Do You Feel the Joy?

When you think of the word "joy", what comes to mind?  Your children or grandchildren?  You wedding day?  Maybe graduating from college or getting that long-awaited promotion at work?  Although these are each wonderful things that may bring us happiness, I would argue that they do not truly bring us joy.

You see, all of the things I mentioned above are external.  Joy comes from the inside and radiates out.  When you look outwardly for your joy, what happens when something goes wrong?  What happens if you don't get the job or your child disappoints you or your marriage ends in divorce?

Joy is a sense of peace and contentment.  It is the knowledge that no matter what happens, everything will be okay.  Joy is the satisfaction of knowing that God (or whatever higher power you believe in) loves you and wants what is best for you. Joy is a love of life and a thankfulness for waking up to see another day.

So, look inward for your joy.  As you look inside, feel those feelings of happiness that you experience when you think of your children, your wedding day, or the day you landed that job.  Then multiply that happiness by 100.  That's joy!  Make a habit of feeling the joy each and every day!

Do You Trust in the Process of Life?

If I know nothing else, I know that as we go through life, we will all face challenges, obstacles, and setbacks.  The type of challenges, obstacles, and setbacks we'll face are not as important as how we respond to them. 

When you are faced with adversity, do you worry, whine, and wallow in self-pity?  Do you talk about your problems with anyone who will listen?  If you do any of these things, then you are not trusting the process of life.  By worrying, whining, wallowing, and rehashing, you are investing energy in your problems.  You are sending out vibrations to the universe that boomerang back to you, bringing you more problems.

When you trust the process of life, you understand that at any given moment, you are exactly where you are supposed to be.  No matter what problems you encounter, you pray and ask God to deliver you and your faith carries you through.

When you trust the process of life, you don't worry, whine, wallow or rehash.  You invest your energy in the knowledge and belief that the universe is aligning itself to bring you the resolution you desire.  You focus your energy on being grateful for all that you have and all that is right in your life.  You consciously and purposely send out positive energy into the universe because you understand the boomerang will return to you loaded with more positivity in the form of happiness, prosperity, and joy - all things that you can  never have enough of.

By trusting the process of life, you set aside fear and actively position yourself to receive favor and grace from the universe. 

Getting Through the Hard Times

Whether it's the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the break-up of a relationship, we all face challenges and struggles as we go through life. Sometimes those challenges are short lived and other times, we just can't seem to move beyond whatever it is we are dealing with.

When the difficult times drag on for months and months and months, many of us become depressed. We may turn to alcohol or drugs, contemplate suicide, overeat or engage in other self-destructive behavior. We wonder why we are facing such difficult challenges. Our faith in whatever higher power we believe in may falter.

However we respond to the challenges in life, I think one thing we all have in common is that we tend to look back to the time when life was good and wish we could return to that time. My question for you is this: By yearning to return to the past, do we somehow lose sight of the future? By focusing on the past, do we miss an opportunity to grow and ready ourselves for the next chapter of our lives?

Over the past few months, many times I have found myself saying, "I want my old life back!" That statement presupposes that what lay ahead for me will not be as good as my past life. I believe in the law of attraction and I realize that by focusing on my old life and assuming that my future will not be as good, I am creating a future that is not as good!

So, when we are facing hard times and wallowing in the past and are consumed with feeling sorry for ourselves, how do we change our focus? I've decided that each time I'm feeling sad and longing for my old life, I have to make an active and conscious decision to envision my future as I would have it be. I must see and feel myself living a happy, prosperous, abundant, secure, fulfilled and content life. It's hard work, but practice makes perfect, right?