I’ll never forget the day I realized that joy - real, authentic, tangible, sustained joy was permeating my emotions over any anger or bitterness or sadness or worry or disappointment. I stopped and took note and celebrated. That fact has not changed in years now. Joy permeates it all now! (Thus, the habitual overuse of exclamation marks.)
I’m going to do a "double take" here and feature a player highlight within a blog series on joy this week. Let me first introduce you to the player. His name is Buddy Squyres and he is the JOY of the entire album project. He plays upright bass on Fort Worth and this song is the joyride of the album. I want to encourage you to do yourself a real favor and stop what you’re doing and go listen to Buddy play this bass line. I dare you to try to stay mad or sad or upset about anything while listening to this. Go ahead. Listen here: https://tinyurl.com/y6st9t8r (Then come back for more fun!)
I’ve taken several inner healing courses over the years and one of the most revolutionary classes for me was one based on “the decade of the brain.” Increased scan technology is now revealing things about the brain that were never before provable. In this class, I literally learned how to stop chomping on a stressful thought like a pack of wolves and take the path over to the “joy center” in my brain and for the first time in my life, experience real, sustainable joy. What a miracle!
I learned that I used to fear the feeling of joy because I was stuck and could not yet trust that I would ever be able to sustain joy and therefore, subconsciously refused to risk the disappointment. I didn’t know it but I battled “the fear of joy.” Joy was too high a mountain to climb and possibly fall from. I’ll be talking more about this in the blog series this week. What a joy it is to share this! (See what I did there.)
Music is a powerful gift from God. When you have a minute, just for kicks, watch this video which will explain what is happening to your brain and therefore, your emotional well being, while you listen to Buddy Squyers absolutely light this song up with his playing. It also explains what is happening to Buddy. Then, go listen to the song and specifically tune your ear and your heart to Buddy’s bass line again and be aware of experiencing joy as it is happening. (Tip: be sure to listen on earbuds or speakers that allow you to hear the low end and bass line well.) Does that not just fill you to overflowing with joy? I’ll talk to you later. I’ve got to go listen again!
Comments