Many of us have lost the capacity to access and embody
"positive" experiences, such as contentment, pleasure,
creativity, empathy, and connectedness.
"positive" experiences, such as contentment, pleasure,
creativity, empathy, and connectedness.
Some of us have even disconnected from the simple
experience of joy, a spontaneous sense of elation at
being alive. I was once working with a man who was
suffering from depression. What we discovered during
our time together was how unsafe it was for him to
express joy, how the experience of simple delight
became tangled in his nervous system with danger
and the likelihood of incredibly painful rupture with
critical figures in his life.
experience of joy, a spontaneous sense of elation at
being alive. I was once working with a man who was
suffering from depression. What we discovered during
our time together was how unsafe it was for him to
express joy, how the experience of simple delight
became tangled in his nervous system with danger
and the likelihood of incredibly painful rupture with
critical figures in his life.
There were times we would become aware of his very
simple, childlike causeless joy coming to the surface...
We were able to explore it together. Slowly and safely.
With no judgment or shame. Repairing those broken
circuitries of love, empathy, presence and warmth.
simple, childlike causeless joy coming to the surface...
We were able to explore it together. Slowly and safely.
With no judgment or shame. Repairing those broken
circuitries of love, empathy, presence and warmth.
Being together in this...he came to see how he had
equated feeling full of life and natural states of delight,
interest, play, and spontaneity with being judged and
rejected. Over some time, he began to unwind this
organization and was able to slowly re-awaken and
touch the natural joy he had disconnected from at
an earlier time in his life.
equated feeling full of life and natural states of delight,
interest, play, and spontaneity with being judged and
rejected. Over some time, he began to unwind this
organization and was able to slowly re-awaken and
touch the natural joy he had disconnected from at
an earlier time in his life.
To retrieve the lost joyous little boy and girl is an
act of love, really,not only for one's self but for all
of life.
act of love, really,not only for one's self but for all
of life.
~
Photo - Mystic Meandering
~
Personal Note: It may seem strange to post about joy when
so many are still suffering from the ongoing pandemic and
the craziness still occurring in this country culturally, socially,
and politically... It sometimes feels as if our "natural joy" has
been suffocated by a systemic entropy. I'm still feeling a bit
unsettled from getting emotionally caught by the violent chaos
and rhetoric, and the realization that what has been, the
"scaffolding" of social order, is collapsing - right before our eyes...
so many are still suffering from the ongoing pandemic and
the craziness still occurring in this country culturally, socially,
and politically... It sometimes feels as if our "natural joy" has
been suffocated by a systemic entropy. I'm still feeling a bit
unsettled from getting emotionally caught by the violent chaos
and rhetoric, and the realization that what has been, the
"scaffolding" of social order, is collapsing - right before our eyes...
And yet, internal "joy" comes - occasionally - and goes...
In the midst of it all - an unexpected causeless joy...
In the midst of it all - an unexpected causeless joy...
and with that
Gratitude for living
arises from within...
Gratitude for living
arises from within...
_/\_
MM
Yes, joy is something like playfulness, it does elude us these days. Thanks for reminding me that it still exists in my inner being.
ReplyDelete