May 2022

Recharging your joy

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Recharging your Joy

Let’s face it.  There are days in life where joy is not just burgeoning at your feet.  There are occasions where you don’t even realize that your joy may have played a tiny trick on you and went on a tropical vacation.  That does not mean you are not a joyous person or feel full of joy in your life.  It just means you’ve just been moving through life’s situations and forgot to put yourself first for a moment.

My son asked me why we decided to have kids.  That was an easy answer.  I wanted to share my joy and help create joy for someone else.  What really is joy and do we just get it bestowed on us?

*According to the Oxford dictionary*  joy /joi/  noun –  is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.

I wake up everyday with the joy that I am still here.  That I have another day to explore what life can give me.  I do know that I have periods of joy without pleasure.  My many medical issues create a narrative in my life that I do not want to adjust to.  That does not bring me pleasure.  I tell myself that no matter where I am in life there is always someone who has it far worse than me.  I choose to not be defeated by it and find that “feeling of great pleasure and happiness.”
When we have had a period in our life, even a brief or fleeting one that you have lost track of your joy, you must stop and let your soul tell it’s truth.  Once you can be completely honest as to why your joy went on it’s little vacation you can actively work to recharge it.  It may take a little longer than you anticipated but as long as you work on it everyday it will come back. 
You have to want your joy.  If you deny yourself the true feeling of great pleasure and happiness that life can offer, your not living your souls truth.  Allow it that break it may have needed to recharge your soul.  Wake up at the prospect that the day you are about to live may end up leading you to the most amazing adventure you’ve ever been on.

Should we listen to our gut?

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Should we listen to our gut?

There are those times in life when you just have a “sense” that something isn’t right.  A “gut feeling”.  Is that feeling caused by an internal intuition, anxiety or simply something that our body and mind are telling us something feels a bit “off”?  The basic question would be whether you should trust that gut feeling.  Is it real or is it even healthy to listen to?

There is a definite difference between intuition and a gut feeling.  Neither of those are anxiety driven.  Anxiety comes from a long standing situation while the other two come from an immediate situation at hand.  According to Therapist Gillian Dalgliesh, Intuition is the exact opposite of gut feeling.  Gut feeling is about survival – doing whatever is necessary to keep us safe and alive in an immediate situation.  It’s connected with fearful and reactive behaviour. Intuition is a higher level of consciousness – a capacity to sense things and to create wise choices for healthy change.  Intuition isn’t about survival.  If an immediate situation arises that creates a reactive feeling (gut instinct), that doesn’t mean not to listen to it.  A gut instinct that is investigated can bring about the knowledge of intuition for future situations.  You can not guarantee that your gut instinct is correct each time.  Taking a bit of time  to listen to it however and learn how to react positively to those types of instincts may become very reliable for you.

If you have taken the time to learn your body, mind and spirit –  your gut instinct is something that you may begin to listen to each time.  At the very least investigate that feeling.  There is the saying “You can not put a square peg in a round hole” without a lot of manipulation.  If a situation arises that requires repeated review or manipulation those are red flags and you should listen and investigate.  Red flags do happen for a reason.  They are life’s warning signals that something is extraordinarily out of order. Why is that peg not fitting in that hole.  You may discover you have the wrong peg or were using the wrong hole.  You may also discover that the situation simply is a square peg and round hole and should be avoided.

Do take that time to listen, investigate and learn the best way for you to proceed.  This will help you make wise healthy choices in the future.  It will also minimize reactive decisions that may squash your trust of your own gut feeling in the future.