In Yoga, we believe that Joy is an emotion that sits in the second chakra, in the pelvic girdle and in our hearts. And we believe that joy is our birthright. Every living creature deserves a life of joy. And the media would love us to buy into the idea of joy being a big affair: complicated and expensive. But the sweetest, most joyful moments of life are often the little things: that first cup of tea in the morning shared with someone you love, the magnolia trees currently laden with giant blossoms of pink, magenta and white, the ecstatic welcome from your pet as you enter the house and the sound of children laughing. These are moments of pure happiness and joy.
But sometimes it’s really hard to feel that gladness. Stress, life crises, ill health, broken relationships, all conspire to keep us in a state of anxiety and worry and prevent that flow of joy. You need not force happiness or try to layer it on top of whatever is going on in your life, but instead, try going inside and dig up the joy that is already deep inside you. Shedding that which is not joyful will naturally uncover the feelings you seek. And if you need some help, try meditating, yoga, or engage in other contemplative activities, so that you are able to release your unconscious resistance to goodness, and find that joy.
It is said that positive emotions spread up to three degrees of separation, meaning your child, your child’s teacher, and that teacher’s brother can benefit from your own individual happiness. If we all paid attention to our thoughts, feelings and actions, and aligned them closer with joy, you can easily see how quickly we could change the collective emotional atmosphere.
Gratitude is another short cut to a life filled with joy. Start and end your day with acknowledging three things you are grateful for, and if possible, share your gratitude with someone else. Grateful thoughts resonate at a higher vibration than negative thoughts, so by giving your thanks, you are literally raising the vibration within, and around you.
Extending compassion to others paves the way to a joyous existence. And the yogic understanding of compassion is not just empathy for others, but realizing a kinship with those suffering. Thus extending compassion helps people to feel understood and socially connected, and also has a positive effect on the person giving the compassion. And as you make your own happiness a priority, you will be able to extend that same happiness and joy to others. Your world will shift into a higher vibration. It starts with you and ripples outward. In a society that sorely needs it, your attention to joy is a profound gift to the entire world.