I believe we all want to live a life full of joy and inner peace. Some of us look for joy in the world of doing – expecting to find joy in our job, our community, or our friendships. But some of us know that joy is an inside job. It’s a feeling of the soul. We can have a great job and a wonderful set of friends, but if our soul is pining for something else, then joy is absent.

The question then becomes what is joy if it’s not found in our outer world of doing? For me, joy emanates from the center of my being outward. It is a feeling that originates in my Spirit-self and is expressed through my chakras, the home of our thoughts and feelings.

Chakras are energetic way stations connecting our Spirit to our physical body. When our chakras are operating at optimum levels, the impulses of energy they send to our physical body (via our hormones) help us feel calm and centered.

Daily meditation offers us an opportunity to quiet the outside voices—the noises of other peoples’ thoughts and feelings—and tune into our inner knowingness, our inner wisdom. When we meditate, our bodies relax and our minds quiet. Within this space of stillness, we communicate with our soul and touch into that feeling state of joy and inner bliss.

Our sixth chakra, often called the Third Eye, is the home of our personal sanctuary – the “place” we go when we meditate. The following meditation is one I often use to clean out the competing voices in my head so that I can tune into my inner guidance system and experience joy.

Meditation: Connecting with Joy

1. Sit with your eyes closed, feet flat on the floor. Close the door to your room so that you will not be disturbed.
2. Now imagine bringing all your awareness into the center of your head. Behind the eyes, between the ears, is your personal sanctuary. Some people call this the home of your Spirit-self. It is in the center of your sixth chakra. Bring all your attention to that space. With your eyes closed, feel all of your energy come to stillness in your personal sanctuary. Feel this space open up and envelop you. Be there now.
3. Take a couple of deep breaths. Relax and just be.
4. This is your space. It is for you alone. However, we often find that other people’s thoughts intrude into our quiet sanctuary. If you are thinking of yesterday’s conversation with someone or a phone call you will be making in the future, those thoughts may be overshadowing your ability to hear and intuit your internal wisdom.
5. If you feel that all the thoughts of things to do and places to be start to encroach on this space, just tell those thoughts that you will be with them in a moment or two. Ask them to give you some space. Feel those thoughts empty out of your mind, leaving you relaxed and at peace.
6. With your eyes still closed, visualize all unwanted thoughts, feelings, and tensions floating away like clouds in a summer sky. Watch as your to-do list floats by on a puff of air. Intend for all the thoughts of how you should behave and what you should do to drain out of your body. Feel them drop from your shoulders and allow gravity to move those “shoulds” out of your body forever.
7. From this space of inner stillness, start to count each breath. On the inhale count one and on the exhale count two. Inhale again and count three, exhale and count four. That’s all. Inhale and count, exhale and count. Breathe. Count each breath.
8. Continue to count your breaths. Inhale, one, exhale two. Over and over. If you lose track of counting then no worries, just start again. The object is not to count higher and higher, the object is to still the mind and breathe – that is all. Feel your body relax your mind grow quiet as you enter deeper and deeper states of consciousness.
9. Now ask your Spirit-self what would bring you joy. Think about what brings you joy. Be in thought for a moment more. Just breathe and be. Bring to the surface of your memory times when you felt intense joy. Think of what you were doing when time stood still. Maybe you were surrounded by friends and family, or maybe you were alone.
10. Touch into that deep feeling of joy. Bring it up from the depths of your memory and ask your Spirit self to surround you in that feeling-state now. Breathe. Allow this energy of joy to permeate every cell of your body. Feel joy reach into your heart, your throat, and your fingertips. Ask that this feeling of joy spread throughout your body and aura.
11. What color is joy? Yes, feelings have color, and as you expand your sixth chakra, you can “see” or intuit the colors and vibrations of individual energies. What does joy look like to you? As joy expands to fill your whole body and aura, just allow. That is all. Breathe and be in joy.
12. Sit in silence as you experience joy.
13. After a while, you will notice that your mind begins to become more active as you almost float up and out into a more acute state of awareness. Before you leave your meditative state, think about how you want the rest of your day to unfold. Do you want to feel peaceful? Focused? However you would like your day to go, now is the time to intend it to be that way. We call this setting your intention. Think the thought, “I want to be focused yet full of joy today.” Know that as you think, so you shall be. Feel those qualities surround you now. Feel your body relaxed and at peace.
14. When you are ready, open your eyes, and come fully out of meditation.

As you begin to meditate on a regular basis, you may tune into your inner guidance system more readily. Remember the feeling state of joy. Anytime during the day that you are feeling frazzled or out of sync, remember this meditation, and ask that your body and mind return to this blissful state of joy.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it on your favorite social networks. Every share, like or tweet helps me reach more people who crave support in living a life full of joy and inner peace. If you want to learn more about chakras, joy and inner peace, you might be interested in Tame Your Inner Critic, Find Peace & Contentment to Live Your Life on Purpose.

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