LIVING WITH JOY - Chapter 3
III. You Can Live Joyfully
I will speak of joy, compassion and higher purpose, for many of you are searching for peace and a sense of inner completion. Most of you are aware that peace comes from your inner world, and that the outer world is a symbolic representation of that which is within. You are all at different levels of perceiving the process by which you create what you experience.
What is the path of joy? There are many life-paths you can choose, just as there are many ways you can serve on a planetary level. There is a path of will, a path of struggle, and also a path of joy and compassion.
Joy is an inner note
that you sound
as you move through
the day.
What brings joy into your life? Do you know? Are you aware of that which makes you happy? Or are you so busy fulfilling your daily obligations that you put off to some future time those things that make you feel good? The path of joy deals with present and not future time. Are you holding an image of what life will be like some day when you are happy, but not feeling that sense of well-being right now, today?
Many of you fill your time with activities that are not soul directed, but activities of the personality. You may have been taught that being busy creates self-worth. There are two kinds of busyness, however. Personality directed activity is often based on "shoulds" and is not done to benefit your higher purpose, while soul directed activity is always done with your higher purpose in mind.
The personality is often distracted by the senses, which capture its attention from moment to moment. The phone call, the child, the constant voices, the emotions of others—all are energies that grab your attention throughout the day, and can distract you from your inner-directed messages.
True joy comes from operating with
Inner-Directedness and recognizing
who you are.
You may have many reasons why you cannot change your life right now. If you do not begin to create reasons why you can, change will always be a future thought, and you will not be on the path of joy. In this world you have chosen to come into, you have been given physical senses and an emotional body. Your great challenge is not to be distracted by that which comes in front of you, or that which is pulling on you or calling to you, but instead to find your center and magnetize to yourself all those things that are in alignment with your inner being.
Are you setting it up so that people are pulling on you, so that your time is full, but is not filled with the things you want? You have the power to change that drama. It comes from your compassion for who you are, and from your sense of inner freedom.
Many of you have set up lives for yourselves that are not joyful because you believe that you are obligated to others, that you need to be needed, or that you are enslaved by one situation or another.
The challenge of the path of joy
is to create freedom .
Every person is free. You may have created an arena of work, and based your life upon certain accomplishments and forms. The path of joy is learning not to be caught by the details of those forms. It is learning not to be trapped by your own creations, but to be uplifted by them.
If you have created a job, a relationship, or anything that is not bringing you joy, look inward and ask why you feel you must be in a relationship with anything or anyone that does not bring you joy. Often it is because you do not believe you deserve to have what you want. There is no such thing as "deserving" on our plane. You have all been given active imaginations; they are your doorways out of where you are. Yours can be a doorway into worry, if that is how you use it, or it can be a doorway into joy.
As you are on the phone during the day, speaking to your friends, do you let them talk on long past when you would like them to be gone? Do you listen to their stories that bring down your energy? Do you make appointments to see people, even though you do not truly have the time, or when there is no higher purpose in being with them? To find the path of joy you will want to ask why you feel obligated to people or to the forms you have created.
The path of compassion does not obligate you to love everyone regardless of how they act or who they are. It is a path of seeing the truth of who they are, acknowledging all their parts. It is the path of looking at people and asking is there anything you can do to heal, assist, or bring them in touch with their higher vision? If there is not, then you are pulling down your own energy by spending time with them.
Some of you are helping people over and over, feeling frustrated. You may feel obligated, as if there were no way out except to listen to their tales of woe, wishing that they would get on with their lives. If you are helping people and they are not growing, then you had better look again to see if you are indeed helping them, or if they are capable of receiving the help you are giving.
The path of joy involves the ability to receive. You can be surrounded with love, friends that care, and have a healthy and fit body, if you choose. There is so much to be grateful for and appreciate. One of the ways to receive more is to spend time appreciating what you have. Acknowledge even the simplest things—the flowers you drive by, the heartwarming smile of a child, and you will soon find the universe sending you even more.
For those of you who are concerned about money or finding a career where you can make money doing what you love, have you been willing to take a risk and do what you love? Have you been willing to trust the universe to give the opportunity to you? And even more, are you prepared to handle the money when it comes? Do you feel you deserve it?
The path of joy involves
valuing yourself and monitoring
where you put your time.
If every single person spent time only where he accomplished the greatest good for himself and the person he was with, the world would change in a day. It is important to spend time in ways that promote your highest good. If something is not for your highest good, I can guarantee that it is not for the highest good of the planet or others either.
You may ask, what am I here to do that will bring me joy? Each one of you has things that you love to do. There is not one person alive who does not have something he loves to do.
What you love is a sign from
your higher self of what
you are to do.
You may say, I love to read and meditate; certainly that can't be my path and bring me money. However, if you allowed yourself to sit and read and meditate, a path would unfold. So often you resist what you most want to do. In everyone's mind there is a whisper of the next step. It may be simple, such as making a phone call, or reading a book. It may be a very concrete, mundane thing to do that may not even seem connected with your higher vision. Know that you are always being shown the next step; it is always something that comes to your mind as an obvious, simple and joyful thing to do.
You all know what would bring you joy tomorrow. When you wake up, ask yourself what you could do with the day that would bring you joy and delight. Put a smile on your face, rather than focusing on how you are going to get through another day. Don't focus on the problems you have to handle.
