Last week, I attended an event that I had waited to attend for the past six years. I rolled onto an elementary school playground and excitedly anticipated the moment to occur. No, this wasn’t a basketball game. It wasn’t a performance of some sort. It was better. I was waiting for my eldest son, Andrew, to graduate from fifth grade. Just the thought made me swell with a certain amount of pride.

I love that boy, and I was ready to celebrate his accomplishment. Little did I know that during the ceremony, I would be in for a surprise. You see, during graduation, the students were given awards for various achievements and attributes. I wasn’t aware of the award portion of the ceremony. So, you can imagine my surprise when I heard my son’s name called to receive an award. That’s right, my son received the Ray of Sunshine Award.

This award is given to students who are consistently positive and a joy in the classroom and the school in general.

I think we can learn a little something from this elementary school award. We can focus more on being that ray of sunshine. So often, as we journey to being the most successful person we can be, we overlook the fact that joy and happiness are essential to living a successful life. Without happiness and joy, life satisfaction will never come.

When we define success, we tend to think only of the goals we want to accomplish. We think about the size of our bank account, the square footage and location of our house, the 0 to 60 speed of our car, and taking Instagram-worthy vacations. The only problem with defining success in terms of acquisitions and possessions is that they rarely provide happiness.

We start to see the bank account as something that has to be guarded. We realize that more square footage means more maintenance. The fast car is frequently stuck in traffic and rarely speeds along a scenic highway. And finally, those Instagram-worthy photos are preceded by great amounts of stress and uncomfortable moments. None of this results in added joy or happiness. Instead, it just means greater levels of stress.

Happiness and joy are not dependent upon the things we own or our accomplishments. Joy resides within us. It is something that we have to cultivate and nurture. Most importantly, we must realize that we will never find true joy if we try to find it through our belongings. Dopamine rushes from credit card swipes do not bring joy. Joy is much more of a spiritual state. The joy that you have is always with you regardless of the situation you are in or the difficulty of the challenges you face.

I am excited that Andrew graduated from elementary school.  Even more so, I am excited that he has found his inner joy and it radiates from him.

As I end this post, I hope that you find joy and that your joy is transmitted to others in your presence.