This page contains the meditations and a summary of the morning’s discussions from the study day entitled “The meaning of joy and the cultivation of happiness” held in the Chapel of the RNI on Friday the 19th July 2019.
Practice 1 – “Contemplating the good within you”. A 28minute sitting practice in which we recall as best we can the good and helpful things that we have done in our lives and feel the happiness that they have created within us. In other words practising feeling happiness as it is generated within us.
Practice 2 – “What do I truly need to be happy”. A 25minute sitting practice in which we contemplate our lives remembering what has made us happy in the past and consider what we really need to be truly happy; that is to find lasting happiness.
Summary of the morning’s discussions regarding what happiness is, how we feel it and what we need to develop lasting happiness – 3minutes.
Practice 3 – “The development of empathic or sympathetic joy”. A 30minute sitting practice in which we feel the joy of other people’s success and happiness noticing how that makes us feel.
Practice 4 – “Experiencing joy”. A brief 18minute practice in which we consider and experience the nature of joy.
Practice 5 – “Living in happiness and joy”. A 24minute practice.
