RIGHT INTENTION
Cultivating Appreciative Joy
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Whatever you intend,
whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will
become the basis upon which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop
meditation on appreciative joy, for when you develop meditation on
appreciative joy, any discontent will be abandoned. (MN 62)
The near enemy of appreciative joy is ordinary joy. (Vm 9.100)
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The “sublime
state” of appreciative joy does not simply mean joy as a pleasant mental
feeling or the emotion of uplifted joy. It is not just feeling good but
feeling good in a particular set of circumstances—when you observe or
contemplate good things happening to others. Ordinary joy is
self-referential, while appreciative joy is more universal and focused
on the good fortune of others.
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Learn to
discern the different ways joy can manifest in your experience. In
particular, see if you can get a good felt sense of what the special
quality of appreciative joy feels like. This is the emotion of feeling
good about good things happening to other people. Practice calling to
mind the goodness of others, and then settle into the emotion of wishing
them well and appreciating their success in a way that is not about
you.
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Tomorrow: Refraining from Harsh Speech
One week from today: Cultivating Equanimity
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