As we move through the month of Adar—the season of Mishenichnas Adar Marbin BeSimcha (When Adar enters, we increase in joy)—we first need to understand what “Constant Joy” actually means. We often make the mistake of thinking joy is a reward we get only after our problems are gone. However, the Torah teaches that constant joy is about consistency. It is a steady way of thinking that defines who you are, even in the quiet moments of your day.

To change our lives, we have to flip the way we usually think. Most people say, “First I’ll solve my problems and stop worrying, and then I’ll be happy.” The Torah teaches the exact opposite: the V’nahafoch Hu (Esther 9:1), or the “Great Flip.” Happiness is not the finish line; it is the engine.

Joy is the actual medicine you use to get out of a mess. Just as a little bit of light naturally pushes away a lot of darkness, choosing to be happy is how we solve the problem of worry. Happiness and worry simply cannot live in the same heart at the exact same time. By taking the “medicine” of joy, you crowd out the clouds of worry and give your mind the strength it needs to function.

As it says in Yeshayahu (55:12): “For with joy you shall go out.” This teaches us a simple truth: it is specifically through the power of joy that a person finds the strength to break through their struggles. We don’t become happy because we overcame our problems; we overcome our problems because we chose to be happy first.

The secret to making this last is found in the Showbread (Lechem HaPanim) in the Mishkan. The Torah commands in Shemos (25:30) that this bread must be on the table “continually.” The Gemara explains that even if there was a short break between the old bread being removed and the new bread being set down, it was still called “continual.”

This is a powerful model for our lives. You might wonder: “If I only think happy thoughts twice a day, am I actually happy the rest of the time?” Think of a fire: if you put a log on the fire in the morning and another at night, the fire stays lit all day, even if the flame gets smaller in the afternoon. By starting and ending your day with joy, you keep the fire of happiness burning. This routine defines your character for the whole twenty-four hours of the day.

This is beautifully shown in a story about the holy Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev. He once met a man who complained that he could not be happy because he had no money. The Rebbe told him: “You are waiting for the money to show up so you can dance, but the Heavens are waiting for you to dance so they can send the money!” The dance is what brings the help you need.

The lesson of Mishenichnas Adar Marbin BeSimcha is simple: if you make it a point to start and end your day with one happy thought, you have defined your entire day as a “happy day.” We don’t wait for the worry to stop so we can be happy; we take the medicine of happiness so the worry has to stop.

It is a great spiritual duty to be in a state of joy always. Mitzvah gedola lehiyot besimcha tamid — Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)