The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:
Let’s discuss joy and how to find happiness. Before we can understand joy, we must first understand what is not joyful. When we live in fear of what is to come we are not joyful. If we dwell in the past wishing secretly for a different one, we are not joyful. When we are trapped in sensual desire or longing for things, we are not joyful. When we spend time thinking of things we don’t like or behaviors in others we do not appreciate, we are not joyful. By letting go of these things, we can lay a firm foundation on which we can become happy. Even though this foundation is based on nothing, it is always available and unchanging. To let go of the past and the future we focus only on this moment. Use the breath to become aware and feel that body’s energy right now. Let go of your wants and the unwanted; that which is desired and undesirable. Do this just for a moment until you feel the liberation this provides. Lose yourself in this freedom.
Before we can share joy with others, we must find it in ourselves. Now that we know how to let go of the past and future and thoughts of what we desire and what we find undesirable we can begin the process of feeling happy. Spending time in solitude provides a good opportunity to find joy within oneself. To start, notice the breath and be grateful for this. Think about the time you have spent in your body and be truly glad for it. Thank yourself for the time you have spent together with your body and your mind. In this state you will find it easier to be friendly with yourself. We are most joyful when we are our own best friend.
Open your heart to yourself and lose yourself in the love that is there. Have compassion for you. Do not be afraid of who you really are, remaining in this moment without thoughts of desire or of things unwanted you will find it easy to discard this fear and be comfortable with who you really are. Respect yourself and your needs, if you need to move to make your body comfortable then do this for your body out of love. We are not trying to attain or acquire anything here, we are stripping away that which is not really us so that we can feel the joy underneath. If a negative thought, a distraction, or an argument appears in the mind, cast it away on a cloud or down a stream to float gently away and return again to the breath. This is to love the good and the bad of yourself equally. Each return from a thought back to the breath is a celebration building a strong connection with who we truly are. Understand this as your true self, the one who feels this love for everyone and everything equally and without measure. You are truly the one who finds a way to understand everyone’s suffering and feel compassion for the entirety of existence without bounds. This will bring about a feeling of peace beyond all understanding that has no limits. And here you will find the sympathetic joy for yourself that you have always been searching for. This joy can be shared with others in the present moment. If you cannot feel this, give it time and have patience. Start again, for this work is the most important work you can do right now. Know that there is nothing to fear for you are real and everything that is real cannot be harmed.
Zen Momentum 