Five Resolutions - Four -a good habit that will bring you great pleasure and happiness.

When we do something repeatedly it becomes a habit. If we continue with this habit, it becomes part of our character. So how can we resolve to develop healthy habits to enhance our character? Awareness and practice. Without these nothing can be achieved. The three resolution we worked on over the last few weeks was to develop the habits of gratitude, generosity and kindness. Resolution four to make into a habit is joy. To truly experience joy is to feel pleasure and happiness. Next to health most people would say that happiness and joy are the most important. And yet karma teaches us that the greatest amount of negative karma goes into prohibiting the expression of joy. If joy is so wonderful, why do we try to destroy it? • Comparing and competing • Lack of gratitude for what you have. ... • Letting D-GAP control you. ... • Focusing on the past or the future. ... • Trying to control what you can't. ... • Caught in being a victim - blaming others • Obsessed with your possessions. Chinese proverb – although you may amass a million gold coins; when you depart this earth you cannot take with you even one copper penny. Any one of the four great passions or the trouble some four will prohibit the expression of joy. Joy connects the hidden dimensions that unite the body and the mind. We experience joy both from a biochemical point (dopamine) and from a mental point of happiness and pleasure. When people tune in to the feeling of joy, what often emerges is an awareness that this joy is somehow always with us. Joy is quietly, invisibly ever-present. It is not “out there,” and it is not “in here”; rather, it is simply everywhere and it is a choice we make whether to experience it or not. Let’s see if we can find it today END: Joy is the soul of happiness. Like pleasure, it can express itself through the body, but it is not of the body. Like satisfaction, it can be felt emotionally and appreciated mentally, but it is so much more than just an emotion or a state of mind. It means to stand outside yourself finding happiness and joy in the moment. True joy is limitless and always available to us. It requires awareness and practice and like gratitude, generosity and kindness, finding joy everyday would be a good habit to choose. EGO: Flip your palm up and extend out the index finger. Feel the pull away from your center. When we turn inward and face ourselves, our issues take center stage and the spotlight prevents us from seeing what is going on around us. In other words, the ego has its grip on us. Joy feels somehow beyond space and time. Joy does not come and go; what comes and goes is our awareness of joy. Ironically, we often feel the presence of joy the most when we stop chasing pleasure and we stop trying to satisfy our ego. Pull the finger in and place the thumb on top; true joy means to find happiness and bliss while standing outside of yourself experiencing the pure joy of life. It can be as simple as the joy of feeling the warmth of the sun on your face. Look to find joy in each day. It will remind you of how precious life can be. Joy is necessary for our survival. A world without joy would be a dismal place. Joy is a choice you make, and if you let it, you will find that Joy is bigger than your ego. Namaste~ may you walk the path of life with health, happiness and peace Doctor Lynn For more classes, corpses, books and consultation http://www.doctorlynn.com