Today I am contemplating joy – and what it actually is! -I believe that to access our joy fully, we must also have reached the depth of pain and suffering at some level, in order to have something with which to compare it to. I have recognised over the years, that joy is life enhancing in every capacity – and sometimes it is hard to find and harder to hold onto.
I am feeling joy today just by contemplating the full moon for example, the beauty of the moon and the stars, the clear night sky and the crisp night air which gives me joy. This feeling of joy enters my soul and my body, my spirit and my heart in a being of light and it enhances my experience of all life, as the joy nourishes me in all ways.
The question for me is, ‘ How can we find joy, particularly at these times when many people appear to be experiencing challenges, and changes?
’Joy can be found in both the simple and the profound areas of life We can search for it and never find it, and then suddenly, we may turn over a leaf and the joy of a colour or a ladybird will fill us with wonder, and our joy will spill over into our hearts.Joy can be found within our love and support of a family, or a particular loved one. Sharing something as simple as tea, or rolling over in bed and seeing the face of someone you love. Playing with animals, listening to the sounds of music or the sea, or simply walking somewhere.
All these things, and many more can lead us to joy. True joy has many facets. The feeling of joy can be stimulated by these, but the actual experience of joy is limitless.I truly believe, that by enhancing our capacity for mindfulness and meditation, and by becoming sensitive to all our senses, joy is intensified and our capacity to feel joy in many aspects of life grows. I can teach meditation, mindfulness, stillness within and peacefulness, but how to teach someone the ability to feel joy, is almost impossible. I can only lead someone to the possibilities that joy is present.
I can teach how to open the heart chakra, for example, which is linked to the experience of joy, and to open the body to love energy, and then I can ring a bell, and say, listen, listen, to your heart and to your resonant being, and then I will have to ask, ‘ Is joy there?’ and hope that you find joy.One aspect of joy I am interested in is the capacity to allow joy in. Sometimes people say to me, they have never experienced joy, they don’t truly know how to be joyful – and I say to them, open up their hearts, and allow in joy. Open up to the possibility that something wonderful can be felt, that something special will fill over and make you smile and laugh with joy, and be open to this possibility. It cannot be forced as joy will be experienced in different ways by different people, One person’s joyful hot bath is another person’s overheated sweatlodge!
Although we all have different ways of experiencing joy, we al have this capacity to be joyful and allow joy. It can enter into our pores if we let it, and it can fill us and our being with a radiance which is life enhancing and liberating.
At this time of Samhain as the darkness leads us into winter, find something to bring joy into your heart, and your life, so that you can balance the darker times with life enhancing feelings. We all deserve to feel joy and we all can experience joy – take a moment just to ask yourself, what gives you joy?
Then give yourself permission to be and feel joy. It will fill you with life…. Namaste