Be Joyful Now

For quite a while I had been focussing on courage and confidence. Last sunday I planned to go out with an intention to rise in courage and confidence; do some comfort challenges and initiate conversations with strangers. I went out and did nothing. I returned and was disappointed. ‘Why can’t I do it? Should I quit? What do I truly want?’

‘What do I truly want?’

It’s a question I had asked myself so many times, for months actually, and I never was able to answer it clearly. This time the answer came so easily and clearly.

What do I truly want?

Joy. That’s it. Joy. I want joy. I want to be joyful right now. Not after I reach my goals, not after financial freedom, not after getting the ideal relationship, not after everything gets resolved… I want joy right now and that’s the one thing that I truly want.

It came so clearly and it became absolutely clear. Since then I focussed only on being joyful. If I started worrying about anything I reminded myself of being joyful. Self-improvement didn’t matter, goals didn’t matter, courage and confidence didn’t matter. Whatever I am doing, I am doing for being joyful. I defocussed from rising in courage and confidence.

Out of the blue I was reminded of my intention of improving joyfully. Improvement is good and it makes me feel joyful. And the way to make it joyful is small steps.

What was the smallest step I could take to improve? The answer came clearly; eye contact. Master eye contact.

So that’s what I have decided. I will master eye contact and then move forward. For the next 21 days, I will focus only on mastering eye contact.

I went out to a park today and looked into every person’s eyes that I could. It was joyful.

The only thing that matters to me is moving forward and not staying stuck. I have stayed stuck for years and that wasn’t joyful. Small progress is joyful.

It doesn’t matter how slow I go as long as I move forward.

Success is guaranteed as long as we are willing to persist.