Dear Friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The practice of mudit\u0101 is an empathetic joy that celebrates the good fortune, happiness, and joy of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oren Jay Sofer describes it this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is mudita: feeling the happiness of another. The capacity for empathic resonance is innate. When empathy meets the happiness and the success of another, when there\u2019s no craving or constriction, the natural response is to rejoice.<\/p>
The Dalai Lama once said that when you count other people\u2019s happiness as your own, your chances for happiness increase by 6 billion to 1. The cultivation of this quality starts to dissolve the boundaries between self and other. We touch a space that\u2019s more expansive and connected.<\/p>https:\/\/www.orenjaysofer.com\/blog\/resilience-joy<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
There are many ways to cultivate mudit\u0101. One is the use of phrases. I love the Sinhalese text that Christina Feldman shares:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How wonderful you are in your being
I delight you are here
I take joy in your good fortune
May your happiness continue.<\/p>page 106<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nAs we do this practice, we might notice times where our joy isn’t so boundless – where envy, resentment, or other difficult states arise. Winnie Nazarko describes several things that can get in the way in this article:
https:\/\/imhouston.wordpress.com\/dharma-talks\/ginger-clarkson\/brahma-vahara-practices\/mudita-guided-practice\/<\/a>
If we notice aversion or other difficult states, we can turn to self-compassion. This too is part of the practice.
<\/p>\n\n\n\nOren Jay Sofer led a meditation on joy and gratitude that works through the other phases. You can listen to it here:
https:\/\/www.orenjaysofer.com\/meditation-joy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nFor a radiating version, Ven Dhammadipa led a practice of “Breathing in Joy, Breathing out Joy”
https:\/\/www.dharmaseed.org\/talks\/54033\/<\/a>
(note, no ending bell) <\/p>\n\n\n\nI like Dhammadipa’s reflection that we can take in the mudit\u0101 that’s being offered by others. Even though we’re not in the same room as the folks at that particular retreat, we can rest assured there are practitioners all around the world cultivating joy right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a retreat I attended last fall where we were doing a radiating joy practice, but some difficult emotions arose for me. It was so supportive in that moment to rest back into knowing that I was sitting in this field of joy – it was like wearing a snuggly sweater on a cold day, or getting a hug from a dear friend.
<\/p>\n\n\n\nI hope this exploration of joy has been enjoyable! May your happiness continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Warm wishes,
Andrea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Friends, The practice of mudit\u0101 is an empathetic joy that celebrates the good fortune, happiness, and joy of others. Oren Jay Sofer describes it this way: This is mudita: feeling the happiness of another. The capacity for empathic resonance is innate. When empathy meets the happiness and the success of another, when there\u2019s no craving or constriction,\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[162],"tags":[137,84,119,194,195],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jan-2019","tag-christina-feldman","tag-joy","tag-oren-j-sofer","tag-ven-dhammadipa","tag-winnie-nazarko"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1623,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/1623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}