Welcome to The Joyful Journey

Hello and welcome to the first installment of The Joyful Journey, a series that shares teachings inspired by our founder, Lobsang, and our community. Our hope is that this series can offer guidance for you to embark on your own joyful journey towards experiencing more love and compassion in your daily life.

If your prefer to listen to the Joyful Journey, click the play button below!

Let’s begin. 

Maybe sometimes you wonder why you aren’t happier. 

You can list the things you know should make you happy. Often, they actually do. But after you get the day off, the warm hug, the well-earned praise, there you are, just you…waiting for happiness to find you again.

None of us are born with the skills we need to live good lives. We have to learn our trades, work on our hobbies, and be taught how to take care of our basic needs. 

What if rather than leaving our happiness to chance we could learn that skill too – not from people trying to sell us things or “fix” us, but from people sharing ways to do it?

All of us can be truly happy. 

None of us need to be fixed. 

We just need guidance to discover and grow the happiness that already exists within us. 

We are Jhamtse. Physically, we are a community for neglected children in the Indian Himalayas. We have earned national and international recognition for helping children who have experienced trauma not just heal, but thrive. This has been made possible through the generosity of others. 

As a way of giving back, and as a way of bringing the healing wisdom of Jhamtse to a larger audience, we are sharing some of the practices Jhamtse adults and children use to build their own happiness. We hope that you find them useful, return to them when you want and need them, and share with us what you think.

We begin with inviting you to experiment with a short practice from a recent retreat led by Lobsand Phuntsok, the founder of Jhamtse.

A Short Meditation on Joy:

In this meditation you will sit quietly, find a simple joy, focus on that joy, and remain on it for a long time. First, remember a simple joy, don't make it complicated. . . What was the simplest joy I had this morning? Think of any simple joy that doesn’t require a lot of effort from our side. . .  Anything from coffee to just seeing the sun or the bright sky, hearing the birds sing, or seeing a dog wag its tail. Remember the simplest joy from this morning and remain focused on that. If it fades, then you rekindle it. Can you remain with this joy as long as you can? Can you be content with just a simple joy? Sometimes we humans make things so complicated, but maybe what we all need is just a simple joy to live, survive and thrive. This is the whole purpose of this meditation. 

Now it’s your turn, what’s your simple joy today?