Don't Postpone Joy

Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. Today I'd like to talk about staying open to joy. And I'd like to share a quote by Alan Cohen, where he says, "Don't postpone joy until you have learned all of your lessons. Joy is your lesson." So notice what it's like to hear that, how that lands for you at this point in your life. With all pithy quotes, there's obviously sometimes nuance that is lost and it's true here as well, because the reality is that sometimes with difficult experiences that we're processing and getting through, the feeling of joy isn't necessarily the appropriate response, nor should we expect it to.

Sometimes we need to feel. Pain, fear, confusion, despair. And that's part of the larger process of being human. The way I interpret this quote is that we should be wary of getting caught in the trap of thinking, I need to figure all of this out, learn these lessons, do all of this healing before I can finally feel joy. Or before I can appreciate goodness in my life.

And instead, the invitation in here is to recognize the small moments of joy that are there along the way, but also to stay open to the goodness of your life that can come through moving through the healing process, learning these various lessons, the highs and lows that are inevitably part of being human. If we're postponing our joy and starting our life until we figured everything out and did all of our healing, we'll never get to experience joy. There's always something more. And so maybe the most profound work there is, is staying open to that goodness, feeling it while it's there and being able to see it sometimes when we get really narrowly focused on what isn't going well and what is wrong. So my invitation to you today and for the rest of the week is just to start to notice more and more where you might be getting caught in that trap of, I need to figure this out, or I need to meditate X amount of times before I'll finally be able to experience relaxation and joy.

And instead, what might it be like to just practice receiving it in this moment and keep your awareness open for those little moments where it's there, but maybe aware glossing over it. So I hope this helps and gives you something to think about. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for our meditation.