Lojong Slogan 21~ Always maintain only a joyful mind

This is part 21 of my series on Lojong, Buddhist Mind Training.Being joyful sometimes seems boring in our world. We like to feel the excitement of drama; arguing, feeling stress, complaining with others. We see all of the problems in our world from hunger to war and wonder how anyone can actually be joyful. We tend to think that you would need to be idiotic to feel joy!This slogan is not referring to the ignorance is bliss sort of joy; it's referring to the state of mind that you have even though you know what problems are going on in your life and in the world at large. It asks that even though there are problems that we can or cannot solve, we maintain an inner joy. It also asks that we not take everything so seriously (including ourselves)! We don't need to make a big deal of everything, we've learned to do that over time, but now we can learn a different way. We can approach our problems with a lightness; seeking solutions but not getting caught up in the drama of them. Acharya Judy Lief advises that we simply smile at least once a day. Smiling really does affect how our brains function.