Joy!
It’s not something I would naturally associate with practising, or that I think of as a thing to work at.
A bit like love, it’s almost as though we consider joy as something unexpected that happens upon us in life. Like it cannot be planned for, or created.
Like it is somehow false, or not true, if not spontaneous.
That it is inauthentic if it is worked towards.
But believing this is might be a dangerous fallacy.
Joy, like all our other emotions, is partly a muscle.
A bit like love, to feel joy, we have to have allowed it – that is to say, allowed ourselves to be open to it to experience it. And to open to joy can sometimes take work. And to be more open to joy, we can practice at it.
Cultivating “my” joy
It can be hard to describe as a feeling, and it feels like joy is owned by each of us, in our own individual experience. Joy is a deep feeling, a wild and free thing. When we feel joy it can feel like it comes from somewhere deep within, rather than something external.
Like a fire in the belly. And although we cannot necessarily control it, perhaps we can tune into the embers of that fire that is always burning slowly within.
One of my favourite ways to tap into my joy is through music, and dance.
Starting as I mean to go on…morning playlist
For me, a morning practice helps to set an intention for the day. With the intention of cultivating my joy, my recent practice has included a Spotify morning playlist of music I find joyful and that makes me want to move my body. Waking a body up, warming up the muscles, warming up the mind at the beginning of the day, connecting to myself, my body and spending some time with, and in, that connection.
And in that too, also stretching and warming the muscles of my being to open to the joy that is possible in every day.
So I created a morning playlist on spotify called Morning awakening.
I particularly like these songs because they ease my body and mind into the morning and help to find that fresh joy, even if I’m not particularly feeling it when I wake.
Spin it up if you will – https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2EugCueFstoVIPnGgD5zx4
Here is the list of songs:
- Polynesia – Nora En Pure
- One Day Like This – Elbow
- Loaded – Andy Weatherall Mix – Primal Scream
- On My Own – Zero 7
- To Build A Home – The Cinematic Orchestra, Patrick Watson
I hope the idea and the list brings someone else out there some joy, and maybe awakening in more ways than one…