Choose JOY!

Do you sometimes find yourself choosing obsessive worry or blame? Do you find yourself choosing the pain of suffering because it just seems to be the place your body wants to take you? Never in my life have I been more convinced that we have a CHOICE! I’m not saying that pain does not come our way, quite the contrary. But when I choose JOY anyway, it’s amazing how little pain gets through, but I have had to work at that!

“If you practice obsessive worry or blame, these pathways in your body and mind become deeply grooved and familiar. They imprison you in a small tight , and endangered sense of self.” ~ Tara Brach in Trusting the GOLD: UNCOVERING YOUR NATURAL GOODNESS, pg. 49

“If you practice thoughts of gratitude, curiosity, and care, the ego-self becomes porous and your goodness easily shines through.” ~ Tara Brach

You can tell I am enjoying this beautiful small book my older sister, Lynne gave me! It was written by a very astute author that has had many life experiences that could have turned her in the opposite direction! The title of the book leads us to really HEAR her message of, “Why not choose to cultivate the goodness and let the gold shine through!”

She has beautiful paintings for her illustrations, and on this page is a huge golden ball of sun during a sunrise. There have been many scientists and spiritual gurus as well that have talked about the amazing POWER our rising or setting sun or moon views actually have on our body. I know I tend to love the sunrises over my small lake or the sunsets on Lake Michigan not far away. But, in reality, in most locations we can walk a short distance and FIND where a sunrise or sunset is available for us to experience.  BUT, we have to TAKE it in, recognize its power and choose the JOY that arises within us! JOY lives IN us! It is a gift we were given through creation. It is VERY available to us at any moment.

HABITS are extremely hard to change. As I was in very deep pain when my body seemed to have failed me in 2006, I had a lot of moments where all I could do was have self pity running through my head. BUT, when I shifted my thinking…I began to realize I could CHANGE that habit. Perhaps this is something you might like to try out for yourself! You might be shocked when you realize it is YOU…that Divine part of you that can FIND JOY deep within and put it to work! It starts with the WORDS you say to yourself and the expression you are choosing to be on your face!

Do you know that the simple act of smiling or even letting out a small laugh can literally shift your thoughts from your brain to your heart? Your heart responds by telling that ego-brain to send healing and peaceful chemicals into your body! This is a biological fact that research is proving and WE can take advantage of that KNOWING!

Here’s a photo that will bring a smile to your face! Obviously it is WONDERFUL photography from a very creative person. Click on the photo of the man that is stealing the moon! Very clever, but I think this photo shares a really important message for us…steal the MOMENT! It is YOURS to take!

I know that when I see a full moon outside, I’m wanting to step out there and really take it in…OR should I say, “from WITHIN Joy takes over my body!” I LOVE dancing around out there in my bare feet at night in the summer and take in the moon and the stars. JOY just naturally takes over…even if I had been in a down & out  mood over LIFE’s many challenges. You know that saying, “TRY it, YOU’ll LIKE it!”  TRY it! You’ll LOVE it!I will end this post with a really beautiful poem written MANY moons and suns ago in the 13th  Century! I saw many buildings, in fact ate in one that would have been in the midst of this man’s lifetime, Najm Razi. This poem was shared with Marj from a very good friend of hers, Marianne Houston from Courage to Lead. I want to simply comment that I LOVE the phrase, in the Sky of the Heart…think about that, visualize it, and yes realize that YOU have a subtle body that is LIGHT! If your heart is nothing but light…think about the exterior covering of YOU…your body! SO PROFOUND ….so LONG AGO!

 

If the Light rises in the Sky of the Heart…

 and, in the utterly pure inner man

attains brightness of the sun

or of many suns…

then his heart is nothing but light,

his subtle body is light,

his material covering is light,

his hearing, his sight, his hand,

his exterior, his interior

are nothing but light.

— Najm Razi      (1177 – 1256) —   a 13th century Persian Sufi mystic.