Where Joy Lives

A Meditation

Friends,

I know it feels like the world is continuously asking a lot of us. It is! The ‘breaking news’ headlines are relentless. The uncertainty is exhausting. It can feel as though we are being pulled toward outrage, worry, and despair.

Which is why I keep returning to a simple truth: joy is a form of resistance.

Not because joy ignores suffering. Not because it asks us to look away from what is hard. But because joy reminds us of what is worth protecting. It reconnects us to our humanity, our resilience, and our capacity to love. Joy is what will get us through.

Today’s meditation is an invitation to remember.

To pause.
To breathe.
To reconnect with a moment of joy that still lives within you.

May it nourish you.

Where Joy Lives.

Find a comfortable position and adjust your body so your spine is erect but not rigid.

Open and close your mouth, releasing any tension gripping your jaw.

Invite in a spacious breath.

Exhale fully.

Again.

Close your eyes or soften your gaze.

Now allow a memory to arise. Not a grand occasion. Not a milestone. Just a moment that brought you joy.

Perhaps it was laughter shared with a friend.
A walk in the woods.
The face of someone you love.
A dog greeting you at the door.

See it in your mind’s eye.

Hear the sounds that surrounded you.

Notice the scents in the air. Breathe the scents in.

Feel the temperature against your skin.

Allow yourself to linger there for a few breaths.

And now, gently shift your attention from the memory itself to the feeling it awakens.

Where does joy live in your body?

Perhaps as warmth in your chest.
A softening around your heart.
A subtle smile resting on your lips.

Take a breath and welcome that feeling.

Notice that the moment has passed, but the feeling remains available.

Joy is not only something that happens.
It is something that lives within you.

Rest here for a few breaths.

Free.
Unencumbered.
Alive.

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