"True Joy, believe me, is a serious thing."

Joy is seemingly superfluous. Scientifically speaking, one can live without it; it is not a necessity of survival as is breathing, eating, or sheltering oneself. Rather, joy is that natural way in which we learn to shelter ourselves from the storm of suffering.

Joy is that intensely indescribable light, buried in some integral but decentralized part of the body, which makes one feel most alive.

This summer, I sought the true significance of pure, irreproducible joy. I searched for meaning at every opportunity, and I discovered passion, consolation, and unadulterated bliss. This summer, I spent my free time feeling alive, and it has been the most rewarding pursuit of my young life.

In August, I spent a full night lying on the shores of Catalina Island, watching the marvelously incandescent stars scuttle slowly across a deep navy sky. I spoke softly to a friend, exchanging experiences and philosophical ideas that I’d thought I may never utter aloud, discovering that I had only withheld them because they deserved the reverence of such a moment. I watched the moon poke itself up over the water, its bright reflection mirrored in a conversely dark ocean, and migrate through the galaxy above me. Finally, the chilling night became a warm morning, and I watched that moon replaced by the sun, as it rose over the horizon. I received a slight sunburn on my cheek after falling asleep in the earliest hours of summer heat, a mark of more than my simple existence, a mark of my having lived, and breathed, and reveled in the splendor of that sun.

This year, I’ve found majesty in places I previously found triviality. This year, I’ve learned that I love intense games of scrabble and winter sweaters and yoga, but that I do not like Pad Thai. Contrarily, I too have learned that I love introspective thought, and I love summer tank tops, and I love the soreness in my legs when I’ve neglected to stretch after a long run.

This year, I filled my life with exertive participation in life, and in it I have found such profundity. I’ve found joy in seeking opportunities through which I can experience and understand the rare and miraculous moments that pervade existence.

Ultimately, I’ve found that joy is more than just a nice feeling; the ability to pursue true joy is an invaluable gift.

2012