Choosing joy

Joy does not simply happen to us.  We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.  - Henri Nouwen

 0% Effort, 100% Return - Follow your Joy to experience outrageous success!  - Amina Makhdoom

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Choose Joy.  It is easy to say and many I speak to, tell me, "Oh, I do that already, it doesn't work." But, do you, do you really, choose joy?  It sounds easy and even cliché, but the practice of choosing joy and living life from a place of flow is a consistent practice, albeit, a super fun practice. 

During a particularly hard time in life, I started to choose joy.  Not from some spiritual place or even some enlightened world view, but from a place of mere survival.  I have never been one to stay sad, angry or depressed.  Honestly, I am not a big fan of those feelings... I would rather not experience them.  But, I am an empath and as such, find myself feeling lots of feelings more often then I would like.  During this particularly difficult time in life, I couldn't seem to find a way to be happy.  So I stopped trying.  And, instead did little things that brought my temporary relief.  The minute I stopped, I would be sad again, but for those few minutes, I was experiencing joy.  I needed those few minutes and hung onto them for dear life, a few minutes a day.  Sometimes only once a day, sometimes every hour in a day, however I could get it.  These were not exactly the healthiest ways to feel joy, though, some were - I watched lots of TV shows I enjoyed as a kid (Scooby Doo) and some other mindless shows (the OC was super popular during this time).  There were lots of cupcakes consumed... cupcakes = immediate joy in my world.  And, there were long, long, long walks. Walks to playgrounds where I would swing and then do the long, long, long return walk.  On some weekends, I would do two of these walks a day.  I still do from time to time.  All those things brought me joy, though, at the time, I would have called it temporary comfort.  Joy, probably would have seemed too far a reach for me back then.

Shortly thereafter, things started happening.  Big things, little things, all kinds of things.  They started happening by themselves, with no effort on my part.  I came across an opportunity to study international conflict resolution at The Hague, which lead to an added one month trip around Europe, which lead to a leave of absence from work, which lead to a whole new career path for me, which lead to my starting my own business.  None of these things came from "happy dreams" or even a plan, they just... came.  They just happened.  And, to this day, I am not quite sure how.  It was a conversation that lead to a meeting that lead to a completely different life.  And, all the while I was watching the OC, eating cupcakes, and going for long, long, long walks.

That's the first experience I had with understanding it has nothing to do with what I do. I didn't know that then.  It was not until years later, when I got sick and literally could not "do" as much as I used to be able to do.  I was tired all the time.  And, after the smallest amount of work, I had to lie down and rest.  That year, I was more successful financially and reputation-wise then I had ever been before.  How is that possible... I did a lot less then I had ever done before.  But like the earlier period in my life, things just kind of kept happening on their own.  This time, I paid attention and realized, the less I do, the more I get. 

I have been voraciously reading anything Anita Moorjani puts out.  She talks about going to the pier and watching the sunset in Hong Kong while eating an ice cream cone.  It brings her joy and she realized, this is the secret to life.  Many have spoken about this and it is common knowledge that it is "good" to follow one's joy.  What I find most people don't quite get is how powerful, impactful, life-altering and easy following your joy makes getting the biggest, hairiest, hardest goals you ever wanted.  Each time I "do nothing" and just have "fun", something wonderful happens in my life. 

This April, you can experience this magic for yourself.  It is simple but not easy.  That is why I created a free program called The Joy Challenge which allows you to practice choosing joy for 30 days to achieve your biggest, toughest goals.  It has worked for so many.  Big dreams accomplished while eating cupcakes and playing with their kids or sleeping.  I invite you to try the Joy Challenge for yourself and experience results like mine and many others, by simply, sprinkling more joy into your life! 

For more information on Joy Challenge, visit the website.  See you in the Joy Challenge!