— Most people intent on finding their gift look for clues in their work, past and present, their family backgrounds, their hobbies and interests. As sensible as this may seem, none of these factors will lead you to the answer. None gets to the heart of your remarkable capacity to create value – that distinctive contribution you are capable of making in the world. The way to find your gift is by following the signs of joy – those aspects of life to which you are instinctively drawn and that stir your soul. Joy comes before happiness. In unraveling your identity code, understanding the distinction between these two ideas is important. The definition I assigned to happiness, early in the book, was that you are at peace with yourself, among others in the world. To arrive at this place, you need to make joy your guide.
In the words of Joseph Campbell, philosopher and mythologist, you must follow your bliss. At its core, joy slices through the defenses, concerns and rationalizations we use to keep ourselves balanced against the pressures of our daily lives. It leads us directly to a place of elation we have probably long forgotten exists within us. When I refer to elation, I am referring to feelings that take you over completely. For instance, that feeling of sudden heat that unexpectedly wells up in, and washes over, your body. Or, the shudders that run up and down your spine, releasing tension in their wake. That elation comes from an unqualified love of something. It can be the creative juices inside you that run free when you are cooking up a storm. It can be the feelings of unbridled awe you connect with as you gallop across open fields, deep in the heart of the mountains of Wyoming. Or, perhaps, it is the freedom you feel, deep in your bones, as your voice soars in the midst of singing a passage from your favorite opera.
Joy comes before happiness.
Whatever it may be, what brings you joy carries you naturally to a state of near-ecstasy, where the tensions of the day disappear and you are one with yourself – you are at peace with who you are, among others in the world. The only thing that matters, then, is to find that “something.”
