Work is something of a dread for many of us. We generally see it as a box to tick and something that we must get through to get by in life. We sometimes even think of being in another job or position within the company or someplace else and convince ourselves that will bring back the spark to what we do. We may even seek to undertake jobs that we know in the past brought us some satisfaction, such as turning a hobby into a fulltime career: for some this seems to work well but unless we are living a fullness of joy in whatever we do, we seek reward and or satisfaction instead and then, are we living less than what we could in life?
Let me explain. Life ought not to be mundane. We are not here on Earth to plainly exist and this certainly does not make sense to why we would be here and the potential we all know in our hearts we can bring to life. So many of us know innately – especially when we are young – that there is so much potential in us to live. Not necessarily for what we can do and what we may become, but more so for the simple joy of experiencing ourselves, that is our true selves, in whatever we do.
I have witnessed joy in so many children for doing the simplest of tasks, from tying their shoelaces to even going to the toilet or going for a walk. These basic tasks may seem boring to many as just part of living, but these same children grow up to be adults one day saying just the same thing as most of humanity in claiming that these tasks they once found great joy in doing are now just part of everyday existence.
So where does this joy go?
Is it hiding under the sink? Or under the bed? Or what about tucked away in an attic somewhere? It does not just disappear simply because we get older and get too grown up for seeing joy and playfulness in these simple tasks. Sure an assignment or work project may have many dollars riding on its importance of being completed, but this does not make it necessarily more important than enjoying the wonders of tying your shoes for example.
These projects, complexities and apparently greater aspects of life do not need to take precedence over the quality of our being, especially how we feel within ourselves. I know that it can be hard to see the joys in the simple things in life when you have just failed a big test, exam or project, or even do not know how to complete one of these. Even if you don’t have such projects of importance in your life anymore, it does not mean that at some point in your life you have not been affected by life placing such pressures on you.
What we do generally when these pressures are placed on us is we tend to react because they are often given to us in such a way that makes us feel that we have not been met or seen for who we are first. Life then seems more important than the quality of our being and suddenly that joy we innately know is seemingly less important than anything else in this world. After all, you are not going to pass a test or exam purely based on whether you feel joy-full in yourself or not.
We tend to check out from ourselves and our body and see the mind as king in this world and our body as runner-up to anything else.
But what if this form of behaviour is in fact what is causing us to feel that the joy in our day is gone? The key difference between how we live as adults and how we live as children is our level of connection with ourselves and our body. Perhaps what the key to experiencing joy again in our day, at even the smallest and seemingly insignificant things such as tying our shoelaces, is about being present again in our body in the moment and feeling that we can be totally and absolutely embracing of whatever that moment offers us.
What if life is just that simple, yet our heads acting on their own have made even the smallest of issues more complex than they ought to be?
You are probably thinking right now that this is crazy talk, as how can our body have any intelligence at all, especially considering it is the mind that seems to make this world tick… or is it?
Does the mind even care about the body it lives in when it is living in disconnection from it? A classic example is not going to the toilet when needed – whilst the body skids and squirms in its seat, shouting at an ignorant mind it is in obedience to. I can remember doing this so much at school because I was not always allowed to go to the toilet when I needed to or I felt embarrassed so I would not go and would often almost have seat-bum-burns from having to skid around holding on in my seat too much!
Indeed when we are in disconnection from our body and then reconnect back to it, we do feel the ugliness of how we have really been treating it. But what if there is a joy of being with you in your whole body and not just in your mind. It would certainly mean you don’t have to worry about that project due tomorrow, or the cat having to see the vet next Tuesday or having to pick your mum’s washing up from the dry cleaners this Saturday, whilst you squeeze in a mountain of work due before this weekend all whilst washing the dishes!
So could this indeed be the simple answer to our lack of lustre and vivaciousness in life?
I know for me this is in fact the case. Going from hard out study-o-holic to living the absolutely delicious man I am, all I have changed is my own relationship with my body and hence with myself, learning more about myself and how I have been living that has not always been in line with my body’s truth.
Could this be your truth too?
For me it all started with a simple use of the Gentle Breath Meditation™, and this was inspiration enough to change my whole life. The Gentle Breath Meditation™ was introduced to me by Universal Medicine and is a very simple, practical way of re-connecting with ourselves and our body. It is available in many forms depending on what is needed by you in that moment.
