Joy Is The Default State Of The Human Mind

I came to believe this during my recovery from depression and alcoholism. While this may sound kind of weird to the casual observer, from where I sit it makes perfect sense. It breals down like this:

When I was in my late teens and early twentys I was severely impaired by depression and anxiety. I used alcohol as a social lubricant and to self medicate my anxiety and depression. Like many people I believed that my depressed mood could be fixed by getting the things I wanted: a wife and family, a house, a job I liked and enough money to get by and have a little fun--normal enough goals to be sure. However my approach to getting those things was not working. So I started to read. A breakthrough came when I read "I Ain't Much Baby, But I'm All I Got" by Jess Lair. I learned that all people have a need for emotional intimacy. That means we all have a need to have people in our life who we can share "our deepest heart" with and be unconditionally accepted. Lair said that unconditional acceptance is the most loving thing one person can do for another. I realized that there was no one in my life I felt I could do that with--not because of them but because I was afraid to do it. I had to risk and find people I could get that acceptance from. I wasn't very good at it at first but I got better with practice and things got better.

Another thing I learned about was transcendental meditation (TM). When I started practicing TM twice a day I slept better and my anxiety decreased. That was my introduction to mindfulness practices. I read "The Wisdom of Insecurity" by Alan Watts. I learned that all we really have is "now". I started practicing directing my attention to the present moment and discovered that most present moments are pleasant. At least my present moments were pleasant. That practice helped to raise my mood.

Using these principles I started to recover. I began to think of my recovery as movement along a continuum. I realized I could move in either a positive or negative direction depending on what was happening in my life at any given time and how I reacted to it. I came to believe that this was true for all people. I realized that my recovery was essentially a spiritual process of personal growth that was making me a more loving and compassionate person. I noticed that as I grew and recovered and became a more loving and compassionate person, I was also becoming a more joyful person. I realized that recovery involved getting my deepest needs met and removing the barriers to joy--which were essentially false beliefs on my part. Joy is the default state of the human mind.