What Does It Mean To Embrace Your Own Joy?

https://joyfulpursuitoflife.wordpress.com/2016/11/29/what-does-it-mean-to-embrace-your-own-joy/

The Joy of A New Day, A Fresh Start & A New Beginning

There are two best parts of any day, as cliche as it may sound, the beginning and the end. It all has to do with promise and hope. Every morning we wake up there lies before us the promise of a new day and the hope of a new beginning. As we lie in bed at night before going to sleep we sum up our day and look back on the things that have happened and forward at the opportunities that tomorrow brings. One of the things I like about my job is having two daily offices as well as other offices I periodically drop by, all within about a five to ten mile radius max. Since I am salaried I get breaks throughout the day as I travel to my office or back and it's nice to have those little drives to enjoy music, enjoy the weather, vent a little on my frustrations and pep myself up a little bit when I need it - which is just about always. Even these short five minute drives can help keep me going through a crazy day of doctor calls and client appointments and client accidents and Special Incident Reports and Universe-forbid Licensing from the State Health Department (not the kindest people on planet Earth).
The best drive though is the one that comes every morning after I leave my apartment. Having differing destinations my route isn't always the same, and even when it is I can change it up. The weather is pretty good here in California and I have my music from my iPhone to keep me going as I drive the truck. It's nice to breath in the morning air as I set out to work each morning even if all I want to do is head back into bed at home. Even yawning and dreary-eyed I enjoy having time to pep myself up for the day. I don't know if anyone really wants to go to work everyday, or maybe there are those lucky few out there who really enjoy getting up and going to work. I enjoy my job enough and I like being a nurse and all but I know that I would much rather be on the beach reading a book or traveling the world seeing new places. But, this is life and you deal with it and you keep going. So each morning we have a chance to talk ourselves up for the coming day that we have to face no matter what. This is where we can focus on the Joy that we have found for ourselves and really use it to charge up our batteries. I mean, find a silly song you love that just makes you grin ear to ear and play it when you pull out of the driveway while you begin to plan your day. Stick a little bobble-head of your favorite Disney Villain on the dashboard to snicker back at you as you drive. Get the figure from your favorite TV show or movie and put it up in the truck or put up a sticker in the back windshield that you can see through the rear-view mirror. You don't have to overdo it but it is nice to have those little reminders to smile and not take life too seriously. If someone else says something then so what, obviously they are taking life a little too damn seriously too.
Put yourself in a good frame of mind so that when you get to life and reality you are in a better place to face it. We are all going to face life every morning, we just have to make sure we face it with our best foot forward. Think about that this morning, how do you face each day? What do you do to help yourself attain and hold on to your Joy? This morning are you doing anything to help set yourself up to win instead of setting yourself up for failure? We all already have our arsenal and stockpile of Joy that we have found and built up. Use your mornings to tap into that arsenal, and use your evenings  to take inventory so that you don't ever forget the precious cargo you have hidden inside you. We so often forget our greatest weapon - ourselves. We are the keys and instruments to change, both within and without. Anytime is a good time for a new beginning, any day is the day for a fresh start - All it takes is you. As I have written before:

"Joy is endless, boundless. No matter how much of it you share there will always be more than enough of it left for you. On top of that, in a karma-esque way, it comes back to you ten-fold. When you share your joy with others, along with some peace and understanding as well, it brings joy to you as well. Those rewards are immeasurable."

