When we stand in our sovereignty, we tap into our strength and our ability to meet the challenges of life. How may we stand, not only in our own sovereignty but in a way that draws forth and empowers the sacred sovereignty of the world around us and all within it?

In this exercise, you’re taking the bits of joy you’ve been mining and refining them into a shining presence within you that you can offer back to the world.

Central to this idea is the realization that you, like every other being and object on earth, are immersed and embedded in the living energy field of the Soul of the World. What becomes part of your personal energy field by induction flows out to become part of the field of the World. In this way we all radiate energy into a common pool which we all share.

So the heart of Joy Mining is paying attention to moments of happiness, lightness, pleasure, and all-around OK-ness when they happen to us, even if they seem like small pleasures indeed. By paying attention, you are sensitizing yourself to this heightening energy. Further, it helps you realize that for you to pass on joy into the world, you don't have to be in a crazy state of ecstatic happiness yourself. Though I can say from my own experience, as you practice this, the sense of being in the midst of joy gets progressively stronger until it can truly lead to moments of bliss and ecstasy in the midst of ordinary life.