 Hello, good morning and welcome to day 84 of the Mindfulness Challenge. My name is Julian Jenkins, if you don't know that. You probably do by now if you followed me from day 1. Day 83 was all about reflection. Day 84 is all about midweek Wednesday joy. We've talked many times before now about how happiness is a level that we're born with and that we can use mindfulness to recreate and change the neuroplasticity that's going on within our minds and to be able to raise our happiness levels. So, as I've said before, people are born happy. Some people are born not so happy and those happy bars really sit here and if we can work on them and help to build them, then we can bring more happiness to our lives. I said before as well, when we get to this level, this bar, we might have ups and downs so we might have a flux so we might win the lottery, as I've said before. You see it, 12 months in, they're back down to where they were. I wish I had won this money and I'd have split up and divorced him from my wife and all of these things. Maybe not a bad thing, that one. But you know what I'm saying, OK? But also then, conversely somebody passes away and you drop down a level but 12 months time, you start to come back to that level. So how can we cultivate and build our level of happiness in a way that allows us to be more happy? Well, you know the answer and you know what's coming. It's called meditation and by now on day 84, you might be quite well aware of meditation. OK, and to be able to enjoy joy, to be able to be there with no other feelings because sometimes you know, and I've done it, I remember when this coronavirus started. I remember sitting at my garden at a barbecue on, I had a beer in my hand and I was thinking to myself, I feel terrible. I feel like a fraud, I feel like I should be doing more. But what we've got to remember is, is that as my brother quite rightly told me, I'm actually doing what the government has asked me to do, which is to stay at home. And I'm playing my part by social distancing, not going out. I'm not a doctor and unfortunately my knee doesn't allow me to go and do a lot of frontline work like I did in the snow of this year and the floods. But you know, it's hard and I felt really guilty. I felt guilty of my joy and how many of us can say that, you know, we have felt guilty over the years for the pleasure that we've had. You know, you hear the saying, guilty pleasures, you know. And is that the same thing? I don't know. I think we all like our guilty pleasures. But coming back to it, we don't need the feeling of question in our happiness. Question whether we're worthy of the joy that life can bring. We're worthy of all of these things that love and life brings you. And just bathe in that happiness, bathe in the joy and those moments of pure elation. Those moments of pure happiness, of moments of, you know, all the things that we talk about. So how can we do that? So first of all, I want you to understand innately that, and I was talking to someone this morning, our karmic energies, our karmic energies, and if you understand karma, what energies you send out, we will get back. So if we send out happy positive energies, happy positive energies come back, if we send out negative energies, negative energies come back. And I believe, I really do believe in the karmic system. But I believe in the karmic system on a long game. So somebody says, yeah, but he's not very nice. He's got many on a long game, OK? It doesn't mean that next day or the day after it. But I always believe what goes around comes around and that will be justified in what we do. So when you get happiness and you've been given happiness and you feel that joy, bathe in the fact that that karmic energy at that time is giving it to you because you deserve it. And you're worthy of it. And you should enjoy it and breathe it moment by moment, breath by breath. Don't think, oh, you know, I wish, and it's human nature. And I'm not saying be selfish because that's not what we're talking about. We talk about more compassion, more love, more empathy, more everything else. But just allow yourself to enjoy that moment. Why not? You know? And not question it and not beat yourself up and think, oh, I've got to go this now. No, enjoy it. Enjoy that moment. We all deserve these moments of joy, love, and everything else. So today we're going to do a meditation about joy. So what I want you to do is close your eyes. I'm going to put a picture up. And all I want you to do is just to take three very deep breaths in and just hold them for two seconds and let them out. But this time when you breathe in, you breathe in relaxation and you breathe out calm. So breathe in relaxation, breathe out calm. Breathe in relaxation, breathe out calm. Breathe in relaxation and breathe out calm. And like with all of these things, really, when we start a mindfulness practice, it's always good to check in with yourself. Just drop your awareness now to your heart, to the centre of your chest. And just breathe in relaxation and breathe out calm. Now, all I want you to do is I want you to bring your attention to your neck. And just see how it feels and just give it a little wiggle. And