Jealousy & Pride - Comparisons Inside & Out That Steal Our Joy

Finding the joy in life means finding those things that lift you up and holding on to them throughout the good and the rough times to help keep you going. Each of us is different, a unique individual, with our own interpretation and path to joy. To me it is a lot like religion, there are countless number of ways to find peace and any one way does not stand above another. Growing up I would always ask my parents about religion. What if I were born on the other side of the world, or in Africa? What religion would I be then? What religion would my parents teach me was the right thing to believe? If that is the case and we are told the same, who would be right? It is what you believe to be right. It is about faith, not religion. I just couldn't get over the fact that if I had different parents who taught me to believe something else then I would hold a completely different set of beliefs and would hold convictions with completely different faces. As I grew up I learned that it was about the journey and not the labels; if we strip away all the labels and words we put on things then we can see that it is all the same. All the beliefs are single strands leading to the same end, something bigger. Something more, that is what connects all of us, or so I have come to believe. I have come to the conclusion that faith is the same wherever it is found and it always leads to the recognition of a greater web that connects everything. This centered awareness is the goal of each faith and religion and each of us if we are honest with ourselves. One may call it Allah, another God. They are one in the same and not being able to see that has led to war after war since the beginning of time. Only when we realize that we are all the same on the inside can we start growing and connecting with the world around us in a positive way. Only then can we have that positive impact on the world. 

Jealousy is a very interesting emotion, probably the most interesting not just because of the complexities of it but also because of the so many things it can lead to. Not all of them are good. To me being jealous is like belittling your own joy. Instead of looking at what you have you look outward at someone else, automatically setting yourself up for failure because how can you ever be someone you are not? Even when things are rough we still have things to be joyful about remember, that's the whole point. Hold on to your joy. Hold on to the fact that you are still breathing. That you have a loved one. That you have shelter and food. That you have a job at all. That you have eyes to read and a brain to process your thoughts. When you are looking at all these amazing things you build yourself a life raft to make it through choppy waters and you are able to express that joy outwards towards those around you. It can be rough, I remember growing up being so jealous of all those Abercrombie models and pop stars, why couldn't I have a six pack and blonde hair and big arms? I felt inadequate and ugly for so long, but it drove me to become jealous long before I realized what I was doing. It wasn't just about me not looking like that anymore, it was them looking like that and me never being able to. I wanted to be them so badly and for so long my self-esteem was really messed up because I allowed myself to be influenced by someone else and who they were over who I really was. Being jealous is trying to take other people's joy. I want what you have. I want that job, or that promotion. I want that partner or spouse. I want that body. I want, on and on and on. Thinking these thoughts mean you are actively thinking about taking something from someone else for yourself, even if it is something intangible like control. You want something that is making someone else happy or joyful because you want those feelings for yourself. That doesn't work, it is not only toxic to yourself but harmful to others. Focus on your joy, not someone else's. 

A close relative of jealousy if pride, known to me as "over-inflated joy." Pride is when we take something that brings us joy and we put it on a pedestal to display for others so that we can brag and gloat in order to make ourselves feel like we are adequate and accepted. You are taking something good and corrupting it , which is stupid because in the end the only one hurt is you. When that pride deflates and that ego loses momentum what is there going to be left to help bring you back up again? It isn't always straightforward either, take for example being angry with a coworker after an argument at work and avoiding him or her. Shaking with anger you know you are right and all you can see is that they were wrong, apologizing would mean saying you were wrong and you are better than this person who treated you this way. You know better than him or her, you would never act like that. That over-inflated sense of self refusing to apologize is pride. Not being able to admit when you are wrong, or being able to compromise for the sake of peace, is the same as thinking you are better than everyone else.  Share your joy with others and hold it close for yourself, but not too close. Not so close that you begin to feed it instead of it feeding you. 

Being present and aware in life is important, we can only find joy if we are living in the here and now, but you can't be present when you are narrowly focused on someone else's reality in their own world. Being jealous you force yourself into someone else's joy because you want it for yourself, being prideful forces your joy onto unwilling others. Everyone always says the grass is greener on the other side, but that's because you're looking over the fence and casting a shadow over what you have. Things always look better from someone else's shoes, because we never really know what all comes with those shoes. It is all about perspective and seeing what is before your eyes and seeing what you already have. Try to find the joy in your own life and not someone else's, it will make it a whole lot easier to get what you're looking for in the end. 

