At ten months old when our grandson, L., came upon
something that interested him, whether crawling or side-stepping around sofas,
chairs, or someone’s pant legs, he uttered a surprised “Heh!” – which sounded
like “Huh, wonder what this is?” combined with a gleeful “I can’t believe I get
to examine this!” Later, at fifteen months, his exclamation became a sophisticated:
“Wow!” Already, he was an expert in joy.
Tara Brach, a clinical psychologist and meditation teacher,
says joy is considered a “divine abode” by Buddhists and arises when we open
ourselves up to reality – both to beauty and to suffering. It’s characterized
by a full openness – a “Yes” to life, no matter what.
We can say yes to what is unpleasant and allow ourselves to
feel what we’re feeling. (“Yes, I feel sad about X.”) We can also say yes to
what’s pleasant – but without grasping after it. When we try to hold onto
something pleasant, Brach reminds us, it usually eludes our grasp. She quotes
these lines from poet William Blake: “He who binds to himself a joy does the
winged life destroy/But he who kisses the joy as it flies/Lives in eternity’s
sunrise.”
In order to feel joy, we have to be willing to go with the
flow instead of trying to manage the
flow. We shift from grasping after our wants and avoiding our fears…to accepting
what is – perhaps, like little L., saying “Wow!” to what we encounter.
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