A Meditation to Cultivate Greater Joy | Jack Canfield

Hi, I'm Jack Canfield, and today I want to share a meditation with you that will help you cultivate greater joy no matter what's happening in your world. You know, with all of the anger, strife, and anxiety in the world today, it can be difficult to find the joy in life. There's so much suffering and conflict. Sometimes it might seem like the world has no joy to offer at all. Or that to allow ourselves to feel joy in a world where there's so much suffering and pain is somehow selfish. How can we be happy when others have it so bad? Or we're so focused on the negative things that are happening in our own lives, the challenges we're dealing with, and the potential catastrophes that could arise at any moment that we simply block our capacity to feel joy. But joy is what gives your life sweetness and meaning. And if you want to fulfill your destiny and become your best version of yourself, you. It is imperative that you take time to cultivate your joy. Because when you are living in a state of joy, you're able to see yourself and the world in a better, more positive light. You'll make wiser, healthier, happier decisions for your life. And you'll attract more of what you want into your life through the Law of Attraction. And by your example, you'll encourage others to do the same. So today I'd like to share a simple meditation that you can use at any time to create the experience of more joy in your life. And the secret to this meditation is to focus on what you're grateful for. Because no matter how bad things might look right now, I guarantee that there are countless reasons for you to be thankful. Your world is full of things that are worthy of your gratitude. Think of the good people in your life, the people you love, and who love you back. Think about the fact that you have a roof over your head and how lucky you are to have money in your bank account, food in your refrigerator, indoor plumbing, a car or access to good public transportation. Great entertainment on your television, your sound system, and your smartphone with cellular service anywhere in the world. The fact that you have a computer and can watch this video or any number of educational videos on YouTube and Facebook. The access you have to the Internet and resources like Wikipedia. And now there's Apple, Siri and Amazon's Echo with Alexa, Google Assistant and Microsoft's Invoke with Cortana and Sonos and Pandora and Kindle and LinkedIn and Pinterest and Twitter and Google Maps, Waze. Literally millions of apps that are available for you. Think about all of the things that make your life so much easier than it was 50 years ago. Even if you're only 20 years old, you know it was a lot tougher 50 years ago. And think about your health, you and your body, and all the things that allows you to do. Such as go for a walk through a forest or along a beach, go dancing, plant a garden, enjoy a yoga class, play sports, ride a bike, play a musical instrument, play with your children or grandchildren on and on. All the things you can do with your body. When you focus on all of the things you have to be grateful for, you will remember that the world is actually an amazing place and your life is truly a gift. And that will expand your experience of joy and help you develop a more positive mindset. In addition to the meditation in this video, I'd like to give you my four step meditation guide. Okay, so here's a simple but very powerful gratitude meditation you can do. You simply take a moment to quiet your mind and then you sit for a moment and take a few long inhalations and exhalations, focusing your attention on your breathing. Breathe in slowly and you breathe out slowly. And as you breathe, practice non attachment to your thoughts. As soon as you find yourself thinking about something other than your breathing, gently release that thought. Come back to your breathing. Think of your thoughts as train cars passing by through the station. You're on the platform just simply watching them go past, but you're not getting on to ride them and allowing them to take you somewhere else other than where you are. So you're simply observing them as they go by and letting their thoughts move on without you. And then gently returning your attention to your breath. Once your mind begins to quiet down, I would like you to give thanks to everything you're experiencing at this moment. Give thanks to your mind that allows you to think all your thoughts. Be grateful for your eyes that allow you to see the world's beauty. Give thanks to your ears that allow you to hear the world's music, and then to your mouth that allows you to taste the world's deliciousness in all its myriad forms. Be grateful for your arms and hands and all they allow you to do, such as holding a child, reaching out and grabbing something to you, throwing a ball or a pillow, catching a ball, or your falling child writing a book, typing a report, driving a car, playing a musical instrument, creating a piece of art, cooking a meal, or hugging a loved one, or making love. Be grateful for your lungs for allowing you to breathe and for your throat for allowing you to speak and to sing. And be grateful for your legs and your feet, for making it possible for you to walk and run and jump and dance. Be grateful for the chair you're sitting on and the people who put their time and effort into making that chair. Be grateful for the money that allowed you to buy that chair, or the person who gave the chair to you. Be grateful for the coffee cup that might be sitting beside you, and the delicious coffee it now holds, or used to hold, and it's now flowing through your veins, making you feel more awake and alert. Be grateful for the food you have in your refrigerator and for the time you have available to be doing this meditation right now. And be grateful for the clothes that you're wearing and the person who made those clothes, and the job that gave you the money you needed to buy those clothes. And be grateful for your home and your family and your friends. Be grateful for the people who make your life better or easier in some way. Like the people at the grocery store, the gas station, the coffee shops and the restaurants, the garbage men, the taxi drivers and Uber and Lyft drivers, the weathermen and women, the doctors, the nurses, the healers, the holistic practitioners. Be grateful for the city and the country you live in, and the freedoms and the rights that are available to you. Be grateful for the natural world around you, the birds that you hear out the window, the flowers and the trees, the parks and the bodies of water and the fish that swim in the ocean. And just continue to expand your awareness outward, cultivating gratitude for everything and anything you can think of. You can even feel gratitude for the planet, the solar system, the stars, and even for life itself. Just gently let your mind drift from topic to topic while consciously practicing gratitude for everything that occurs to you. And when you do this later, try to maintain the state for about 10 minutes, if you can. Then when you're done, open your eyes and simply say thank you to the room around you. This simple meditation, I promise you, can have a huge impact on your mindset and your emotional vibration. And if you practice it every day, you'll find it so much easier to experience more joy and more happiness in your life. And that is important, because to receive what you want, you must become its vibrational match. So if you want more things to appreciate, you first have to appreciate more what you already have. And when you practice radical gratitude like this, you will also find that you'll attract more like minded, optimistic and joyful people into your life. You'll find that things will begin to come more easily to you and people around you will naturally feel more inspired to help you achieve your goals. And not only will that help you experience more joy and fulfillment in life, it will increase your ability to to make an impact in the world and create a positive ripple effect that will encourage others to show up in the world also in a more positive and joyful way as well. And now I'd like to hear from you. I'd like to answer this question. What are you most grateful for in your life? So please take a moment right now because in the just literally writing in the comments section below, you're going to be focusing on what you're grateful for. So go ahead today and write in the comments section below. What are you grateful for? For I'd love to read what you have to say. I want to thank you for watching because I'm grateful for you. This is no fun if you're not there. And remember, nothing in your life will change for the better until you do. Now, if you found this video helpful, please make sure you like it, share it with a friend who may need it, and subscribe to my channel for more videos like this one. And for some additional resources on how to cultivate more joy in your life, make sure to visit my website@jackcampfield.com thanks for watching.