The Little Distractions In Life That Bring Joy

Too many times in life we are too busy and caught up in stress and worry that we forget to treasure the moment we are living in and lose out on the gift that's right before us. Whenever something happens at work or I get in a fight with my husband I let it bother me for hours or even days. I let it distract me and worry me when there isn't anything I can do further anyway. I miss out on all the chances that pass me by and I hate that feeling. So whenever I see something small I try to grab it. My husband and I try to take advantage of living in LA as much as we can, going to the Zoo or Griffith Park or the Observetory - whatever we can find. New and fun things.

Get silly and be creative. We were at Target the other night picking up a few things and I found something in the front savings section. For 3$ they had a "paint your own pet rock," I thought it was so cute and so silly. It was a turtle too, I am a Cancer and I thing a turtle fits me better than a crab. So I grabbed it and took it home to paint. It was ridiculously fun and I got to be creative too. It made me smile and now I have a little reminder sitting on my nightstand to take a breath and smile. Next time you start feeling lost in the storm or the next time you see something new and silly present itself - take advantage. Take a chance. Live a little, no one else is going to live for you. 

The Path Ahead - Looking Down The Road

A vision for the future, a goal to work towards. With this blog I want to make a difference. I want to turn it into something to really help others and help others help themselves. Coming up to my thirtieth birthday this summer I have been taking a hard look at my life and evaluating my priorities and plans. I want to leave a lasting legacy here on this earth, just as we all do, but that legacy to me doesn't have to be something huge and extravagant. Even something small and hidden can influence people and things for years to come. If people don't remember who I am that's ok, I would rather them be able to remember the things they learned about joy and carry those things with them wherever they go for the rest of their lives. By putting out there my journey to find joy I can hopefully help others fulfill their own journey to a rewarding and meaningful life. To be able to make that kind of difference is all that I want. 

I have to start somewhere though, and that somewhere is right here - Joyful: The Pursuit of Life. I have a vision to use my writing skills and my own life experience to start a community of encouragement and support. I want to start a movement - so here we go. Come join me and let's make a real difference. It all starts with one person deciding to make a change. Looking ahead there are five things that I think we should be working towards. They are as follows:

1 - Application for iPhone/Android - I would like to develop a real smartphone app that allows people to post their joyful moments and share with each other. I want to have a community of support available at everyone's fingertips. More than Facebook, I want to focus on the positive joyful things in life along with the negative hard things going on to help us learn that those hard times will always be there but we can condition ourselves to look at the joyful side of things instead. 

2 - Journal - I really would like to develop a daily journal, online or in print, to help people record their moments of joy to help them focus on those things and draw strength from them. I want it to be something we can go back to throughout the day and say hey - see there, there are good things happening right now I can focus on. A journal to express not just your joy but also the fear and stress and anxiety that the joy is working to conquer. Those negative feelings are there too, they can't be ignored. We have to get them out and then figure out how to deal with them.

3 - Workbook - along with the journal something that helps us as we work through each day and try to focus on those positive things - something that seems to be a daily struggle for most of us. 

4 - Book - eventually I would like to have all of these ideas and prompts and stories but into book form, something you can really sit down and delve into. 

5 - Bracelets - like those rubber wrist bands - something fun and silly to help remind us every time we see it that there is something in life to be joyful about and no matter how hard things seem to be now it will get better. The power of positive thinking. 

There are many avenues to explore, from fundraising to sponsorship to maybe even a Kickstart campaign. The point is I now know where I want to go and where I want to take Joyful: The Pursuit of Life. Come, join me on this awesome adventure. Be a part of your own journey and connect to the wonderful world all around you. 

The Return Is Here!

Stay tuned! New posts coming very soon. May the pursuit of life and joy live on and thrive! 

Pursuing Life

Joyful: The Pursuit of Life has stepped out for a bit, out to pursue the joy surrounding each and every one of us in our daily lives. Lives so filled with joy that it's staring us right in the face, we're the ones who forgot to slow down long enough to really take a look. 

Visit us, keep up with our journey and follow along on our Facebook page: Facebook.com/joyfulpursuitoflife

As with every adventure, every journey, I will return in short time, but am now off in pursuit of joy and everything that it means. Join me. Have fun. Live life. Love life. Be joyful.