By Joshua Campbell, 25, Software Developer, Belgium
Further Reading:
Being Still – With Joy
The Joy of Gentle Exercise
The Illusion of Happiness – Finding the Joy Within
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
I was talking to a colleague recently and they remarked that there is a fairly recent employee and when they are on a sales call how their negativity brings them down so by the end of the call they feel quite miserable too. Whereas when they are on a different sales call and that colleague isn’t present the whole team feels more upbeat and positive, not just about work but about life.
What this colleague is sharing is that they can feel energy and the different types of energy that we are surround by all the time. What if there is an energy that is the kill joy of life and that it is more infectious than any virus because as my colleague pointed out one person in the energy of given-up-ness has the capacity to bring down an entire sales team if everyone reacts to the miserable energy of their colleague.
Children can be a great joy to be around just because they express joy as part of who they are. They remind us of the simple pleasures in life.
Young children, toddlers, and babies seem to naturally emanate joy, it is such a joy to feel, and is totally inspirational.
I was considering something like this recently while waiting in the queue for the bank to open.
‘So many of us know innately – especially when we are young – that there is so much potential in us to live. ‘
I was watching the people walk by, many of them were middle-aged to elderly and they looked washed out and given up. I wondered to myself did they when they were young ever consider how they would be when they were old. Life seems to wear us down and I feel certain it shouldn’t be this way but we have seemingly accepted this way of living in our society. The atmosphere of the town seemed to be one of given-up ness, so it was no wonder people looked washed out.
The unlimited potential of life is in actual fact who we all are, it’s simply that most of us are aligned to a consciousness that doesn’t allow us to live this fact.
Everything that is true comes from an alignment as does everything that’s not true and which of the only two sources of energy we align to is dependant solely on our movements and so as Serge Benhayon has always taught, ‘everything comes down to the way that we move’. And this is why the world has been purposefully set up to distract us from being consciously aware because if we were consciously aware then we would naturally start to adjust the way that we move (are in the world).
What you share in this comment is key Alexis, our alignment to our Soul, to Truth is paramount, and how we move has a huge impact on that alignment being True, ‘everything comes down to the way that we move’ SB.
“Perhaps what the key to experiencing joy again in our day, at even the smallest and seemingly insignificant things such as tying our shoelaces, is about being present again in our body in the moment and feeling that we can be totally and absolutely embracing of whatever that moment offers us”, agreed Joshua because the consciousness of God can’t come through the past and can’t muscle it’s way into the future, it can only come through us when we’re being consciously present.
I really got to feel this recently on a business trip
“The simple joy of experiencing ourselves, that is our true selves, in whatever we do.”
I had so much fun it was a great joy to meet so many people and communicate with them the sheer joy of just being alive and having fun while working at the same time. And it can be infectious with some people as they to feel the joy in themselves and express that. There were those who just couldn’t be in the joy but could appreciate the presence of it. And those who just shunned joy preferring to be in their misery and that’s okay because everyone got to feel a natural part of who we are and that it can be expressed openly. This joy I have in my heart, I denied myself for many lifetimes but to tap back into it again, I’m all the more appreciative of what I have returned to.
“The key difference between how we live as adults and how we live as children is our level of connection with ourselves and our body.” I love this Joshua – very profound and so true. The more I connect with my body the more joy I am feeling in living each day – an acceptance, a settlement and contentment.
“So many of us know innately – especially when we are young – that there is so much potential in us to live. ” If you are around children much you notice this – the fun they can make out of the most mundane things and roll about laughing over nothing – I love it. Where does the joy disappear to as we grow older? We get so much more serious about life. Time for me to reclaim the joy in everyday living.
Yes, I get to observe and feel this joy in my younger son’s 18 month old toddler, he is full of joy, such a delight to witness.
The mind/brain is seen as the control centre that dictates the body. That’s a sure fire path to being miserable. Seeing the mind as a receptionist of all the bodies messages makes more sense. As the body receives information from outside and from within. The mind is the messenger to the being within the body about what the body is feeling, not the dictator.
That’s where I feel we have slipped up we rely on our minds but I know from experience that our minds are the ‘negative Nancy’s’ that have become the dictator over our bodies to our detriment.