Welcome to the first edition of ‘Inner Sense’. It’s been a long time getting here, and not the first article I’ve ‘penned’ for it. What I really wanted to write about, though, was joy. And then this morning, on my walk with Buster (our 4-year-old Staffy x kelpie about whom you will no doubt hear much in my writing), a car I’d never seen before in the valley drove by; a silver Mercedes with the number plate JOY 888. ‘Now there’s a woman who knows her Feng Shui and how to attract abundance into her life!’ I thought. The number 8, my favourite number, represents power, abundance, and infinity. Imagine what a triple dose of that could make possible!
So what is this thing called Joy? I see it in Buster when he runs and plays with gay abandon. I hear it in the laughter of children. I feel it in myself when I am at peace and present to the beauty and simplicity of life. The very sight and sound of birds no bigger than the palm of my hand or as large as magpies splashing around in the bird bath outside the kitchen window, the majesty of a cleverly crafted spider web made visible by dew drops glistening in the morning sunlight, the way my garden constantly delivers to me flowers, most of which I didn’t plant, operating like a relay team, with the first bud of a new flower opening just as the last flower has fallen from another tree or bush. These are the things which are always there if we but open our eyes to see them.
Joy is our natural state and it sits beneath all that is opposite to it, waiting to be uncovered or unleashed. For some of us tapping into that can be like mining for gold, which no doubt it is. In fact I am sure that for all of us at some time feeling joy is a somewhat foreign concept. Often that’s because of the pain we are in as a result of the thoughts, feelings or perceptions we have held. Some time ago I had the experience of just being with the sadness and despair I was feeling. I sat with it and allowed myself to be absolutely present to it without judgement or any attempt to control or change it. As I did, it was as if it dissolved and instantaneously transformed into the most exquisite experience of lightness and joy I have ever felt. It was like being hit in the heart with a thunderbolt of love and acceptance; for myself, life, and all that that entails. In that moment I knew that the things I teach are real and that at any time that I needed to connect with joy, the place I would find it was within.
As I was writing this I sent an SMS to my precious friend Christine letting her know I was writing about joy. When I keyed in the word ‘joy’ the default dictionary on my mobile came up with the word ‘low’. How amazing is that – at one the opposite of joy and also the way to joy when what is present demands to be acknowledged, felt and let go of. So I wish you peace, love, and joy now and always. Be IN JOY; ENJOY yourself, your children, your world. Dig deep and if you know how to BE JOYOUS, share that with others, particularly those who might need a reminder this ‘silly season’.
Inner Sense No. 1 | December 2006
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Thanks for sharing!