Do One Joyful Thing Today and Feel Your Spirit Lift

When was the last time you did something for yourself, simply for the joy of it?

This morning, as I looked at the tightly scheduled line-up on my calendar, I was about to dive in, when I asked myself what I really yearned to do.

What my heart wanted was to return to the mild, bright morning I’d glimpsed when I opened the front door to get the newspaper. (Yes, I still love reading a printed newspaper!) My heart wanted me to go for a short walk.

The old me would have over-ridden that urge.

Having sipped my coffee and eaten my usual breakfast, I'd have felt compelled to get right to my desk and get the first item on my to-do list crossed off.

Today, I made a different choice.

The joy of moving, as I breathed in clean air, wearing only a light-weight coat, lifted my spirits in a way that made everything else in my day flow with ease!

Treat yourself today

Maybe you are juggling a lot today. Maybe you feel pressured. 

No matter what is going on, ask yourself what one small thing would add joy to your day, lift your spirits, make you feel good.

You, too, might choose a short spin around the block — without looking at your phone, getting a call in, or otherwise connecting to anything other than your breath and the sensations of being in motion.

You might decide to sit down at the piano, or pick up a journal and write whatever comes to mind, or reach for colored markers and doodle.

You might listen to a favorite piece of music and dance to it, or sing along and feel your heart swell.

Those few minutes to disconnect from what needs to be done, and attend to your heart, will pay dividends.

Nourish your soul, create more powerfully

When you open space for small (or bigger!) opportunities to delight yourself you are likely to find, as I do, that no matter what comes next it will be lighter, easier, more pleasant to move through. 

Especially when there’s a pressing deadline, or a challenging conversation, or there’s a task on your mind, the energy you liberate after doing something that has opened your heart will help you engage your creative power in great ways.

The more you set the stage for ease in these ways, the more easily you will open channels of expansive thinking, curiosity, willingness to try new things without fear, and resilience to continue creating even when obstacles appear.

Why not test it for yourself a few times this week and see what happens?

2.9.21, 5am...

It was 5:00am one morning last week, and this is what poured out onto the page when I could not sleep:

Right now it’s too much. Too much to do, too much to keep up with. More than I can do. More than I want to do.

I need space. Space for rest. Space for me. Space to be. Space to paint. Time for more movement. Yoga again! Reading!

Grace. Ease.

Help. Lots of it.

Simplify. Time with Steven. Go outside. Feel the snow. Breathe the air — everyday!!!

What can I postpone? Look and do that.

Block lots of time on my calendar for me. End the day earlier.

I cannot continue this way. And I will not.

Can you relate?

When clients work with me, they often think I have everything figured out.

Sure, they know that I’ve had challenges in the past, but they are certain that I have overcome them and live a perfectly balanced life — which is what so many of them are seeking.

The truth?

I do live a significantly different (and happier) life than I had a decade ago. But even as we learn and make big changes in our lives, the challenges we have faced before crop up again.

We are tested over and over.

Why did I find myself coming to all of this pre-dawn awareness after having made so many important changes in my life in the last decade?

Because the drivers that had made my “old” life so intense for so long tend to creep up on me if I fail to stay alert to them.

It is easy for me to drift back into an over-busy life, where I am not taking the consistent actions that I started to adopt a decade ago.

Slowing down and being still, really listening to my heart, and taking time to see wonder all around me every day can get crowded out with long lists of to-do’s.

Fully embracing gratitude, focusing on self-love, and allowing myself to feel free can fall by the wayside.

That's when my biggest challenges — letting fear influence me, and not focusing on being patient, so I can allow all the things I am working toward to unfold as they are meant to — really try and step in to sabotage me.

Getting back on course

Personal transformation is a process! It’s never one-and-done. We do the work to grow and develop new and better ways to live and work, and inevitably find that old challenges crop up again.

But when they show up, we are different than when we began the journey.

We can spot the problems earlier, before they wreak havoc as they used to. And we have tools and insights to return to, so we can begin to consistently bring those practices back into our lives and more quickly get on track.

I took my pre-dawn rant into a conversation with my coach, and with her brilliant guidance I made connections at a deeper level than ever before about what the underlying factors were that I could address — and powerful ways to bring big change into my life now.

We can always learn more and do more

We never “get there” — to a place of perfection and total ease.

We continually grow and expand, and even though we hit rough patches again and again, that growth is amazing!

I find it incredibly inspiring to gain new perspectives and deeper clarity as I move along my journey. As my life unfolds and I experience periodic set-backs, I can spot them and address them, and they become instructive.

Rather than festering and causing damage, I see them and learn from them. That’s how they bring me the gifts of new levels of change and expansion in my life.

And for that I am filled with gratitude.

Are you ready to start — or continue — your journey?

You may feel overwhelmed for any number of reasons.

You may be focused on everyone else’s well-being, and not your own.

You may have dreams you’ve put on hold or dreams you want to realize faster with guidance.

You may simply feel stuck or in a deep rut.

Whether you have addressed these challenges in the past and want to make your next move forward, or you want to begin a journey to transform your life, I applaud you for knowing you want to find a guide to help you.

I am happiest when I am in conversation with accomplished women who want to explore the real stuff that’s in their way now, and connect to a vision for the lives they want to create.

I invite you to have a conversation like that. I promise to provide you with new insights and perspectives. Perhaps I can help you create the life you want and deserve — and, if either of us feels the fit is not good, that’s absolutely fine.

It’s easy to book a Live Big Breakthrough Call with me, or email me and we’ll make a date to talk.

Stay safe and well, and keep creating.