It may seem strange to validate what we consider to be positive feelings, but I think we often miss joy. We don’t actually pay much attention to it; We can often let it slip away without warning. The good news is that there are practices for growing them. These practices can help us attend to and support joy in our felt experience. It’s actually a very important emotion.
Joy helps us awaken to our lives. It is a factor in supporting concentration. So, if you are someone who feels distracted most of the time, and has difficulty concentrating or paying attention, cultivating and paying attention to joy is a great way to deepen your feelings. concentration.
First, let’s explore what joy is. For me, experience can be fun, but it is fundamentally different from pleasure. I feel joy as a real internal event. It can be triggered by something external, but it’s also something I can cultivate internally. A great way to do this is to think about the things in my life that I’m grateful for. Another way is to savor – stop and savor – what is beautiful and good and working in my life.
This is a very important ability because we as humans work with… Negativity bias. This bias in itself is very logical: we tend to focus our minds on what is wrong, threatening, or what could harm us so that we can be better protected through life’s ups and downs. But if we allow this negativity bias to spread, we risk missing out on what is beautiful, joyful, and nourishing in our lives. Not to mention, we are becoming less and less equipped to cultivate this beauty, joy, and nourishment ourselves. So training ourselves to receive and enjoy what is good is no trivial pursuit. Learning to savor joyful moments helps us let go of negativity and open up to new possibilities.
So let’s practice. And again, as we have done with all of our emotion practices, we will be mostly concerned with the physical sensations of joy. We may see it grow when we care for it. As we do this, we will also try to notice how focusing on joy can help strengthen our focus. The great thing is that if you give the mind something fun and exciting to pay attention to, it will want to go there. Maybe you’ll decide to begin every mindfulness practice by cultivating joy. (Talk about a great incentive to sit down for a few minutes.) You may also want to use this approach in your daily life.
Meditate for 12 minutes to get rid of negativity and taste joy
Watch the video:
Listen to practice:
Read and practice the guided meditation text below, pausing after each paragraph. Or listen to audio exercises.
1. Let us take our seat wherever we are. As always, you can lie down if you are in a place where you can do so. Let’s take some deep breaths. Just settle in here: lengthen your inhales and exhales. During these opening breaths, simply scan your mind and body and notice how you feel. Let’s use breathing to bring some balance to this moment. If you feel tired or sleepy, simply inhale more air, then focus on inhaling. If you’re feeling excited or anxious, focus on your exhalation, and really lengthen it. Then allow your breathing to return to its normal rhythm. Feel your connection to the chair and your feet on the floor. Find that support and connection to the Earth.
2. Now let’s remember some last happy moments of our lives. Instead, you can think of some things you are grateful for in your life. What to do these days? You’re alive, so something must be working… Maybe it’s simply that you found this 30 day challenge and did some practicing – you found the time to take care of yourself that way. Or maybe you are seeing some benefits in your life. Maybe there is a relationship you enjoy; You feel loved and connected. This may be with someone, or you may have a puppy or kitten in your life. Or maybe you went to a place that sparked joy in you: somewhere in nature, perhaps near a lake, surrounded by trees, a place where you could look out at a scene you loved. Choose one or a few moments to focus on and really have fun. What brings you happiness? Maybe remembering movements like dancing, swimming, or any other physical activity sparks joy in you. Maybe it’s travel, a recent trip. Or maybe he’ll learn something new.
3. Really think about receiving the joy of these experiences. Bring your attention to your body. Notice how happy you feel in this moment. Where do you feel it in your body? Chest, abdomen, throat, face? What do you notice? Is there a temperature for joy? Is there a flow or movement of joy energy in your body? How big is it? When you pay attention to that, can you rest your attention with some kind of joy? Breathe into it. And if there is a feeling that this energy of joy wants to grow, so be it. It may extend to other parts of your body, all the way to the tips of your fingers and toes. Just notice: Is it tingling, shaking, flowing?
4. If you ever lose that feeling of connection, simply remember the images, people, and situations that bring you happiness again. Then return to feeling, tasting, and perhaps expanding that sensation and the energy of joy felt in your body. Breathe into it.
5. As we conclude this short practice, let’s take a moment to reflect and notice the people, places, and situations that bring us joy. What things have really inspired a vivid sense of joy for you? They may have surprised you. Maybe it’s things you don’t do often. But you can. You can bring more of that into your life. So, how do you do that?
6. Before we finish, let’s make a simple commitment to do one of the things that brings us joy. Let’s commit to bringing more of this joy-inducing activity or more of that connection or more time with the people who bring us joy into our lives.
7. When you are ready, open your eyes if they are closed. Take a deep breath. Do you orient yourself to the space around you? Notice how you feel now.
As you return to your day, I invite you to pay more attention to what is joyful in your life. Then commit to attracting more of that and growing it further.
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