Cultivating Joy Continued

Yesterday’s post got me thinking about other experiences that brings joy alive for me and I felt inspired to share more examples. Here they are:

• Going to the mail box and finding a surprise card, note or package
• The smell of lilacs and summer rain
• Watching my dog’s tail move around in circles when he’s excited
• Chatting with my sisters online who live out of state
• Having a giggle fest with my friend Mary Beth
• Taking a leisurely walk in the neighborhood
• Listening to my cats when they purr
• Sitting on the sand dunes overlooking Lake Michigan
• Hosting dinner parties for dear friends
• Summer boating on Lake St. Clair
• Working with clients

I’ve come to really relish the simple things in life. And most of the things that are joyful to me are free…ain’t that grand?!!!

Cultivating Joy

I’m sitting in my office with the windows open listening to the birds chirp away. At the same time, I’m reminiscing about the Claudine Hellmuth Collage Discovery Workshop I attended this past weekend. (Check out my friend’s blog to see some pictures catching fireflies: a weekend with claudine hellmuth )

Although these two “events” may seem like totally different experiences (they are of course), both instill the feeling of joy in me. I LOVE listening to birds and I LOVE doing art. Anything I love brings me joy.

What is it about cultivating joy that makes life so rich? For me, it starts with doing something that I love that produces an effervescent feeling in my body….which I would translate as sparkly, bubbly, and light. From that effervescence is a feeling of expansion, connection to others, creative inspiration, and laughter. From the expansion, connections to others, creative inspiration, and laughter comes magnetism. And from magnetism comes bliss.

Can I make myself feel this way? Well, no not exactly. I must first pay attention to what feels joyful to me and DO IT! Some days it’s swinging on the swings with my nieces, other days it’s taking a nap in the middle of the work day. Joy can be talking to one of my girlfriends, or taking an art workshop. It changes based on my moods….and my husband will say I have a lot of moods!!!

What do you do cultivate joy?

Joy

Enjoy this collage I created in photoshop and remember to cultivate joy in your life!

Inner Feng Shui

Our inner world is reflected in our outer world. What we think and feel (conscious or not) and what we see and do becomes our reality. And we create our reality in our spaces and in our lives through these experiences whether we are aware or not.

I was reminded of this concept during a recent feng shui consultation. A client was very concerned about a personal family situation and wondered if feng shui would help this other person. In asking some very probing questions, I came to NO feng shui would not assist this other person. The external changes in the physical environment would definitely raise the vibration of that space, however, without a willing participant to make changes on the personal level, the higher vibration due to feng shui changes would likely be “pulled” back down.

Here’s another example. I know of an individual who has serious hoarding issues. Her very concerned friends decided among themselves to treat this individual to a spa day and clean up her house. The individual I’ll call Marianne, accepted the invitation for the spa day and reluctantly allowed her friends to clean up her house. The project took on a life of its own and after two dumpsters and thousands of dollars later; Marianne had a clean, beautiful home due to the efforts and generosity of her friends.

Well time passed, Marianne’s friendships dissolved and her home returned to its hoarded, blighted state. All the feng shui in the world wouldn’t be able to assist Marianne because she didn’t want to change. For Marianne, the higher vibration of her “new” home wasn’t incentive enough to make the kinds of changes that required her to live in this new way. In other words, her inner and outer feng shui weren’t harmonious and something had to give.

I’m not suggesting that feng shui changes in a space don’t create positive changes in our lives. They do, I experience and witness the positive effects all the time. What I am saying is that cultivating inner feng shui is essential to making change. With out doing so, all the outer efforts in the world are for naught.

So consider the importance of cultivating inner feng shui. It is the stuff of profound change and, in my opinion, the path to world peace. I’m committed and I ask that you be committed too.