Joy and Meditation
Sometimes - well, most of the time…OK, ALL the time! - I take myself too seriously. I could blame my upbringing - parents, church, culture - but that isn’t the whole truth. It’s me. It’s how I’m wired - or maybe how I wired myself. And then reinforced that, day after day. By not laughing at myself. By not looking for the humor, the lightness in life. By not noticing joy when it was right in front of me.
A couple of years ago, I had a moment of pure Joy. I remember it because it was such a new and unusual sensation. Nothing spectacular was happening; I was sitting on my patio staring out at the woods behind my house. And I had this feeling I couldn’t readily identify. I had to search my mind for the word “Joy” to name the emotion. That moment led me on a search for Joy.
As usual, I went at it very seriously. I meditated about it. I had a shamanic ceremony performed. I had a healing or two (or ten). I read "The Book of Joy" by the Dalai Lama.
All of these helped. They helped a lot. A few months ago I realized how often I now feel Joy.
I also realized that I block Joy with my serious attitude.
Recently I was meditating and realized I was even serious about meditating. Too serious. Meditation is not supposed to be stressful. It’s not supposed to be grueling. But too often, that’s how it felt to me. So I tried something new.
I smiled.
While I was meditating. I smiled.
And I felt Joy.
There are studies showing the benefits of smiling on our mood and our bodies. Some may say that the positive effects of smiling during meditation are just physiological effects - the normal function of our body. To that I say, so? We use movement during yoga and tai chi. We use breath work. We already use our physiology to help us move into our spirituality. And smiling is so easy!
Smiling during meditation reminds me to enjoy what I’m doing. To play with it. To stop taking it - and myself - so seriously.
One goal of meditation is to bring the good stuff we get during it to the rest of our waking life. Smiling during meditation reminds me to bring a smile to the rest of my life. To create my own Joy.
