How do I get my light to shine bright?

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

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