My Joy Philosophy: Journey Towards Joy – Part 1

When I began my journey towards joy, I was broken, hurting, miserable, not knowing how to face this new life on my own. It was then that I realized, through a lot of self-reflection and study, that sadness, grief, depression, and other heavy energy emotions were more related to my way of DO-ing, not my way of BE-ing. I needed to learn a new thing! I needed to stop all the craziness of doing and just BE! After all, hadn’t the Creator made me a human BE-ing? And all I really understood was do this, do that, go here, go there, please this person, and more; all making me miserable!

My JOY Philosophy began to create itself in me. I realized that I needed and craved

• Quiet time to just BE
• Alone time to RE-INVIGORATE my body, mind and spirit
• Spending time with my Artist Archetypal Energy^[1] to write, paint, create, assemble, garden, etc…
• BE-ing able to serve others in a way that feeds my soul
• To learn to say “No!”
• To lean to be okay with saying, “No!”
• A new mantra for my life: I only do what I love; I love what I do

My JOY journey is ongoing. It is not a destination. And, oh my, has it become fun! Easy? Hardly! But it is getting easier. I often call it a wild rollercoaster ride! Not because of the ups and downs, although they are there. It’s because I loooooooooove rollercoasters. And even though it’s been years since I was on one, I can relate the moments of screaming, excitement, anticipation, holding my breath, and getting off the ride only to circle around and get back on again.

Recently I was meditating and journaling in my back garden. It came to me that I needed to stop seeing my spiritual journey as a long and winding road (as my Facebook Intro says). I was to see it more like the garden in which I sat. It was already pre-determined by me, before this incarnation, that I would be in this garden (metaphorically). Instead of seeing myself as having gone off the path at times I was able to see that I have merely wandered from the daisies in my ‘garden’, to the apple tree, then to the plant with all the prickles, then back to my chair, then…

I had decided that this was my life! I had decided that I no longer needed to DO a journey but BE on this journey. I was blown away!!! For the first time since I started my JOY journey, I could actually see my life as unfolding like the roses near me. I love roses. But I have to watch out for the pricks! I know, I know, “Not P.C. James!” I do have a slight allergy to the thorns. So really! Life can be a bed of roses. I just have to watch for the pricks! And even when I encounter the pricks, I still have the joy of the roses! DO-ing my joy journey and BE-ing present to my joy journey have now become two entirely different things. 

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^[1] I recommend reading Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential, and other excellent works by Caroline Myss.