Is Your Soul Starving For Joy?
Since the day I decided to fall in love with myself and stop trying to live a life that wasn’t mine, I have been one of the happiest people i know – not happy all the time, but happy most of the time, or not very unhappy for very long. But several weeks ago i found myself on the tail end of a several week “I am not feeling so happy” spin. I’d wake up unhappy, be cranky, feel stressed most of the day, eat way too many brownies, work ALOT, stay up too late, pass out and start the whole thing over again.
Finally one day when my assistant Mary walked in for a fresh day of work and her first tentative words were, “How are you feeling today Christine???” I knew something was amiss and I had to fix it. This wonderful being who helps and supports me was having to stick a dipstick into my temperament just to gauge how close she should get – now that wasn’t any way to live! And if she was feeling that way, how was my partner, friends feeling? Or even more importantly, how was I feeling??? And had I even stopped to take that into consideration before plunging myself into overwhelm and overwork?
I decided to hold an honesty hearing with myself, a deep conversation that included 5 super powerful questions that led me to the startling truth that my SOUL was starving for JOY – all the success, $$, drive and hard work were not feeding my soul, because as it turns out my heart derives joy from play, rest AND doing great work – and the first two were sorely missing!
And that is when I realized, I hadn’t asked myself in a very long time ‘What makes you happy?” I hadn’t considered my joy factor when making decisions. And I wasn’t quite sure I could name 10 things that even made me happy, really happy Can you? And are you living them – making sure YOUR soul gets what it needs?
Just like your lungs need air to live, your SOUL needs MORE JOY … The question is, are you willing to do WHATEVER it takes to create it for yourself. If you don’t, who will?
I taped in the video in this blog for you – a Mediation on Location taped on the eve of Lunar Beltane, a day that is about expanding into JOY! This video meditation and the self love adventure that follows will take you on the same adventure I took that led me back to joy – as I remembered what really made me happy and promised myself to get it!
ME ART: CREATE YOUR JOY PORTRAIT
Supplies: Piece of paper and color-infused
writing utensils – Get ready to claim your bliss!
Step 1: Get the Joy Started. In the middle of the
paper write the word JOY. Underneath the word JOY write, “What brings me joy?”
Step 2: Tap into Your Joy. To get your joy motor
moving (it may have been sitting quite awhile) close your eyes, put your hand
on your heart and take a few deep breaths with yourself. As you take each
breath feel yourself going back in time to different points in your life when
you can remember experiencing great joy, bliss, and happiness. Almost as if a
movie is playing in your head, see yourself in these moments, feel yourself in
these moments and remember what joy felt like for you. If you need help
accessing your joy center, go to www.selflovemeditations.com
and get the Self Pleasure meditation.
Step 3: Fill Up with Joy. Taking what you’ve seen about your joy
moments, and what your soul already knows about following your bliss, your
mission is to fill your entire page – your personal Joy Portrait –with
everything that brings you Joy – words, phrases, and symbols. Make this page
Joy-FULL. Use the following joy starters to find your bliss…
· I am happiest when…
· I feel most alive when…
· I feel most free when…
· I can’t help but smile
and laugh when I …
· When I was a little girl
I loved to….
· My soul gets nourished
when…
· I feel most cared for
when…
· I just love…
· I find great joy in…
Step 4:
Ask Your Soul What it Needs… and make sure it receives it. Once the page is full, completely full,
pause for a ME MOMENT.
·
What
do I see?
·
How
is my life in alignment with my joy? How is it not?
·
What’s
one re-direct I can make now to attune my life to joy and get my soul what it
needs to thrive?
As a completion ritual, write the words “I
Attune to Joy” on your ME ART and make a self-love promise to attune your life
and timing to what brings you joy.
And i’d love to hear 5 JOY-FULL things you found from this self-love adventure – post them here!
And, For more fabulous self-love adventures, go to www.MadlyinLovewithME.com and get the free Self-Love Kit – full of all kinds of daring acts of love and inspiration guaranteed to bring more joy and love into your life!
