Joy

How does it feel in your body when you experience a moment of joy?

You can visualize it like a bubble of joy that starts in your heart or wherever you feel it, getting larger, enveloping your body, making it any color you want. Or you can imagine it like a waterfall, rushing through your body with its joyous, powerful energy. Perhaps it’s like a drop of water that, as it touches the quiet, still surface of a pond, ripples out in ever widening circles. Or maybe your moments of joy are like little seeds that burst forth into a beautiful garden of flowers. There are any number of ways to describe it.

“When a little bubble of joy appears in your sea of consciousness, take hold of it and keep expanding it. Meditate on it, and it will grow larger. Keep puffing at the bubble until it breaks its confining walls and becomes a sea of joy.”

Yogananda

Each of us is blessed with the freedom to create our experience of life through our thoughts. When you tune into what you’re thinking, sometimes you find you’re thinking negatively or worrying; however, if you consciously focus on positive words of encouragement to intentionally live joyfully and confidently, you will begin to make it a habit to embrace joyful moments, celebrate them, and expand them.

When you become aware of and focus on what really makes you happy, you’re changing the chemistry within your body. It is something you can do anytime, such as first thing in the morning, on the commute to work, on lunch break, before you go to sleep, or anytime you have a spare moment.

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” 

Thich Nhat Hanh

Happiness begins within. Of course, you have obligations and expectations, but you get to decide how to manage them. You have the power to rise above outer influences and cultivate and maintain an attitude of joy and gratitude, which contributes to making each day special. When you make the choice to have a grateful, happy heart, you are creating fertile ground that allows your “seeds of joy” to bloom and thrive.

“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”

Henri Nouwen