Eve Decker explores the vital necessity of cultivating joy not as a way to ignore suffering, but as a spiritual practice to maintain internal balance and equanimity. It is an internal ease independent of external circumstances. By embracing her personal mantra, "right now it's like this," Eve invites us to meet the present moment with intimacy and kindness, rather than reactivity or denial, whether it involves a beautiful sunrise or deep grief. 

Eve offers a roadmap for navigating the obstacles to well-being while actively "inclining the mind" toward joy. Much of our distress arises from the "Eight Worldly Winds," the fluctuating pairs of praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, and fame and shame. To move toward a "lightness of being," we must learn to hold all of these without being swept away. Several practical shifts help with this:

• Regulating Despair: Cultivating joy to balance the human tendency to fall into "doom," which she describes as a state of being out of alignment with reality.
• Identifying Obstacles: Recognizing "foreboding joy" (the fear of experiencing joy because it might end) and the "shoulds" of societal conditioning that block self-compassion.
• The Power of Gratitude: Actively acknowledging simple gifts—such as the many hands involved in bringing food to a plate—to neurologically prime the brain for well-being.
• The Bliss of Blamelessness: Living a life of integrity and non-harming, which creates a sense of safety for others and a lightness of spirit for oneself.
• Mindful Presence: Using mindfulness as a foundation to stop reacting to discomfort and instead rest in the "sweetness of loving ourselves."

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Eve Decker has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1991, and has taught groups, daylongs, and short retreats since 2006, particularly at Spirit Rock, the East Bay Meditation Center, and elsewhere in the Bay Area. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and of Spirit Rock’s Path of Engagement and Community Dharma Leader training programs, and has been trained in the Hakomi approach to body-based psychotherapy. 

Eve is also a singer/songwriter who has combined the power of music and dharma practice. Her most recent CDs are “In: Chants of Mindfulness & Compassion,” and “Awakening Joy - The Music.”
Find her at https://evedecker.com/

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CREDITS
Audio Production: George Hubbard
Producer: Tom Bruein
Music/Logo/Artwork: Derek Lassiter