I was recently reminded when watching the documentary Mission:Joy! Finding Happiness in Troubled Times featuring Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness The Dalai Lama, that there is a whole body of science demonstrating that well-being (a.k.a. joy) is a skill. Delving back into that research, it affirmed that meditation, or mindfulness, whatever you prefer to call it, as a daily practice has proven brain-benefits impacting your state of mind, shifting you from negative thoughts to positive thoughts, and boosting your sense of well-being. Michael Singer has also devoted his life to this same practice, and more recently teaching through his best-selling books. In real short form, he reminds us that happiness is our birthright, and any “garbage” (as he sometimes names it) that is stored inside of us needs to get out. How do you do that? First you stop identifying with it. That garbage is not you. That provides you a different point of view. You can let it go. What does that mean? Stop paying attention to it. Stop reacting to it. Stop making decisions in response to it. And on and on. This, of course, is outlined in spectacular logical and scientific detail in Singer’s books and workshops which can help you in that journey.

 

The Exercise: The practice for this skill is a challenge often reported back to me as being harder than most. For the next 30 calendar days sit and meditate/pray/breathe for 10 minutes a day alone. You can do it any way you want. With music, without music, with a facilitator, or without. There are innumerable options, and my two favorites are utilizing instrumental meditation music created by my friend and creative artist Narek Mirzaei , and the Insight Timer meditation app, which is my morning meditation friend. This is an extension of the mindfulness lesson. In addition to this challenge, I invite you to journal daily about your well-being.

 

Here are questions to guide you:

Am I joyful today?

What is blocking any missing happiness?

How can I improve my well-being today?