just you may hear a crack or you may feel, oh, that feels better. Releasing some of the tension in the builds. We carry a lot of karmic, cosmic aura, energy on our shoulders. So now I want you just to check into your shoulders and just allow them to, allow them some healing and some rest and just let them drop. Drop it backwards so you just get comfortable in your chair. Now what I want you to do is I want you to bring to your awareness, to your mind's eye, a situation recently that has made you smile, that has made you happy, that has brought you some joy and some comfort. And just bring that to mind and just notice how it feels. And bring it to mind with some very vivid detail. So if this joy was with somebody, look at all the details, look at their contours of their face and how they're smiling and their energy and how beautiful it is with happiness surrounding you. Or if it's something you've done in the garden or just bring it to vivid awareness. And in doing so, you feel the emotion, you feel the energy, you feel the joy. Just bubble up inside you. And I just want you to say a mantra is as you're feeling all of this and you're seeing the awareness and you're not attaching yourself to it too much but you have the ability to separate yourself from this memory, this awareness and to be able to bathe in the beautiful energy that surrounds it. And I want you to say, I am happy, I am worthy, I am love. I am happy, I am worthy, I am happy, I am worthy, I am love. I am love. And just keep saying that mantra now for a few moments. I am happy, I am worthy, I am love. Now what I'd like you to do is I'd like to bring your attention, your awareness to a time where somebody you know and you've witnessed them being happy and witnessed their joy and witnessed their happiness. And see how it feels to watch somebody else be happy and that you now can be happy for them unconditionally with no aspirations, no jealousy. Just watch them and join in their happiness whilst they're being happy, you can be happy too. And even if things aren't going well for you you can still bathe in the happiness of others without jealousy, without resentment, but just with pure happiness, worthiness and love. And as you watch this person being happy it makes you happy unconditionally and say to yourself, we are happy, we are worthy, we are love and again. We are happy, we are worthy, we are love. And when you keep repeating this mantra you feel the happiness energy, the energy of self and the energy of love build all around you. Which allows us to increase our happiness bar within our own mental function creating through neuroplasticity a new level of happiness. We are happy, we are worthy, we are love. And finally now I want you to bring to mind somebody who you don't get on with, somebody who you've fallen out with, somebody you've had an issue or a problem with and I want you to bring to mind them being happy. Them having joy, them having laughter and although this may feel uncomfortable at the beginning we realise that we are all happy, that we are all worthy and that deep down we are all love and for you to be able to bathe in the joy for them will give you unconditional forgiveness and will allow you to heal and will allow acceptance and love and as you see them being happy you feel your happiness growing because we are all happy we are all worthy, we are all love and even forgiveness and acceptance it may not be for them it may not allow you to be happy to feel more worthy and to truly love yourself the ability to be love and give love and finally I would like you to bring to mind to your awareness somebody who's passed over who you really loved and think of a fond happy memory of the two of you together feel that historical love feel the unconditional worthiness and feel the abundance of happiness and joy we were so happy we are so worthy and we are so in love and feel that happiness and the memories may bring an emotion to the tear to the eye but those tears are tears of joy tears of happiness tears of unconditional love kiss that person goodbye and take three very deep breaths in and breathe out when you're ready just slowly wiggle your fingers and come back into the room so I sort of went down with it there what's interesting about happiness and joy is that it sort of wears many different coats and the ability to have unconditional happiness and joy for others who may not be our friends or in our best books is loving kindness which that loving kindness will allow us to have that level of loving kindness for ourselves which is beautiful and extremely powerful Day 84 of the mindfulness challenge good morning Julian I love you be love and give love and remember that unconditionality is key for us to live a world that we want to live in unconditional love unconditional compassion unconditional empathy it is in its purest form there are no conditions there are no conditions whatsoever which means there's equality and with unconditional equality you have true equality and I pray for that every day thank you for being with me on Day 64 it's all about joy and happiness so go and have a joyful and very happy day and I'll see you tomorrow take care, bye bye