Feeling

Joy: that lively emotion of happiness; the cause of delight; an expression, or manifestation of such feeling; is something all of us have felt at one time or other in our life. The more fortunate among us, have experienced it more often, unlike the unfortunate and the wretched. Joy is our goal, our destiny. We cannot know who we are except in joy. Not knowing joy, we do not know ourselves.

However, whereas joy is, that feeling brought about as a result of an event or happening; joie de vivre is a state of mind; and, a mere thought, contemplation, meditation, reflection, is sufficient to be, affected with joie de vivre. If joy is in things external, joie de vivre is in us, within us. Joie de vivre cannot be, bought; and neither can it be, sourced from an endless obsession for acquiring things we do not yet possess. Most certainly, it is not to be found in increasing our work obligations, without really thinking about where doing that, takes us.

Joie de vivre is about unburdening ourselves from want, and rediscovering the simple joys of life and of noticing the small things that matter. The joy of living is to have a healthy and happy life. If one enjoys good health, the life can be fun filled. Inspiring your joie de vivre begins here.

All of us, sometimes for no reason, feel dejected, cast down, crestfallen; feel how sad and weary in everything. Always the same, always hateful; and so, we dream of a land more beautiful, people more noble, things more varied. Instead, what we see is monotony, always monotony and dullness; waves which resemble waves; plains which resemble plains; fields which resemble fields; everything is sameness, dullness, and monotonous.

And humans? Smelling of a subtle, slight, almost imperceptible puff of their putridity; what horrible animals some humans can be! Wicked, haughty, and repugnant; so we feel, and thus we suffer; for no reason; or some reason. At such times, remember: Life is for the living. We are only here for a brief moment, so seize it and enjoy it to the fullest while you can.

The joy of living can be found in the simple pleasures of life such as engaging in a casual conversation with the one you love; having a good laugh together with close friends; taking a leisurely walk in the woods, enjoying mother nature; or soaking in a good book in the comfort of your room.

Accept life as it is; sorrows and all. Make your choices, learn to savour life and be grateful for whatever you have now.

Acknowledge joy, or the joy of living. There is no need to over-analyse joy; because, to do so is to unnecessarily complicate it. Joy is simply about realising that, the moment you are in right now is special, wondrous, and beautiful. So rejoice in the things that life has given to you to enjoy, and do just that, and enjoy them. Moments of joy can be found in, just about anything; including the mundane.

Dominate

Accept and revel in the fact that no one is perfect. No one even agrees on what perfect is; the same person can be obnoxiously crazy to some people, and fun-crazy life of the party to others.

Most of us are disgruntled and obsessed with real, and some imagined, negative aspects of our lives which tend to dominate our outlook and mar the happiness we would otherwise find in simple things. It helps remember that however perfect appearances may be, all of us, without exception, have some low points and flaws to us. They are often also our strengths and sometimes the reverse of what we think we are. Everyone has problems even if they are not visible. Some of us are just more clever at hiding them than others, and possibly even from ourselves. Hence, being either consciously or unwittingly influenced by, feelings such as attractiveness and perfection is, something we buy by way of fitness training, grooming products, clothing, or other external symbols.

Nobody is perfect, and we do not have to be either.
See you this day next week. Until then, keep thinking; keep laughing.
Life is mostly about these two activities.

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