An interesting thought arose today. Often I find the meditation that is posted or the one I happen to get to the day I listen to it, is exactly what I needed in that moment. This seems to be a common theme in other comments. The thought that arose was that these ideas, insights and practices are what many of us need all the time because we are always going through something and it is hard to remember to come back to the things we’ve learned and even harder to figure these things out on our own. Couple that with Jeff’s dulcet tones, masterful guidance and relatable approach, it helps to bring us back and remind us that the human condition is a shared experience, not my thoughts, not my feelings. Thank you for continuing to put helpful work into the world, it makes a difference.
Yeah, I need reminders constantly. “Sati,” the Pali word for mindfulness, as often translated as “remembering.” Most of it is about just remembering these common sense reorientations, so easy to forget in the grind of life.
Wow David. What a true and beautiful insight. Thank you for writing it so eloquently and sharing it with everyone. Warmed my heart on this cold morning.
David, Thank you for articulating so beautifully what I imagine many of us experience. I stumbled upon Jeff's guided meditations a few months ago and quickly realized that something resonated for me in a way that I hadn't experienced with other teachers.
Jeff's substack often makes me think of a bit of Richard Bach's book Illusions that stuck with me at a very impressionable time. One of the characters carries around The Messiah's Handbook, which is a book with no page numbers -- you bring to mind a question, and open the book to a random place where you will find the answer. The character explains that you can actually do this with any book, if you have an open mind. I find that the thing with Jeff's writing is that it is so engaging that it pries open my closed mind so that I can see how whatever trippy thing he's choosing to ruminate on today is in some way actually exactly what I need.
Thank you, Jeff. Love the imagery around "kiss the joy." Exactly what I need right now. Stay present, find the tiny joys, and be grateful and appreciate them. Happy New Year!
Last April at a retreat I experienced the most pure joy I have ever felt in my life and I have been frantically chasing joy ever since….trying to get my grubby little hands on it at every possible moment. I wonder…why am I so hungry for joy? It’s as if I was starved for it…and maybe I was? Either way, I am recognizing that I have a pattern of chasing things I fall in love with. This meditation was a powerful reminder of how I can stop chasing and start kissing joyful moments as they come and go. This feels so much better already. Thank you Jeff 🙏
I’m starved for joy too. For years I fed myself a thin gruel, not realizing there’s more. No wonder so many of us are hungry. Nothing wrong with that. Now what?
“Now what?” I think joy is one of the most reasonable things to spend time thinking about.
Sometimes I think our capacity for joy may be tied to our -softness- so to speak.
This may sound weird, but I was exploring herbal teas a lot last year and I found that for a time, after drinking a very mild catnip infusion, I experienced what can only be described as something rigid within me relaxing a bit. Even though it was very subtle, the experience hit me vividly in two parts. The first is, I was smiling and chuckling at a silly thing my son was doing and as I did that I felt the slightest bit of giddiness rising in my heart and head- and I thought- oh my gosh I’m experiencing embodied JOY! and then secondly I realized - I can’t remember the last time I felt like this.
Like whoa. What a realization. It was a big deal- it hit me hard. Why haven’t I been feeling this beautiful effervescence regularly ?? I have a fantastic family and a fortunate life, I smile laugh and chuckle all the time - but somehow just not FEELING joy in my body. My only guess is it’s because something in me is always held rigid and tight instead.
Anyway that’s my case for softness. Because of my potential bipolar 2 I can’t really rely on the same constituents to behave for me the same ways over time so catnip infusions don’t feel the same anymore but I occasionally find other teas that work similarly. And it’s so interesting- I’ll notice when I’m feeling that softness that my voice is a lot warmer and more patient when I’m talking to my son- and it’s subconscious, it’s not something I’m doing.
Food/tea ;) for thought. My goal for the Now what question- Keep finding ways to be a better conduit for embodied joy… one of the reasons I’m spending time at your Home Base 💕
Oooh @suzy…this is so good…you got me thinking even deeper about joy…joy in my body. Exploring teas does not sound weird to me at all and I’m so happy that you found them.
