Appreciative joy,
The meditation that lets you enjoy a beautiful spring day,
Or a beautiful summer day,
Or nature,
Or connection,
Or enjoy the lightness in your heart,
Or enjoy the love that you have that you receive from other people and that you give.
So begin this practice by setting up your posture.
Find a posture where your spine is straight.
Gently rest one hand inside the other.
Allow yourself to be as comfortable as you can.
And as we ease into this practice,
Set the intention to enjoy fully.
Set the intention to let yourself enjoy what life offers you,
Those primal sanities of the world.
And set the intention also to rejoice in other people's joy,
To rejoice in the joy of a beautiful day around you.
And of course,
We rejoice from the heart.
So bring your attention to the heart,
Sending gratitude to the heart for beating,
For giving you life.
Send gratitude to the heart just as it is.
And with the warmth of your hands to the heart,
Feeling the rhythm of the heart.
Bringing energy and life to this area.
Begin to watch the breath for a few moments.
And I invite you to recall,
Or think back to,
Or bring to mind some moment where you had this lighthearted joy.
That lighthearted feeling in mind and body.
Maybe it was a perfectly beautiful day.
Or you were surrounded by people you really love.
Or you felt at ease in your heart.
Bring to mind that scene in every sensory detail.
See it and smell it.
Let it sink into your body.
Let yourself go and let yourself rejoice.
Let yourself take delight in the feeling that it gives you.
Allowing your heart,
Your body,
Your mind to open to this experience.
Wishing for your heart and for your body,
May I let myself enjoy.
Every year,
Every month,
Even the hard ones bring joy.
May I notice the happiness.
May I notice the joy.
May I fully connect to all that is true and beautiful and natural and warm and light.
May my heart be filled with joy.
And may I bring this lightness,
This joyfulness to others.
Let that feeling spread through your mind and your body and your heart.
And just appreciating the things in your life.
Appreciating the good things.
The beautiful places you get to see.
The projects you care about.
The nature you get to be connected to.
Sending appreciation.
And now sending the wish for joy out.
May all creatures feel joy.
May all creatures find delight.
May the happiness and the joy in the world continue.
Saying to all beings,
Your joy is my joy.
I notice and rejoice in any joy in the world.
Just acknowledging that the world has everything.
The world has a lot of everything,
Including goodness and joy and beauty and love and happiness.
Honoring those parts of the world.
Honoring those aspects.
And finally,
Honoring the goodness of yourself.
With your hands to your heart,
Honor your own good heart.
Honor the commitment.
Honor the compassion.
Honor the strength,
The resilience,
The ability to appreciate that is there at your heart.
And now dedicate this practice today to the happiness,
The joy of all beings everywhere.
May we all increase our inner beauty and may we all be surrounded by outer beauty.
May we all have a luminous appreciation of the present moment.
And take a deep breath in.
Take a deep breath out.
As you feel ready,
Coming back from this joy and appreciation practice.
