Finding the joy when you’re under stress Ceilon Aspensen, November 6, 2019January 22, 2024 Experiencing joy when things are not going our way is easier said than done, but essential on the path to enlightenment and mindfulness. If you find you are too stressed out, feeling like a pressure cooker, and you can’t find the way to “joyful,” (a situation I found myself in recently), do this: 1) Allow yourself to feel your feelings deeply, consciously, and fully; no matter how intense or “bad” those feelings are. 2) Follow those feelings like breadcrumbs and try to trace them to their source. What is causing you to be so stressed out, angry, or sad? Usually, it’s not what we think it is (the person or situation irritating us at the moment). Usually it is something we are doing to ourselves, a situation we have placed ourselves in, a relationship or association we don’t want to admit is not healthy for us… The road to joy is down that path, where we can excise the situation, then turn around and head in a new direction, leaving not only the situation but the pain/stress/anger/sadness behind. If you can’t “follow your bliss,”* then follow your stress, figure out what’s causing it, and fix it. Life is good and I am grateful. —————————– *Joseph Campbell quote. Please follow and like us: Uncategorized finding joyjoyjoy under stressstress