Joy
Joy is a response to contact with the essence of life. Joy can be self-sustaining, because we never need be out of contact with the essence of life, no matter what we are doing. Some people know this in a primal way they cannot explain.
There are qualities and elements of joy we can consciously cherish and strengthen. We can learn from others and practice these attitudes:
Amusement
Delight
Enthuasiasm
Gratitude
Meditation is a practice of joy in the sense that we plunge through into the essence of life.
Double Duty, Quadruple Duty
During meditation, we often do not feel joyful, because we are spending time sorting through all the obstacles to our contact with the essence of life. Day in and day out, meditation tends to feel a lot like work, because when we have busy lives, meditation is often our only real quiet time. Because of this, meditation has to do double duty, triple duty, quadruple duty.
Most of us could benefit from having several separate times to:
-Sort through our to-do lists and prioritize everything, visualize doing it, and make actionable chunks.
-Catch up on our rest. Pay off our sleep debt.
-Get massaged.
-Feel the texture of each of our relationships.
-Smell the roses.
In practice, meditation is often our only time in the day when we can catch up with ourselves, so it selves many functions and our brains are therefore very "noisy." Notice, though, if you do make time to meditate, that after meditation, when you are in action, you have a greater sense of joy in living.
Joy is a response to contact with the essence of life. Joy can be self-sustaining, because we never need be out of contact with the essence of life, no matter what we are doing. Some people know this in a primal way they cannot explain.
There are qualities and elements of joy we can consciously cherish and strengthen. We can learn from others and practice these attitudes:
Amusement
Delight
Enthuasiasm
Gratitude
Meditation is a practice of joy in the sense that we plunge through into the essence of life.
Double Duty, Quadruple Duty
During meditation, we often do not feel joyful, because we are spending time sorting through all the obstacles to our contact with the essence of life. Day in and day out, meditation tends to feel a lot like work, because when we have busy lives, meditation is often our only real quiet time. Because of this, meditation has to do double duty, triple duty, quadruple duty.
Most of us could benefit from having several separate times to:
-Sort through our to-do lists and prioritize everything, visualize doing it, and make actionable chunks.
-Catch up on our rest. Pay off our sleep debt.
-Get massaged.
-Feel the texture of each of our relationships.
-Smell the roses.
In practice, meditation is often our only time in the day when we can catch up with ourselves, so it selves many functions and our brains are therefore very "noisy." Notice, though, if you do make time to meditate, that after meditation, when you are in action, you have a greater sense of joy in living.