When I ask audiences ‘what’s the number one thing in life that people want?” the vast majority yell out 'happiness'!
Well, according to the research (which I suspect does not include joy as an option) the answer is recognition and acknowledgment.
I believe the real answer is joy.
We feel joy when our spirits purpose is being carried out.
WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAPPINESS AND JOY
In the first presentation I have done on joy, just before Christmas, I was shown an image of an iceberg. The teeny bit at the top that is visible is happiness and the huge part below is joy.
Happiness is about wanting, I’ll be happy when I have blah blah blah, a partner, a bigger house, a better car, more money.
Joy is about giving, connecting and serving.
It consists of the aspects of the chapters in The Gospel of Joy, gratitude, compassion, hope, generosity, reverence, laughter, love, listening, cheerful enthusiasm, equanimity, energy and vitality and forgiveness.
When we practice those qualities in everyday life we find joy emerges from within us.
HOW DO WE KNOW WE ARE FEELING JOY?
Many people imagine joy as that state of vibrant laughter and enthusiasm, where your eyes are sparkling and you are jumping for joy! Well, that’s one aspect of it.
We are also in a joyful state when we feel contentment; inner peace; or have a sense of ‘all is as it should be’; or ‘all is right in my world’. It’s when we are following our spirits purpose and doing what we came to earth to do.
For me, there were many twists and turns in the road where I thought I was on the right path, and as it turns out I was, even if it did not seem smooth or easy or fun! I was where I was supposed to be, experiencing what I was supposed to and suffering to the point where I was ready to make a big move!
This has just happened to me again, and it’s a great new awareness to have for the new year.
WHAT DO WE NEED TO SURRENDER FOR THE NEW YEAR?
Surrendering is an interesting concept! My job this year is to once and for all let go of a life long pattern. I recognized it on and off for years, but the final trigger came yesterday when I could at last see that it was ME creating my own reality (read misery!)!
I discovered that I was responsible for creating, shaping and ruling the world I lived in, like a self-fulfilling prophecy. So darn it, I could no longer blame anyone else or look outside myself for answers!
Only by recognizing it and then deciding it was no longer the way I wanted to live, did I have any control over it. I have to say it has not been an easy 24 hours since I had my ‘ah ha’! I am really trying to stop analyzing everything and going round and round in my head and actually FEEL something! LOL
I know I have been teaching this for many years, but as Lao Tzu said ‘we teach best what we most need to learn’ and for years I have been accumulating knowledge on how to do this and not really been doing it, but thinking I was.
I know that many of you have heard me speak, changed how you thought and felt and are further along than I, but I am on it! Soon I will have amazing new stories of how I actually made this monumental shift which honestly at the moment I find quite daunting.
That is where surrendering comes in! Every time I feel negative or daunted or overwhelmed, I am catching myself before the emotion drags me into hopelessness. And I surrender it. And the most amazing thing happens. I guess it is called grace. Peace descends on me. I surrender it and whatever it was seems to just magically disappear. I can’t explain it any better!
Try it. Find the patterns of thoughts or behaviors or situations (which are ruled by thoughts and hidden beliefs) that are not what you want in life. Become conscious of what you are saying to yourself that might be creating them and catch yourself, stop and surrender that thought or emotion or feeling.
Just say to yourself, ‘I surrender that thought/feeling/emotion.” Imagine yourself giving it to God or Spirit or the Universe or your higher self. They can all deal with it better than you!
That's it. Just keep doing it! It will change your life!
PULL IN YOUR PADDLES
Janet and Debbi are two angels sent to help me breakthrough for 2010. They are in human form!
Look for your angels, my husband is another but I had not realized it until yesterday! I thought he was difficult and challenging, but really he is my greatest teacher, loves me more than anyone and had taken on a very big role, getting me to the point that I really HAD to look deep inside at my old beliefs.
Janet taught me that we are often sitting in a canoe on a fast flowing stream. Paddling with all our might to change the direction we are traveling to the way we think we should be headed; or we unknowingly keep one paddle in the water making ourselves go round and round in circles; or we have maneuvered ourselves into the shore where we sit by and watch the stream flowing by us, the stream our souls want us to be following. Studies show our performance is best when we are ‘in the flow’ or 'in the zone'.
Our wills and wants, what we think we want to have happen, are like the happiness part of the iceberg. What we think we want and what our souls need (represented by the joy part of the iceberg) are usually very different. Joy comes when we discover a real balance in life and can live with unconditional love and non judgment. Easy!
So tell yourself (and others) you are pulling in your paddles when you are doing too much to control your direction, when it’s exhausting and draining and everything seems to be a battle; they are often the signs of you paddling against your spirits needs and your destiny.
Pull in those paddles and enjoy the journey you are taken on, flow! It can be exhilarating, or terrifying, depending on how you choose to perceive it.
Right now, I am working hard at CHOOSING to make it exhilarating! But boy it takes effort! LOL
FOCUS ON THE PRESENT AND WHAT YOU WANT- NOT ON THE PAST OR THE NEGATIVE
Another biggie! We don’t even know how much we ignore the present by bringing the past up or worrying about the future. Almost every sentence I uttered up till yesterday to my husband was linked to negatives in the past! I had no idea how much we both did it.
And it was very destructive. Do you do that with anyone in your life? Do you live in the past fear, pain, hopelessness, frustration or anger? Do you focus on it and talk about it a lot?
Or do you look at how you are behaving right now, and what is positive? Will you choose to focus on anything that is good and positive and optimistic, no matter how small?
Focus on feeling compassion and gratitude; being generous and loving; being hopeful and forgiving; on listening and laughing; equanimity; on things that energize not drain you; being reverent and choosing cheerful enthusiasm in the face of anything.
CREATE YOUR LIFE OF JOY
These are some things that will help you consciously CREATE a year of joy. That’s your mission should you choose to accept it! I am in it with you!
Keep me posted about your progress on http://www.thegospelofjoy.com and I will keep you posted on my journey!
Thank you for your continued reading, even though my emails are long and not very well formatted! I am working on that as you read.
Bless you and may you live in joy as you uncover your spirits journey this year!
Zooties
