I’m not sure about you but sometimes I feel joy is very close by, popping in and out of my day, saying hello, smiling inside, draping a lightness over all that I am doing. And sometimes I feel that the joy is just out of reach, a little distant and not quite as accessible or as spontaneous as I want it to be.
As we become meditators we learn that the mind and body have a very special relationship, what happens in the mind, happens in the body and what happens in the body, happens in the mind. We never need to look far for evidence that this is the case.
Have you ever sat across from a grumpy friend or family member and looked them in the eyes with a huge grin on your face and said “Don’t you smile now!” As cheesy as it sounds, it is almost impossible for them to resist breaking out a grin no matter how hard or determined they are to stay in their grouchy state. That grin triggers a transformation out of one state and in to another more positive one, it’s an excellent circuit breaker.
Amy Cuddy wrote in her book Presence (see also her TED talk) about power posing, demonstrating the very positive affect two minutes of posing your body like a super hero can have on your confidence and the way you feel and behave in the world.
What I love about all of this is that we don’t have to wait until the stars are aligned and joy strikes us down, we can encourage it to bubble up within us and permeate our whole being, colouring our moment in that lovely feel good way.
So, this week, I am setting the intention of encouraging a moment of daily joy, whether I am feeling like it or not (especially if I am not).
Love,
Jo x