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