Thursday Little Joys

Joy to the World. All the Boys and Girls. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea. Joy to you and me.

I remember the first time I heard that song. It made me happy. It still makes me happy when I run it through my mind. I should remember to do that more often.


It is really interesting how life has a way of taking joy away. Yet we all have the power to find replacements that give us good feelings. It is an amazing thing. The mind cannot think about two things at once. When negativity and the blues are interfering with our contentment factor, training ourselves to focus on what we choose can make the difference between a life that is happier or a life that is sadder.


Now when one is feeling a natural emotion like grief, it is good to attend to it and not deny it. However, when it becomes a habit to live in a state of gloom and desolation it can have a direct impact on our mental and physical health. Research has already demonstrated what my mother always knew that being happy and actually laughing helps cure cancer and other illnesses.


Stress and resultant unhappiness hurts the immune system. You might say that happiness is an autoimmune booster. In other words being miserable makes you sick. And, I don't know about you, but I am sick of being sick.

How do you kick start the joy and kick out the blues? How do you think about something else besides what is really depressing you? You learn to create new habits that evoke natural antidepressants in your mind. Each of us has deep inside of us what those who are new agey call our inner child. This is the part of us that knows how to have fun. How did it learn? Well it learned when it was in charge of our life as we were developing.

Think back to when you were a little kid. What did you do to amuse you? Did you like blowing bubbles? Did you like dancing? Did you like playing tag? Did you like sitting by a stream or lying on the grass and gazing at the clouds and seeing the images change? Did you like that first jump into a cool pool on a hot summer's day? Each of us have things from our childhood that made us happy. Sometimes when we grow up, we forget that we can still do the things that make us happy. Your parents were having the same problems that you and I have as adults but we didn't worry about it because we knew our parents would pay the rent, put food on the table, and make sure we had clothes. It didn't matter if we were rich or poor because we didn't even know what that was. It is a learned concept.

However, if you did not have a happy childhood or if you are just too stuck to get the joy juice flowing there are some things that you can do to escape the doldrums and depression.

First thing in learning something new is to focus. If you cannot focus, you cannot learn. Second thing in learning something new is to practice. Third if you forget to practice, you go back to the first step and start over again.

Learning to focus can come by using what is called a moving meditation. Anything can be a moving meditation that requires movement. When you wash the dishes, wash the dishes. Pay attention to each spot and make sure that you wash the dishes perfectly. When you take a walk, don't let your mind wander but watch how you walk. Pay attention to how you put your foot down. Walk faster and watch how your body reacts. Are you breathing faster? Slow down and see if you can feel your heart beat seem to slow down.

Focus on each thing that you do and the clutter in your mind will start to be tamed.

After you have developed focus you can move on to the next step. The next step is to choose a behavior that you want to change. This must be a small behavior. Don't just say I am going to change my life completely. Choose one area of your life that you want to change and make it a small thing. If you are stressed because you feel that you don't have time to spend on you, get up fifteen minutes early and just do something for you. That could be a leisurely bath or sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee listening to the birds wake up. If you are stressed because people ask to much of you, start learning to say no. You will be amazed that once you learn how to say no people will respect you more than when you were a door mat being walked over by every one else's problem

The process of learning to have more minutes of happiness is simple but it is not easy. When you feel that you have failed just say to you: I missed the mark. I am starting over. Then go back to your moving meditation to reinforce your ability to focus.

It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.

Agnes Repplier

Morning Muse

Myriam Maytorena

http://myriamsmuse.blogspot.com/

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