I had a couple of thoughts/connections/confessions come up. First, when I said pure joy (or as you so beautifully put it, embodied joy), what I meant was sober/without alcohol. I feel ashamed to admit I’ve used alcohol to soften. Secondly, I immediately connected with the words softness, rigid and tight. Ouch…rigid describes my feeling raising three kids over the past 25+ years. That’s a story for another day but I have so much regret wrapped up my my rigidity during those years. And this brings me back to how I often found softness…in alcohol. Alcohol has brought lots of pain into my life and when I experienced embodied joy (sober) at my retreat I wanted to gobble it all up like Violet in Willy Wonka!! Can I replace that desperation with more embodied joy?
Thank you for helping me think even deeper about my “now what”. I can’t get back my rigid parenting years but I can continue to find ways to be a conduit for embodied joy and share that with my adult children. This may be one of the most important things I do for myself in my middle ages. Thank you again Suzy ♥️
Thank you for sharing those thoughts Gina! I chuckled at the Wonka reference. I relate to those tough feelings of shame, regret, and searching for ways to “soften”, even when it is a mixed bag. The full human experience is intense 😩. I often think of the song lyrics “this ain’t no place for the weary kind”- and yet here we all are 😅. I have so much compassion 💞💞💞.
I’m glad you can focus on your current relationships as a way to move forward. And the now what- I’m also glad for that inquiry as a reminder- I’m standing at the helm and wondering which direction to nudge the wheel. Minor course corrections can result in major destination changes over time.
my friends, love this discussion. Lately I've been using a grounding mat when I sleep and I've found it is making me more settled in the day - and thus more open to joy.
Many medicines ... and I haven't even tried catnip yet!
Lol- as for catnip- no time like the present ! ;) now I’m curious if you’re also part feline (in addition to chimply, and …ground-hoggy?) what kind of grounding mat ?
I think about joy alot…too much of my life was spent without it. For me, “now what” is finding more joy and kissing these moments in the headspace of love and gratitude instead of desperation and fear…wish me luck 😆🙏♥️
Impermanence, seeing the red cardinal in your Garden, you know it won't be their long, just long enough to get some seeds and it will fly in a flash, that is a precious moment to witness, you are left feeling grateful to be witness and then you move on. Life is so many moments, do you hold them tight or free them. Jeff I want to say how much I enjoy your take on Life and your views on meditation, I listen to you daily. Be well.
as my practice deepens and becomes more regular, part of which is tied hand-in-hand to my development of and trusting of my intuition, my awareness grows, my attunement brings me where I need to be when I need to be wherever that is, hence receiving what I need, moment by moment, living in the flow
I listened to this as I prepared for the passing of my dog. Tears flowed. And came back to it today after the first day without her. And tears flow again. Thank you so much.
This meditation gave me a really good look into how I felt all over inside and out today. It’s all because of the kind of magical way you have with words Jeff. I always feel the true feelings inside me. Outside too. I wanted and did lisen twice. Thank you friend
An interesting thought arose today. Often I find the meditation that is posted or the one I happen to get to the day I listen to it, is exactly what I needed in that moment. This seems to be a common theme in other comments. The thought that arose was that these ideas, insights and practices are what many of us need all the time because we are always going through something and it is hard to remember to come back to the things we’ve learned and even harder to figure these things out on our own. Couple that with Jeff’s dulcet tones, masterful guidance and relatable approach, it helps to bring us back and remind us that the human condition is a shared experience, not my thoughts, not my feelings. Thank you for continuing to put helpful work into the world, it makes a difference.
Yeah, I need reminders constantly. “Sati,” the Pali word for mindfulness, as often translated as “remembering.” Most of it is about just remembering these common sense reorientations, so easy to forget in the grind of life.
Appreciate these insights David thank you.
