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Every month, I choose a theme to set the tone for how I want my month to go. I starting this practice four years ago and it amazes me what transpires around each themes. What I intend to feel and focus on always presents a lesson to learn. I find that at the end of the month, I have created momentum to welcome the attribute into my life.
Basically, the universe delivers circumstances where I can exercise whichever muscle I say I want to strengthen. For instance, the month I chose patience was trying, but I did become more patient because the opportunities and intention were there and I met them with the willingness to grow. The month I chose stillness was the slowest month socially, but with plenty of time to learn to be still.
The universe meets us where we are at and provides the tools and lessons needed to activate our desired outcomes.
This month, I am choosing joy. I wanted to choose a theme where I knew I could gain more strength and be celebratory because August is my birthday month and I love birthdays! My intention is to welcome more joy into my life and choose joy when I feel negativity creep in. I want to calibrate my brain towards joy and rewire the pathways that default to lower vibrations like anger, sadness, judgement, jealousy and anxiety.
Choosing joy does not mean that happiness is a constant state. It means, when joy is the hardest to feel, I want to work on choosing it and strengthen my emotional resilience.
Going through hard things makes joy even greater.
When I visualized what this would look like, it thought about those moments when I feel my face scrunch up because a smile just isn’t enough to express how happy I feel. I call these heart smiles and have been known to use the expression “you/it made my heart smile” because I feel the joy so deeply. People, experiences, nature and certain memories are things that bring so much joy, my heart bursts with happiness. The great thing is that feeling is available to me at all times.
For instance, I waited a long time to get married, I have the heart scars to show it. There were so many sad endings and at points, I didn’t know if it would happen for me. Then, I got very specific and intentional to attract the relationship I desired. When I met my husband, I knew it was him. It was the most sure I had ever been in my life. I told my close friend that I met the man I was going to marry after our first date. Sure, it sounds strange, but I knew it.
Fast forward to our wedding day, I could not get down the aisle fast enough to marry him. He was standing at the end of the aisle beaming, my eyes were fixed on him. My heart was smiling and instead of crying tears of joy, I had perma-grin, my heart found joy. Even as I type this, I can feel that emotion of seeing him as I walked down the aisle well up inside my heart. It is a beautiful feeling: joyful, exciting and deep.
Joy lives deep within us and is ready to be recalled at a moments notice.
So what can one do when they feel negativity creeping in? Try this practice to help retrain the brain to find joy:
- Identify one of the most joyful moments in your life; one where you felt like your heart would burst with happiness.
- Now, REALLY feel it. Feel it in your heart, your mind, your skin, your gut…
- Sit with that feeling.
- Breathe in the positive vibes that memory provides.
- Notice the energy shift that occured because you just took a moment to choose joy.
Remember: this feeling is available to you at any time. You can access it whenever you feel a lower emotional state. Just take a moment to practice this exercise at those times and the feelings of joy can arrive. The more we stop negative emotions from taking over and choose joy, they less frequently our brain will want to default to negativity. This practice raises your vibration and since like energy attracts like energy, higher vibrations will arrive.
What will you choose to focus on this month?
