Where's Your Focus?
Right now, many of us aren’t feeling so great since we just had another mass shooting/murder in Colorado Springs a few days ago. It’s difficult to think of those who lost their lives or were injured because someone who was misguided by hate chose to try and kill as many LGBTQ people as he could.
At times like this, we want to know what we can do to help. Besides offering some sort of physical or monetary assistance if we can, the best thing we can do for everyone is work on our own energy. Far from being selfish, changing our own energy can have a huge impact on the world around us.
I’m sure you’ve heard about writing gratitude lists. November is typically the time we read and hear a lot about gratitude - at least in the United States - since we celebrate Thanksgiving this month. Gratitude lists are a great thing to write and to keep because this practice makes us focus more on what we have than on what we don't have.
Writing down, or even thinking about, the good in our lives can change our entire energy for the better. I would like to propose another practice than can go deeper than gratitude lists: writing a joy list.
Joy is deeper than the simple feeling of gratitude we experience when something goes right in our lives or we acquire something we've been wanting such as a car, house, boy or girlfriend. Joy dives right to the soul level.
Try this. This is similar to what I talked about in this week’s video, but a bit different. Grab a piece of paper, a 3 x 5 index card, or open a file on your computer or smart phone and write: My Joy List. Then pay attention to the times you feel joy in your heart. There doesn’t have to be reason behind the feelings of joy. In fact, I have found that many times joy shows up for no apparent reason: it simply is.
Here are some things someone might write down on their joy list:
Seeing my grandchild.
Sitting in meditation.
Cuddling with my dog or cat.
Seeing the little yellow flower by my backdoor.
Hearing the morning birds singing.
The hot shower this morning.
Breathing the fresh morning air.
Listening to a Mozart concerto.
Looking at a work of art.
Sitting in a cathedral.
These are not things one acquires or owns. They are experiences that open our hearts to the greatness of our lives, to the beauty of our world, to the feelings of being alive and aware of our own aliveness.
When we focus on these feelings of joy that are internally generated, we attract more of these feelings and eventually find ourselves capable of feeling joy no matter what's going on in our lives.
Joy is the energy that underlies all of creation, even the creations that seem less than joyful. And when we can learn to focus on these feelings rather than on what we do or don't have, life blooms in all its fullness.
No longer does it matter whether or not our pet project succeeds. No longer does it matter whether or not the person we think we are attracted to is attracted to us. No longer does it matter whether or not we have thousands of dollars in the bank.
By feeling this deep level of inner joy, we touch our true selves, the part of us who is in constant joy no matter what’s happening in the outer world. And when we touch this part of ourselves and live in contact with it, we are finally living our lives.
Although our practicing this level of joy might not show immediate results in the world-at-large, what’s true is by putting this energy into the collective consciousness, we are having a huge impact on our world. The more people who do this instead of just focusing on what’s wrong in today’s world, the sooner we’ll see the darkness dialed back and goodness begin to take center stage. No, it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen and we can be the ones who help tip the scales.
You can see why I said a joy practice goes far beyond a simple gratitude practice. It is deeper, much deeper. Try it and see.
Living in grace and ease,
Krysta
