Tuesday May 10, 2023
Good morning Beloved reader,
"Play with abandon,
Love without need,
Create what surprises you.
Repeat!"
—Rev. Dr. Stephanie Rutt
Wheeeeee heeeeee. Yes, let’s cultivate joy!💃🧚♀️🤸♀️🌼🌷🌈🌺🪷💕☀️😎 💃🕺✨🌟💖🙏🕊️
Rev. Dr. Stephanie’s sense of joie de vivre is infectious🤩🥰
I feel unbelievably blessed that my life includes role models of older women who consciously embody the divine feminine in addition to a sense of irrepressible joy. They include my own 85-year-old mother, and a beloved spiritual teacher, Rev. Dr. Stephanie Rutt.
I want to know, what’s making you so happy? How has joy made you come alive?
I remember when I was a kid I felt that sense of joy about so many things. About making presents at Christmas for my three sisters and parents. About climbing a tree. Walking barefoot in the grass. Lying in the hammock under dappled sunlight. Holding our beloved cat and feeling her purr rumble through her body.
As a spiritual being having a human experience, now at the ripe old-age of 56—i.e. in the second half of this human life—the truth of my own experience shows me that I feel this kind of joy when I reconnect with the same sense of joy I felt as a kid.
Additionally, I’ve found that cultivating what I’ve learned from our Thai Forest Buddhist monk neighbors helps me reconnect with joy too:
The Brama Viharas aka Divine Abodes or heart qualities:
Mettā – loving-kindness, benevolence, radical acceptance, non-aversion.
Karuṇā – compassion, empathy, appreciation of the suffering of others.
Muditā – sympathetic or altruistic joy, gladness at the good fortune of others.
Upekkhā – equanimity, caring even-mindedness, serenity amid all turbulence.
Muditā (pronounced moo-dee-tah) especially, is a concept I feel is sorely lacking in Western cultures, and it’s such a truly beautiful practice as it elevates us all.
Doesn’t mean it’s easy to practice, but it does bring me joy.
Perhaps the opposite of muditā is jealousy. But I find that if a feeling of jealousy arises in me, it’s simply a pointer showing me that whatever I’m jealous of is something that I may want for myself. So I get to take action to create for myself whatever I may have been jealous of. Of course, the creation of a similar experience may not always be possible. So then I can practice muditā 🥰 Hey at least someone gets to do that thing I’m jealous of. Not always easy, but I feel so much better when I practice muditā: I lessen my suffering.
Also it’s the awareness of feeling jealous that I’m interested in. Not to feel “bad” about the feeling of jealousy arising, but to allow it to show me what I may want to create for myself, and that I have an opportunity to practice muditā.
Perhaps it’s also an alchemical transmutation of jealousy into muditā.
Which brings me to the idea of writing as deep play. It’s too easy to get identified with my ego and want something from outside of myself as an outcome. But if I write for the pure joy of it, if I let writing light me up and I remain open to but detached from outcomes, I’m living my dharma—which I write about in my book, in Chapter 15 about the Bhagavad Gita.
Studying the ancient Hindu sacred text of the Bhagavad Gita has been truly transformational in how I live my life, and if my writing can share any wisdom of the Gita with you, my dear reader, I’m truly grateful. ✨🌟💖🙏🕊️
The Rising of the Divine Feminine is a reader-supported literary publication, sharing memoir and musings about the re-claiming and rising of the divine feminine.
The paradox to remaining detached from outcomes, comes in recognizing the sustaining value of the support, kindness and generosity of strangers who to my delighted surprise have become paid subscribers. All support of this Substack is deeply appreciated.
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Thank you for the reminder to cultivate joy! Yes, we need to follow those joyful impulses! Beautiful orchid! The only orchid I have kept alive is the fake one...lol...but I still love orchids.
"But if I write for the pure joy of it, if I let writing light me up and I remain open to but detached from outcomes, I’m living my dharma..."
I was just thinking about something similar today as well. I have to detach myself from the stats of my writing in Medium and Substack. I remind myself of my "why" for writing which is to shine my light so that those standing in their darkness don't feel alone. On a daily basis, I have to release the expected outcome with my writing in terms of external validation because I don't want to be driven by the external.
Thank you again for reminding us to find the joy in life and to be joyful! Have a great day!