Joy-Full You!

Guest post by Joan Kappes

Imagine you released all limiting beliefs, regrets or thoughts which caused you to decide that ‘this is just the way it is’. Imagine you released all sense of lack, fear, worry, doubt, shame, smallness and distrust of yourself. Imagine you let go of the need to control or the need to hold-on to whatever you believe you must have to be safe or happy. Imagine you let go of the ‘shoulds’, stress and the need to handle it all by yourself. Imagine you let go of sadness, fear, disappointment, frustration and insecurity.

What would be left?

The real You.

What is the real essence of You?

“You are joy, looking for a way to express. It’s not just that your purpose is joy, it is that you are joy. You are love and joy and freedom and clarity expressing. Energy – frolicking and eager – that’s who you are. You are pure positive energy that translates into the human emotion of joy.”– Abraham

Stop. Notice.   What thoughts are running through your mind right now? What feelings are you feeling right now? What do those thoughts tell you about the belief you have regarding how it ‘is’ about who you are? What are your feelings telling you – “I feel fabulous as I am resonating with the above that proclaims, ‘you are joy, looking for a way to express’” or, ‘I feel sad because I want to believe it, but do not’”, or any other feeling you may be experiencing.

No matter what we thought or felt in the above exercise, the Good News is….because we are made of joy, joy is always with us! Think of it like having your very own path of joy and you walk on it every day. It is your path and you always walk upon it.

So what happened?

• Over time, this golden joy path became covered with layers of limiting beliefs and all sorts of resulting negative experiences. Perhaps in many areas of our lives, there are now so many layers of this heaviness that we’ve lost sight of the golden joy path and we’ve forgotten its wonderful feeling that we once knew so well.
• Our life’s journey is about unraveling what has gotten in the way and then getting down to the fun of living our life in joy.
• We always have the free will choice to walk upon the heavy, dusty layers or to explore and uncover the shining path once again!
• Each of us is given a daily invitation from Life to become aware of our path, to choose it and let go of what holds us back and then to experience the joy of playing on our joy-filled path, living as our true wonder-full selves!

So, the question is, how to uncover, then release those layers that keep you from experiencing the joyful You?

• Become aware! This is one of the most important steps living as the real, joy-full You. Create a new habit of noticing what you think and feel! Do not judge, just notice. It is very helpful to keep a journal, recording your observations. Why? Because you will discover that most of what you think is a habit of thought. And habits can be changed!
• Choose a better feeling thought. You are not your thoughts and you have a choice. You are magnificent and you get to choose all of your thoughts. Choose thoughts that are in alignment with joy (you’ll know this because these thoughts feel better). Does it take effort? Yes, AND know that with every deliberate thought that causes you to feel better, you are uncovering your joy path!
• Let go of thoughts and behaviors that no longer serve you. If you are feeling unsure, ask yourself: “What would a joy-full Me think or do?” Trust your answer, then go with it.
• ALLOW yourself to laugh more, to giggle and play. Lighten up and don’t take yourself or everything so seriously. This takes practice and soon you’ll discover that this kind of practice is fun!
• Practice living from your heart instead of your head. How to do this? Be present in the moment. Focus on ‘now’. Example: Pay attention to the food you are eating. Experience each bite and notice the feeling it gives you.

This is your journey, your adventure to the real You! Relax. You have time. You do not need to ‘find’ your joy-filled self because you were never lost. A little uncovering and…there you are!!!

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Joan Kappes is a lover of life and adventure, living each day with joy and intention.  Joan is a certified Life Coach, specializing in helping people unravel the limiting beliefs that keep them stuck in their coulda-shoulda Merry-go-round so they can at last be free to choose and experience their intended life of joy! Joan is also a published author, speaker, retreat designer, creator of the interactive coaching site, “Come to the Edge Today!” and talk show host of ‘Come to the Edge Today!’ radio where Joan and her guests explore the adventures of growing and living in joy! http://cometotheedgetoday.com