Cultivating joy 2

Secondly, if a few minor worries are thudding into my mind akin to a rain of medium heaviness constantly thudding upon a window pane, I used to toss and turn all night and day until it stopped and arising matters passed into my history. I would pick at a notion and pull it to pieces, seeing the blackest of blacks possible - and being grateful that the actuality only turned out to be dark gray at the worst. After studying Buddhism, I now have a new way to deal with these minor league hits from life.

Although I am far from perfection, I am currently trying to learn how to catch these worries as they surface and stop them at this point. This is where the cultivation of joy comes in.

Suppose there are a few minor difficulties floating about my life. As I go to bed at the end of the day, I might begin to doze off and suddenly one will pop up. It is at this precise point that I should stop thinking 'darn it, I want to get some sleep' and start thinking about stopping these thoughts from surfacing so that I actually can do so. If I have a minor money problem that I need to sort out or a small difficulty with the groceries, a friend, or my son, I need to STOP thought production and turn aside from the matter. I need to start working on producing JOY in my head to block the worries from entry.

If I let my thinking mind ramble on and on, it will turn trivial maters into giant problems that prevent my sleep all night through. If I turn away and try to ignore the thoughts, they will batter on and on and I will still not get my sleep. If I focus on JOY, it can be the stronger presence in my mind. I still may lay awake for some time, but I will get my rest whilst doing so. Instead of tiring my self out even further by worrying and fretting, I will have filled myself with positives and left myself unharmed by leaving the minor problems minor.

Another help from JOY is that it stops my thinking mind from thinking. This keeps my knowing mind as the leader. If I know rather than think, then solutions often surface naturally.

"I try to view worries and concerns as a heavy mist that tries to dampen my day.
They have no true purpose in life, so I simply blow them away."