CLOSING THOUGHTS

Here we are, wrapping up another amazing season of BodyMind Living Magazine. “Navigating Joy” seems like a fitting theme to end on, right?

But, like many of our Ambassadors shared this month, I have never really called myself “joyful” or a “joyful person.” And yet, I know I experience joy on a profound level. As I read through this month’s magazine, had lots of in-depth discussion with our Ambassadors, and used writing to reflect further and embody all that showed up,

I feel like joy is a constant underpinning in life,

rather than a thing that comes and goes or something that must be found.

This notion of joy always “being there” is kind of eerie. Like, what, I’m just supposed to be joyful all the time? That doesn’t fit. Expecting this high-vibe, always perky kind of joy to always be what you experience is what I call “putting glitter on shit” (you may have heard of this fun term before). This kind of joy does not feel real or like a reality that serves me. I have done plenty of spiritual and emotional bypassing in my life, so do I really have to do that in order to experience joy? I think this month’s issue reminds us that NO is the emphatically clear answer to that question.

So, how can we experience joy while we are also experiencing other things?

One of the most powerful tools I learned in the BodyMind Coaching Certification Program was the concept of “both/and.” You may have heard of this concept before, and I’ve seen it published in various articles and books, like Navigating Polarities: Using Both/And Thinking to Lead Transformation by Brian Emerson and Kelly Lewis. Here are the basics of the concept:

* Two (or more) options are presented to you in a moment, in a certain part of life, in relationship with others.

* The tendency is to see those options as either/or… either I choose one option or the other option. This limits what is possible in many ways.

* A powerful shift is when you can see, find, explore how you might choose both one option and the other.

One of the most helpful ways I use this with clients is to practice this in relation to others. Have you ever had a kickass day only to pick up your kid from school or walk in the door to your family and the energy just drops? They had a notso-great day, and your energy and their energy collides in a potentially uncomfortable way. How do I get to experience joy even while others are not feeling it? This is where the both/and concept comes into play… what if they get to feel what they feel and I get to feel what I feel? What if both of us feeling what is showing up without trying to change the other allows us to connect rather than feel distanced. Powerful, right?

So, we asked and embodied throughout this issue the question of “How does joy come in?”

Is it something you find? Seek? Mindset bully yourself (or glitter yourself) into?

Nope.

It’s an embodied experience.

And, the more we don’t feel, the more we make a circumstance or choice a hard line of either/or, the less joy can come in. It’s not something you psych yourself up for or into. It’s something that just is if you give yourself permission to experience it and all the other parts of life.

So, how will you find the permission to be in and experience joy today?

Be sure to share with us over on Instagram @BodyMindLiving!

Write on, Shana

Can we cultivate, activate and give ourselves permission to experience joy and our feelings without bypassing or ignoring all that happens in the world around us? (CLICK THE IMAGE

ABOVE TO PLAY THE VIDEO.)

navigatingJOY!

BODYMIND