Wow David. What a true and beautiful insight. Thank you for writing it so eloquently and sharing it with everyone. Warmed my heart on this cold morning.
David, Thank you for articulating so beautifully what I imagine many of us experience. I stumbled upon Jeff's guided meditations a few months ago and quickly realized that something resonated for me in a way that I hadn't experienced with other teachers.
David , your thoughts are so well written. Full of truest words. Thank you!!😊
Thank you, Chris.
Jeff's substack often makes me think of a bit of Richard Bach's book Illusions that stuck with me at a very impressionable time. One of the characters carries around The Messiah's Handbook, which is a book with no page numbers -- you bring to mind a question, and open the book to a random place where you will find the answer. The character explains that you can actually do this with any book, if you have an open mind. I find that the thing with Jeff's writing is that it is so engaging that it pries open my closed mind so that I can see how whatever trippy thing he's choosing to ruminate on today is in some way actually exactly what I need.
Thank you, Jeff. Life is hard right now and finding the joy and remembering the impermanence of all things was a beautiful gift for today.
Sorry life is hard right now Jody, I’m glad this offered a bit of relief.
I'm sorry things are tough for you right now. My heart is with you. ♥️💔♥️
Thank you, Jeff. Love the imagery around "kiss the joy." Exactly what I need right now. Stay present, find the tiny joys, and be grateful and appreciate them. Happy New Year!
Happy new year to you, Beth!
This is beautiful Jeff. Can’t even put words together to express my gratitude. It truly is a valuable gift of joy to kiss. Thank you.
Wordlessness: best possible response
Last April at a retreat I experienced the most pure joy I have ever felt in my life and I have been frantically chasing joy ever since….trying to get my grubby little hands on it at every possible moment. I wonder…why am I so hungry for joy? It’s as if I was starved for it…and maybe I was? Either way, I am recognizing that I have a pattern of chasing things I fall in love with. This meditation was a powerful reminder of how I can stop chasing and start kissing joyful moments as they come and go. This feels so much better already. Thank you Jeff 🙏
I’m starved for joy too. For years I fed myself a thin gruel, not realizing there’s more. No wonder so many of us are hungry. Nothing wrong with that. Now what?
Your comment really made me think
“Now what?” I think joy is one of the most reasonable things to spend time thinking about.
Sometimes I think our capacity for joy may be tied to our -softness- so to speak.
This may sound weird, but I was exploring herbal teas a lot last year and I found that for a time, after drinking a very mild catnip infusion, I experienced what can only be described as something rigid within me relaxing a bit. Even though it was very subtle, the experience hit me vividly in two parts. The first is, I was smiling and chuckling at a silly thing my son was doing and as I did that I felt the slightest bit of giddiness rising in my heart and head- and I thought- oh my gosh I’m experiencing embodied JOY! and then secondly I realized - I can’t remember the last time I felt like this.
Like whoa. What a realization. It was a big deal- it hit me hard. Why haven’t I been feeling this beautiful effervescence regularly ?? I have a fantastic family and a fortunate life, I smile laugh and chuckle all the time - but somehow just not FEELING joy in my body. My only guess is it’s because something in me is always held rigid and tight instead.
Anyway that’s my case for softness. Because of my potential bipolar 2 I can’t really rely on the same constituents to behave for me the same ways over time so catnip infusions don’t feel the same anymore but I occasionally find other teas that work similarly. And it’s so interesting- I’ll notice when I’m feeling that softness that my voice is a lot warmer and more patient when I’m talking to my son- and it’s subconscious, it’s not something I’m doing.
Food/tea ;) for thought. My goal for the Now what question- Keep finding ways to be a better conduit for embodied joy… one of the reasons I’m spending time at your Home Base 💕
Oooh @suzy…this is so good…you got me thinking even deeper about joy…joy in my body. Exploring teas does not sound weird to me at all and I’m so happy that you found them.
