"I give myself permission to be my truest expression of joy."
This is something that came up in our weekly Rockstar Coaching Collective call this week and it has stuck with me. (If you haven't heard me talk about Rockstar before, it's an amazing group of women led by health coach and well known author, Robyn Youkilis). When I first heard Robyn say the words, they struck me as a bit amusing. Why do I need permission to be joyful? Then I started thinking about it a bit and I realized very quickly, these last few weeks -with back to school hectic schedules and event after event, I actually haven't given myself permission to be joyous. Instead, I've been grinding through everything with my head down and my shoulders scrunched, holding on to a lot of tension and stress. I have felt like I haven't had a moment to breathe, and in this state, I certainly haven't allowed time for joy.
This made me realize that we do, in fact, need to give ourselves permission. If only a gentle reminder to ourselves that the events and to do's will always be part of life, so just come up for breath. Come up to allow yourself a moment to relax, let your shoulders unclench, and remind yourself what makes you truly joyful. Then, with that reminder, make time to allow for that joy to come to you in life. Give yourself permission to feel the joy. Because without it, we are missing the true beauty of what life is all about. It's the journey, remember? Not the final destination. And since we have the choice as humans to decide what we believe and what we do, and how we do it, why not live that journey as joyously as we can?
So I started by making a list of all the things that bring me joy like:
- spending quality time with old friends
- watching my kids laugh and play
- watching my husband play with our kids and do silly things to make them laugh
- spending time outside
- spending time on myself, exercising and meditating
- cooking with good music on in the background
As I re-read my list, I could physically feel my shoulders sink down and my jaw unclench. I could feel the joy in the moment, even though the event or thing wasn't even happening - but just thinking about it actually brought a smile to my face. And now I have vowed to myself to make time for each of these things. I'm giving myself permission to be in the truest expression of my joy because why not? Choosing joy over stress is a much happier, much better, way to live - don't you agree?
So as you read this, I hope you too will take a moment to think of the things that bring you joy, and feel yourself be joyous. Give yourself the permission - you certainly deserve it.