You will have joy only when
you focus on having it and
settle for nothing less.
What is your highest vision and how do you find it in your life? Most of you have many distractions that need not be. If you were to sit for even five minutes each day, reviewing what you set up for the day, and ask how each appointment, person or phone call fits into your higher purpose, in a few short months you would be on the path of your destiny and would discover ways to double your income. Of course, you will need to act upon this wisdom.
If you do not know what your path is, you can create a symbol for it. Imagine that you are holding it in your hands as a ball of light. Bring it up to your heart, then into your crown chakra at the top of your head, and release it to your soul. Very shortly, it will begin to take form. You will find that at just the thought of higher purpose you will begin to magically and magnetically rearrange your day. Suddenly friends who took your time will no longer look so interesting, as you bring in new friends and change the nature of your friendships with old acquaintances.
Compassion is caring for yourself; valuing yourself and your time. You do not owe anyone your time. When you take charge of yourself and affirm that you are a unique and valuable person, the world will affirm it to you also.
Every person has a purpose and
a reason for being on earth.
There is not just one thing you are here to do, for each thing you accomplish becomes part of an earlier step and another stage of your evolution. Each experience is integrated into earlier experiences. Some of you step sideways, trying out new and seemingly unrelated things, to bring in new skills on the journey upwards. Some of you find form for your work. Some of you are here to develop, as your purpose, a vision of peace within.
Do not judge purpose by the standards of others, or by what society has told you is the best thing to do. You may be here to develop inner peace and radiate that quality outward, making it available to others. You may be here to explore the realm of the intellect or the business world, to assist the thoughtforms on the planet at that level. Compassion is outside of judgment. It is simpie acceptance, the ability to love and to value the self, and whatever path of higher purpose unfolds.
There is tension worldwide at almost all times, but there is also great opportunity available for those who are focused on the positive, and willing to take responsibility for everything they create. Energy is available to those who are intuitive and healing and on a path of joy. With that energy comes an opportunity to have great abundance and joy now.
Many of you are moving ahead rapidly. You have been on an accelerated path of growth so that you may heal and teach others who are following. Some of you, such as authors and writers, may be years ahead of the mass thoughtforms, as it is necessary for you to be in the flow of the times when your writing comes out. Not everyone is experiencing the same transition at the same time.
All of you reading this
are pioneers, for you would not be
attracted to this information
if you were not ahead of your time .
You may be feeling a change in the energy of the planet. Those of you who are willing to look upward and find your vision will find your lives even more accelerated. If you think you are busy right now—be prepared! Things will happen even faster, and that is why wisdom and discernment are becoming increasingly important. That is why you will want to look at each day and compare it to your higher purpose.
Sometimes the hardest thing of all is saying "no" to someone in need. If you constantly pay attention to people in crisis, you affirm that the way for them to get your attention is by creating crisis. If you want people in your life to respect and honor your time, teach them by rewarding them when they do so.
The world is going through a change, things are speeding up. You may already be feeling it. Those who are not focused on their higher vision and self will experience even more problems. Some of the people around you may be speaking of this as the greatest, most joyful time of their lives, while others are speaking of it as the most difficult. If you are experiencing this as the most joyful time in your life, look around at others. Rather than judging or feeling separate from those who are having difficulties, simply send them light, and then let go.
If you find yourself in power struggles with people- strangers, loved ones or close friends—go into your higher self. Stop for a moment, take a deep breath, and don't get caught in their desire for a confrontation. Remember, it's their desire, not yours.
In this accelerated vibration of the planet, you will want to learn not to be pulled into other people's energy through the third chakra, the solar plexus. Much of the energy that people experience from others comes through the solar plexus, the power and emotional center. Many of your challenges on the path of joy will be to step outside of power struggles and come from a deep level of compassion. If a friend snaps at you or is unfriendly, step back, and with a sense of compassion, try to experience life from his perspective. You may see his tiredness, or his defensiveness, which has nothing to do with you, for you only represent another character in his play. The more you can step outside and not be pulled into power struggles, the more peaceful and abundant your life will be, and the more you will be in a position to heal others by being in your heart with compassion.
Go inward for a moment and ask yourself what you can do tomorrow, specifically, to bring more joy into your life. Ask what you can do to let go of a power struggle or an issue that is going on in your life and draining your energy. What can you do tomorrow to free up a little more time to find inner peace?
You have so much to be grateful for, your excellent mind and your unlimited potential. You have the ability to create anything you want; the only limits are those you create for yourself. Wake up in the morning and affirm your freedom. Hold up your higher vision and live the most joyful life you can imagine.
YOU CAN LIVE JOYFULLY
PLAYSHEET
List seven things you love to do, that feel joyful when you do them, that you haven't done in the last several months. They may be anything—lying in the sun, taking a trip, getting a massage, accomplishing a goal, exercising, reading a book.
Beside each of these seven things, list what stops you from doing it—something either inside (such as your feelings) or outside (someone or something, such as lack of money, that keeps you from it).
Take two or three things on your list that hold the most joy for you, and think of one step you can take toward each to bring it into your life.
Mark your calendar with will bring each of these life.