When deeply cultivated, joy and bliss are states of being, not transient events. They are an internal response to life not influenced by external drama. Over our lifetime we develop grooved responses to life. The play of what is pleasant against that which is perceived as a struggle. Thought this lens, joy and bliss may only arrive in the absence of struggle. This is a dualist perception.
Categorizing life as pleasant moments or unpleasant moments takes us down the path of duality. Seeing and experiencing life in distinct packets of delight or despair will ultimately impact our deeper experience of joy and bliss. Saying yes to joy and bliss requires embracing a new possibility. The trust that our internal life does not have to be predicated upon external circumstances. Life around us will continue, day in and day out, until death overtakes us. Some of this external life will be enjoyable and some will be tedious, trying, disappointing and deflating-as our mind experiences it. How we hold the experience is completely based upon our willingness to separate who we are from what the experience is.
Untether the spaciousness of your internal life from the limitations of the external life. Watch life unfold before you….with total awareness and involvement while still knowing that who you are is not limited by the structure of the outside world.
One sure fire way to joy and bliss is through LAUGHTER.