Stimulating Your Spirit #5 Feeling Joyful

What? Joy? Are you kidding??” you might be saying. “I can’t really do that now.”, but I beg to differ. I know, we’re in the midst of a pandemic. That’s the bird’s eye view. But we are also living our day, one minute at a time. And each of those minutes offers us an opportunity. How will I “be” in this moment? That is completely my (and your) own decision.

It is possible for you to view your feelings and your thoughts differently so that you can travel through the day with your spirit leading the way! My joy has led me to teach my students how to connect with their inner wisdom: to uncover their ‘Master Switch’, that allows them to connect with the wisdom in the universe. And that’s where peace and joy are found.

Remember, spirit is not about anything religious. It’s about that part of our nature that is connected to the greater good, whatever you want to name it. It doesn’t matter what you call it, what does matter is that you’re experiencing unity and calm.

Last week we talked about developing your ‘patience-ability’. And patience is a really useful thing to have, especially when you’re in close contact with people over long periods of time.

If you missed it, you can find it on my Youtube channel here.

Today, we’re talking about being joyful as a way to stimulate your spirit. Perhaps this discussion will inspire you to rethink how you look at your daily interactions.

1. Stop waiting to be happy

Joy, as I’ve said before, has nothing to do with the external. Stop waiting for it. Joy is yours before you win the lottery. Joy is yours before somebody does something that you think they should do because joy is an internal decision.

You decide for joy simply by
a) noticing when you have outsourced your happiness to an external person or situation and release it from your neediness. And,
b)allowing life to be what it is without judging it as fearful.

At any moment, regardless of the events in the world, you can change how you perceive them, and the part you play in those events so that your joy shines through. You’ll know you have chosen joy when you feel enveloped in love. So stop waiting. It’s your decision. Joy is available to you whenever you make the choice for it.

2. Another thing you can do to let joy stimulate your spirit is to help other people.

When you reach out and help somebody else, even in the simplest way, holding a door for someone who’s walking behind you, just the simplest things, remembering someone’s birthday and sending them a note, you’ll be amazed at how good you feel.

It’s the easiest thing in the world to smile at someone as you pass them in the street or in the supermarket. Of course, now we’re wearing masks. But you know something, you can see a smile in somebody’s eyes. I see it all the time, everywhere I go. When I smile with my eyes, I see them smile back.

And of course, you can help in other ways too if you have the ability and time to volunteer. One year, just before Thanksgiving, I worked in a soup kitchen. Seeing the smiles and laughter of the recipients as they ate and socialized filled me with incomparable happiness. I made that choice to stimulate my spirit and feel the joy it generated.

3. Surround yourself with joyful people.

Here’s another way to stimulate your spirit. How often do you question who you choose to spend time with?  Are these people lightening your load by reflecting your joy back to you? I know sometimes it’s hard because you have long standing relationships with certain people who are not of a joyful nature, shall we say? You feel beholden to them.

But I want you to think about that. Just because you feel a close connection to a ‘Debbie Downer’

doesn’t mean you must spend the same amount of time with them as in the past. Or that you should drop them from your life. That would be cruel unless, of course, it is a toxic relationship. Then you should immediately remove yourself.

It’s so important to spend as much time as possible with others who walk on the sunny side of the street. You may not always agree with them but there is a sense of ease in your relationship that is joyful. I’ll give you an example:

I went for my acupuncture treatment yesterday at my doctor’s office. I just love this guy! Dr. Rubin is fantastic. We have the most wonderful conversations even though he has a totally different political view than I do. However, we can weigh the pros and cons of different ideas. We hear others. I talked about this last week –about listening to another person who has a different opinion and allowing yourself to hear what they have to say. That’s what we do with each other. I appreciate what he has to say. He shows me a different perspective. And we laugh a lot. We make jokes about things and treat life lightly. Because the lighter you treat life, the more joy you’re going to have. Which leads me to:

 4. Laugh more!

And I don’t mean derisively, I mean with joy. Laugh at the insanity of this world. I mean, there’s no way you can rationalize some of the crazy stuff that goes on. It just doesn’t make sense. So my best reaction to that is just to laugh about it because I have no control over what goes on in the world. But I do have control over how I perceive it. And so I choose to lighten up about it, listening to my guidance, and doing what I’ve given to do. I believe I’m here to use my expertise in the best way possible.

I may not be able to change events in the world but that’s not my job. Yet, I can smile and be joyful in what I can do. Therefore, find people who are joyful and laugh together!

5. Appreciate the tiny things in your day.

Stop and allow the little itty-bitty things that you let pass by to stimulate your spirit. You wake up and the sun is shining. Feel the joyful moment of being in the midst of nature.

 I was taking a walk the other day. I happened to notice these beautiful leaves that fell on the ground. And their colors were so gorgeous. It was Mother Nature at her best! And a flash of joy for me!

So it’s little things that can lift you up during the day. We might not have a Coronavirus injection yet but you can give yourself joy injections throughout your day by focusing on the small pleasures that are waiting all around for you to notice.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you’re never going to get down. I have my moments. I was very, very sad because I couldn’t be with my family for Thanksgiving, except for a few minutes on Zoom. No beautiful Thanksgiving dinner with everybody laughing, eating huge amounts of food, taking our annual family photo. So I went into my quiet place and connected with my Master Switch. Then gratitude welled up in me and I knew I would enjoy this new way of celebrating the holiday.

So play with your dog, stroke your cat, enjoy the odors of food cooking. Joy is in the little things.

6. Spend quiet time every day.

Preferably every morning before you start your day, just sit in that quiet place. Listen with your spiritual ear for guidance and ask, “What am I supposed to do today? Tell me how am I supposed to take what I have to offer in the world and put it out there for myself and for other people. Please!”

Be open and receptive and you will learn the way to joy.

It’s not just about doing things for other people, but also bringing joy to yourself in recognizing your abilities and accomplishments. Because when you help others, when you’re with people that you enjoy being with, when you’re laughing and appreciating the small things, your Spirit is radiating gorgeous energy to everyone around you. And that can only be good for your business, good for your relationships, good for your life totally.

Peace and Love Always,
MarciaGrace

P.S. This is the last in our ‘Stimulating Your Spirit’ series, which will soon be an E-book that I will have available on Amazon. I’ll let you know about that. If you enjoyed this discussion, pass it on!