Maybe it seems strange to investigate what we consider a good feeling, but I think we often miss happiness. Actually we don’t pay much attention to it; we can often let it slide without much notice. The good news is, there are habits to cultivate it. And these processes can help us to care for and sustain happiness in what we feel. It is actually the most important emotion.
Happiness helps us to wake up in our lives. It is also a factor in supporting concentration. So if you are someone who feels distracted most of the time, has difficulty focusing or paying attention, cultivating and paying attention to happiness is a great way to deepen your focus.
First, let’s examine what happiness is. For me, it would be nice to hear, but it’s actually different from fun. I experience happiness as something that really happens inside. It can be triggered by something external, but it’s also something I can cultivate a lot from within. One of the best ways to do that is to consider the things I am grateful for in my life. Another way is to appreciate—to really stop and enjoy—what is good and beautiful and what works in my life.
This is a very important skill because as humans we operate with biases. Personally, that bias makes a lot of sense: we tend to focus our minds on what’s wrong or scary or potentially harmful in order to better protect ourselves from life’s problems. But if we allow that prejudice to grow, we risk missing out on the good and the happy and the nourishing in our lives. Not to mention, we are growing less and less equipped to cultivate such beauty and joy and nourishment for ourselves. So training yourself to accept and enjoy the good is not a trivial matter. Learning to enjoy happy moments helps us move away from negativity and open to other possibilities.
So let’s practice. And again, as we have done with all our practices with emotions, we will deal more with the physical feelings of happiness. And maybe we’ll see it grow as we pay attention. While we’re at it, we’ll also try to notice how focusing on happiness can help us strengthen our concentration. The best thing is, if you give the mind something fun and exciting to focus on, it will want to go there. Perhaps you will decide to start each mindfulness practice by cultivating happiness. (Talk about a great motivator to sit down for a few minutes). You may also want to apply this method to your daily life.
A 12-Minute Meditation to Break Away from Negativity and Savor Joy
Watch the video:
Listen to the trend:
Read and practice the guided meditation text below, pausing after each passage. Or listen to the audio practice.
1. Let’s stay where we are. As always, you are welcome to lie down if you are in a place where you can do so. Let’s take a deep breath. Just settle here: lengthen your inhale and your exhale. During these opening breaths, just check in with your mind and body and notice how you feel. Let’s use the spirit to bring balance to this time. If you feel tired or drowsy, just take a few deep breaths, focusing on inhaling. If you feel angry or restless, focus on your breath—really stretch it. Then allow your breath to come to its natural rhythm. Feel your contact with the seat, your feet on the floor. Find that support and connect with the world.
2. Now let’s reminisce about some of the more recent happy times in our lives. Alternatively, you might think about some of the things you are grateful for in your life. What’s working these days? You’re alive, so something must be working … Maybe it’s just because you got this 30-day challenge and made some habits—you found the time to take care of yourself this way. Or maybe you’ve been seeing some benefits in your life. Maybe there is a relationship you enjoy; you feel loved and connected. This could be a person, or maybe you have a puppy or cat in your life. Or maybe you’ve been to a place that makes you happy: somewhere in nature, maybe near a lake, surrounded by trees, a place where you can look at a vista you like. Choose one or several moments to focus on and find true happiness. What brings you joy? Maybe it’s remembering to move like dancing or swimming or some other physical activity that makes you happy. Maybe a trip, a recent trip. Or maybe it’s learning something new.
3. Really think about getting the joy of these events. Bring your attention to your body. Notice how you find happiness in this moment. Where in your body do you feel it? Chest, stomach, throat, face? What do you notice? Is there a temperature in happiness? Is there a flow or movement to the energy of joy in your body? How big is it? As you pay attention, can you kind of relax your attention to happiness? Take a breath from it. And if there is a sense that this energy of happiness wants to grow, let it. Maybe it spreads to other parts of your body—even to your fingers and toes. Note: does it glide, vibrate, flow?
4. If at any time you lose a strong sense of connection, just remember the pictures, people, situations that bring you joy. Then go back to the feeling and the taste and perhaps deepen that feeling and feel the energy of pleasure in your body. Take a breath from it.
5. As we close this short ritual, let’s take a moment to reflect and notice the people, places, situations that bring us joy.. What are the things that really inspired a strong, strong feeling of joy in you? Maybe they surprised you. Maybe it’s something you don’t do often. But you could do it. You can bring more of that into your life. So, how can you do that?
6. Before we finish, let’s make a simple commitment to do one of those things that bring us joy. Let’s commit to bringing more of that work that brings us joy or more of that connection or more time with the people in our lives that bring us joy.
7. When you are ready, open your eyes if they were closed. He took a deep breath. Do you orient yourself to the space around you? Notice how you feel right now.
As you return to your day, I invite you to pay more attention to the joys in your life. Then, commit to drawing more of that, and cultivating it further.
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