If you’re reading this, I’m sure you’ve have 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 that 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.
Krysta Gibson is an author, workshop leader, consultant, publisher of New Spirit Journal, and host of “Keeping It Real.” www.krystagibson.com
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 is 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.
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.
