Gladness Defined
Gladness is our spirit's response to what gives us and others pleasure. Feeling gladness is itself a pleasure.
How Gladness Feels
We can feel gladness in our heart, the center of our chest, as warmth and fullness. Our chest muscles relax. It might feel as if our heart is opening to receive whatever it is that gives us pleasure.
The warmth of our glad spirit can rise upward into our throat and sound out our smiling lips as an "Ooo!", "Ah!", "Yes!" or some other affirmation.
It can color our cheeks, brighten our eyes, and make our face glow.
Mild to Intense, Acute and Chronic Gladness
Our gladness can range from mild to ecstatic euphoria.
It can arise suddenly in response to a surprise and dissipate as quickly.
It can also arise and remain. For some, gladness is their thumic norm.
Mind-based and Experience-based Gladness
When our gladness is a response to our own self-talk or mental images it is mind-based. Memories of pleasurable experiences in the past and fantasies of pleasures we would like to experience in the future are examples of mind-based gladness.
Our gladness is also mind-based when we feel it in response to reading something we enjoy or listening to someone tell a pleasing story. These are examples of infectious gladness spread to us from another.
When our gladness is a response to our in-the-world experience it is experienced-based. For example, we might feel glad as we quench our thirst with a drink of fresh, cool spring water, taste our favorite food, smell bread baking or coffee brewing, see someone we love or hear their voice, view a scenic vista, listen to a bird's song, sink into a hot tub, snuggle in a warm blanket in front of a fire, hug, kiss, or make love.
Part 2 will address life-denying and life-affirming gladness as well as gladness suppressed, addressed, and expressed
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