Cool quote:

"If most of us were asked why we thought we were not fulfilled, why we were not simply happy, we would likely point to particular features of our life such as work, relationships, or health, and attribute our unhappiness to one of these.... To so many of us the activities of our day are like parallel lines and many actively resent one area's impinging on another. The result of this is that modern life so often lacks a centre, a point of convergence, a source of unity. Consequently, men and women lose the sense of their own creative centre and as a result they have no contact with their real selves." (John Main, O.S.B., 1926-1982)

Two points stick out:

1) Every time I teach a class or a two-day conference, a point I emphasize is the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is an internal emotion based on external circumstances. One is happy when the bank account is full, marriage is well, cupboards are full of food, job is secure, etc. Joy, on the other hand, is still an internal emotion but this time it is not based on external circumstances. We can still be joy-filled when we have no money, just lost our job, have no food and our marriage is falling apart.

I see Main referring to happiness rather than joy at the beginning of the quote.

2) The other part I like is how our activities run like parallel lines throughout our day. Our devotional is separate from our relationship with our family which is separate from our job, etc. I believe the better way is for all areas to intersect, our devotional will impact our relationship with our families and jobs, we will have coffee with a friend and talk about how much we love our family, etc.