Joy is just a Decision Away!
Yes, you are just a decision away from experiencing joy in your life right now! Imagine, if a genie showed up at your doorstep and he was there to grant you one joy-filled wish. What would you wish for? Would it be to work more hours, to have no money in your bank account, to have no love ones around you or to be busier than you are today? I have a feeling that you would not be wishing for any of these things. Instead, I believe most of us would be wishing for an amazing, loving, caring relationship with a love one, a career that gave them great joy and satisfaction that also created an abundant income or more time to enjoy what wonderful things you have. Maybe a few of you would wish to have better health or wish for someone else to have better health. Do you have that joy-filled wish in your mind right now? OK next, do you have it in your life today? Why not? Maybe you have not yet decided to have it. When was the last time you woke up in the morning and thought of that wonderful, joyous wish that you wanted the Genie to grant you. When have you put it on the top of the list of things to do? Yes, all of this Joy is just a decision away.
Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, said,” If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” If you do not decide to have joy in your life, you might not like where you end up.
I believe what we think about is what we bring about. Everything you see around you was once a thought and then it was created. If you want to know what you think about, look around you and see what you have created. If you have loving relationships, you enjoy your career, you have a nice home, and etc, what do you think about? I would say you think of joyful things. Your mind is not cluttered with what you do not want. Some where along the way you decided to have joy in your life. Let’s do the flip side of all this. You are on your fourth spouse, your children never come home to visit and you live in a home that is full of chaos. Do you get the picture? Some where along the way you chose to think about what you did not want. You are not a bad person for your thoughts. You just did not know the power of your thoughts. Thoughts have negative and positive energy and are very powerful.
I recently met a sixty something lady at a Starbucks while I was having a coaching meeting with a friend. She over heard our conversation about joy being a decision away. She said excuse me. I have to agree with you. She proceeded to share her story. She said that she was in an abusive marriage with a man with many addictions. and of course quite miserable. She had study art before her marriage but it went on the back burner when she married. After a long, unhappy marriage, she knew he would not change and she chose to be happy and left the marriage. She is now painting pictures of her journey to her peace of mind. Being an artist gives her such joy. It took this woman many years to decide to have joy back in her life, but she did it by making a choice to have it. So you see it was just a decision away! She thought of what had given her joy in the past and decided to change her thoughts and created her joy. Remember what you think about is what you bring about!
You might wonder, how can I change this destructive pattern of thoughts? Being aware of your thoughts is the first step. The second step is to be courageous enough to change your thoughts. We change our thoughts by thinking about what we want. “What do you want?” Sometimes we have to play games with ourselves to help us think positive, joyous thoughts. One of the games I like to play is the “Wouldn’t it be nice if this desire would come true.” Game. I learned this game from the book, “Ask and it is Given” Book by Jerry and Esther Hicks. The game goes like this. If you wish to have better health, you say to yourself “Wouldn’t it be nice if I felt great today.” Instead of “I do not want to feel bad”. Feel the difference in those statements. If you wish to have a good day at work, you state, “Wouldn’t be nice if I had an amazing, fun day a work today” Doesn’t it sound like an empowering way to change your thoughts? Instead of, I hope the boss doesn’t give me alot of work to do today because I am already behind and I will never catch up. Are you thinking about what you don’t want? By thinking that, you are deciding to have that negative experience at work! And I am sure you will get what you are thinking about. Personally, I feel like I am in the flow when I play the Wouldn’t it be nice if …. game and anything is possible. I am empowered by deciding to have a great day, better health, and more joy in my life because I am putting those amazing thoughts in my mind. When I play this game, I have had some amazing things appear in my life because I know what I want and I have decided to have it. Try it - what do you have to lose? What do you have to gain? Remember what you think about is what you bring about.
Today, do you know where you are going? Have you chosen the road filled with joy? Or are you wondering aimlessly to where you do not want to be? I challenge you today to decide to be joyous. Be aware of your thoughts. Choose to change them if you want a different life. Who knows maybe you will not need a Genie to give you that wish. It might seem like magic, however joy is really only a decision away.