THE KARMIC REQUIREMENT OF JOY #1

Joy has a different flavor to it than happiness. Happiness has many synonyms: Happiness, Serenity, Well Being, Equanimity, Harmony, Balance, Inner Peace, Connection, Meaning...

 

Cleanse the lens, adjust the focus, rid what clutters and impedes.
Shed and shie what keeps the soul from joy.

 

Remember that you are made not for brokenness and sorrow but for wholeness and for joy.

 

Sometimes I go about pitying myself and all the time I am being carried on great winds across the sky.” Ojibway

 

“In the song of the rushing torrent hold onto the joyful assurance: I will become the sea. And this is not a vain supposition, it is absolute humility because it is the truth.” Tagore

 

“A truly wise person is always joyful. The best way to live joyfully is to believe that life was given for joy. When joy disappears, 

look for your mistake.” 

Tolstoy

We need to find equanimity in amongst the play of light and dark. 

It if was not for this tension, life would be like spiritual diabetes. There can be no growth without conflict. Toomy below is teaching us that serenity means being active and aware. It is something that requires our attention and our effort. For the rare few this comes naturally but for most of us not so much.

“Serenity is not a passive condition but an undisturbed peace of mind, active and aware which can be 

quiet joy, sometimes ecstatic joy, 

always deep within spirit and light of heart.” Father Toomy

We need to be able to coexist with the negative all around us without being discouraged. The temptation is to give up hope and be influenced by the challenges in the ebb and flow of life which may seem to be getting worse day by day. We must resist going to the dark side when there is just as much light around us - if we look for it. Avoid too much social media, TV and toxic movies. A regular meaningful spiritual practice, done almost daily and also whenever needed is essential for maintaining harmony and balance.

“Indifference to the sublime wonder of living is the root of sin“ Joshua Heschel

We need to be able to savor the moments between the sacred and profane, the light and the dark, striving to coexist with the negative but not to assimilate it. It is not easy, spiritual practice can save us.

“Savor! Give yourselves to savoring, even the doubting, even the struggling. Savor it all. You are only to savor it to be worthy of it. It is the way of actualizing.” Father Toomey

But also

Be careful of what you touch, what touches you, and where you immerse.

The Ancestors teach;

Attend to your well being especially happiness which is 

sometimes found in hidden recesses always in 

GRATITUDE.

Your gifts are only gifts if you find them thus to be - your heart makes them so. Be grateful and you will be happy. Happiness leads to great empowerment.  

Spacious mind is about gratitude and joy. Narrow mind is about acquisitiveness.

There is no joy as transforming as the joy of gratitude.

Where there is gratitude there is light.

“Reflect on your present blessings of which every person has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all people have some.” Charles Dickens

  

Gratitude creates light, happiness, empowerment and spiritual transformation.

Research in gratitude has found that gratitude facilitates a positive feedback loop - gratitude leads to more gratitude. It also increases  endorphins, serotonin and oxytocin as well as neuronal density in the prefrontal lobe of the brain in the F.M.R.I.'s of the practitioners. The latter is also found in advanced practitioners of meditation. 

Gratitude is spiritual practice and prayer at the same time (rather than supplication in our "prayers," where we ask for something.) Prayer should usually reflect gratitude. When we supplicate, we should be sure it is for the greater good, and not ourselves.

Research on gratitude by Emmons and McCullough has shown that a gratitude practice can profoundly effect our well being, equanimity and happiness. It helped the participants to pay their gratitude forward in random acts of kindness.

Apart from gratitude what are other hidden recesses? 

These can be found in:

Forgiveness

Forgiveness of ourselves and others and asking forgiveness of others we may have harmed - cleaning the karmic slate. Taking off the albatross around our necks.

Nature

 The senses and the Three S's (both in and outside of Nature)

Sun

"If you do not want to see the shadow turn your face to the sun." Aboriginal saying

"No matter how long the night, the dawn is sure to come." African proverb

Sound - Music

The mantra of the bush; the wind in the trees, the sound of falling rain or ocean waves, a babbling brook ...

Smells 

 Scents, aroma, incense. Aromatherapy.

Connection and doing Service

“Wherever you turn you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember you do not live in a world all of your own.” A. Schweitzer

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me. If I am only for myself then what am I ?(a narcissist). And if not now, then when?"

Hillel

The search for the Self, the Higher Self, is at the core of human motivation whether we know it, or practice it or not. This search is not selfish. It will lead to more selflessness. Practicing gratitude will do the same thing.

Buddhism tells us to take our suffering and make something useful out of it. To turn the crap into manure. It's not what happens to us but what we do with it. Pain is inevitable, suffering, optional. Service makes us happier.

“… Do your work, then step back, the only way to serenity.”

Tao Te Ching

Laughter

Watch funny movies.

Body Work

Have a massage, acupuncture etc...

Meditation 

(Active meditation for some is more powerful; Yoga, Tai Chi, painting, playing an instrument, dancing, hiking...)

For others exercise is enough.

We will complete this section on Karma and Joy next week.