I had a couple of thoughts/connections/confessions come up. First, when I said pure joy (or as you so beautifully put it, embodied joy), what I meant was sober/without alcohol. I feel ashamed to admit I’ve used alcohol to soften. Secondly, I immediately connected with the words softness, rigid and tight. Ouch…rigid describes my feeling raising three kids over the past 25+ years. That’s a story for another day but I have so much regret wrapped up my my rigidity during those years. And this brings me back to how I often found softness…in alcohol. Alcohol has brought lots of pain into my life and when I experienced embodied joy (sober) at my retreat I wanted to gobble it all up like Violet in Willy Wonka!! Can I replace that desperation with more embodied joy?
Thank you for helping me think even deeper about my “now what”. I can’t get back my rigid parenting years but I can continue to find ways to be a conduit for embodied joy and share that with my adult children. This may be one of the most important things I do for myself in my middle ages. Thank you again Suzy ♥️
Thank you for sharing those thoughts Gina! I chuckled at the Wonka reference. I relate to those tough feelings of shame, regret, and searching for ways to “soften”, even when it is a mixed bag. The full human experience is intense 😩. I often think of the song lyrics “this ain’t no place for the weary kind”- and yet here we all are 😅. I have so much compassion 💞💞💞.
I’m glad you can focus on your current relationships as a way to move forward. And the now what- I’m also glad for that inquiry as a reminder- I’m standing at the helm and wondering which direction to nudge the wheel. Minor course corrections can result in major destination changes over time.
🙌🏼♥️😆
my friends, love this discussion. Lately I've been using a grounding mat when I sleep and I've found it is making me more settled in the day - and thus more open to joy.
Many medicines ... and I haven't even tried catnip yet!
Lol- as for catnip- no time like the present ! ;) now I’m curious if you’re also part feline (in addition to chimply, and …ground-hoggy?) what kind of grounding mat ?
I think about joy alot…too much of my life was spent without it. For me, “now what” is finding more joy and kissing these moments in the headspace of love and gratitude instead of desperation and fear…wish me luck 😆🙏♥️
Impermanence, seeing the red cardinal in your Garden, you know it won't be their long, just long enough to get some seeds and it will fly in a flash, that is a precious moment to witness, you are left feeling grateful to be witness and then you move on. Life is so many moments, do you hold them tight or free them. Jeff I want to say how much I enjoy your take on Life and your views on meditation, I listen to you daily. Be well.
❤️❤️❤️ for the cardinals
I always find your meditations so insightful and helpful. Thanks for putting your heart into the work that you do.
🤩
After every meditation I send Jeff love!!! I love being human with you and everyone 🙏💗Thank you
needed this today
and apparently I'm not alone in that
as my practice deepens and becomes more regular, part of which is tied hand-in-hand to my development of and trusting of my intuition, my awareness grows, my attunement brings me where I need to be when I need to be wherever that is, hence receiving what I need, moment by moment, living in the flow
for this moment of a blessing and a gift
thank you Jeff
You’re welcome, Russell, nice to meet you here
A beautiful sit and read, my friend. I will carry on with 2025 using the ever so powerful message of ‘kiss the joy as it flies!’
The perspective of “I get to” do/see/be/experience is so helpful. Thanks, Jeff!
I especially loved how "I get to" was mashed up with "...and then it's gone and then something new..." Brilliance!
I listened to this as I prepared for the passing of my dog. Tears flowed. And came back to it today after the first day without her. And tears flow again. Thank you so much.
my friend. Sending love, I'm sorry for your loss.
Oooh I love that Blake poem, thank you for introducing me 🥰
Here’s another tiny (imperfect) poem:
When joy arises
with fleeting surprises
Take tiny sips
with creaturely lips
😆
🤣
Made my Monday, check!
Oof! That was strong medicine. Thank you!✨️
This meditation gave me a really good look into how I felt all over inside and out today. It’s all because of the kind of magical way you have with words Jeff. I always feel the true feelings inside me. Outside too. I wanted and did lisen twice. Thank you friend
🙌
Beautiful meditation, thank you 💙