You know, there are moments when I am so grounded, so connected, filled with joy, gratitude and peace. Those moments... they are magical!

Quite often they involve being in nature - walking on the beach at sunrise, watching birds in our garden or looking up at the trees and the sky. Put me outside in silence, and I will usually find my inner peace.

I find it more of a challenge to ground myself in the day to day activities of life. I've been meditating a lot on this lately. I've come to realize that for me to reach my full potential and achieve the vision I have for my life (more on that in another post!), I need to find more joy. Joy has been my go to word for the past month. I discovered, my soul thrives on joy! If I want to achieve my goals in this life, I need to be more joyful!

Sounds great in theory, right? Just be more joyful. Simple. Hmmm... not as easy as it seems. Firstly, I had to become aware of what joy FEELS like. How does it feel in my body & mind?

On a recent yoga/ meditation retreat, I found a lot of joy and started to recognize what it feels like. For me, it feels as if my chest and heart are open wide - I visualize my rib cage opening and the light beaming out from my heart. I also feel immense gratitude. Quite often if I am feeling particularly joyful - tears come to my eyes along with a smile on my face. It truly is magical!

After awareness, I examined what fills my heart with joy. I remember being a kid and feeling so free and light. What was I doing in those times?

I was creating!

I was drawing, playing music, writing, making jewelry, moving my body freely in water (I used to be a synchronized swimmer, but don't tell anyone :-)).

When I looked at the list of things that made me joyful, they have all but disappeared from my life! How on Earth did that happen?? I know things change as you grow up, but how did I let joy go?

In a meditation recently, I received a message from my soul (yeah, that happens sometimes if you really listen). It was an equation. It went something like this:

CREATE = JOY

So simple. The message couldn't be clearer. If I want more joy in my life then I need to CREATE! 

I was so excited by this, that I went out the next day and drew my Inner Goddess. It was so fun! I simply got my sketchbook out from a dusty drawer, took some pencils and drew! Yep, you can just do that - whenever you want! It felt so freeing. I sat outside and just allowed the pencils to move over the paper. And I love the result, it truly is me; my soul, my Inner Goddess. 

I'm more determined than ever to bring more joy into my life. Every day, I ask myself, "What can I do today to fill myself with joy?" 

I feel like a new me! It's so fun to think about creating moments of joy everyday. I also feel deep gratitude along with the joy. How blessed am I to live a joyful life!

​What fills your soul? Trust in yourself. Listen quietly, and you'll find out.  xx

Do you think you are healthy or unhealthy? How do you define health?

According to the World Health Organization, "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely an absence of disease and infirmity."

In the past, I focused my attention on my physical health but neglected my mental and social health.

Alongside heart disease and traffic accidents, depression is one of the greatest health conditions affecting society. Mental health is one of the most neglected areas today. What do you do for your mental health?

And are you socially healthy? Do you contribute to the health of society through positive relationships and social activities?

Health needs to be looked at holistically. All three areas, physical, mental and social, must be attended to if we want to be healthy.

So how do we do it?...

"What's important is a healthy mind. We lead our bodies with our minds. A healthy, flexible mind that can actively manage the health of the body, even as it accepts bodily realities dispassionately: this is the key to health." - Il Chi Lee, Living Tao