The Journey for Joy

Right now, I have an obsession with joy. Not just happiness, but true joy, the feeling of losing track of time from being completely contented and in flow with something.

When I started my journey to coaching and returned from my training, I found myself unable to sleep in the best way. My brain kept thinking of all of the ways I could use coaching. When I did finally find sleep, my brain was still running and I would be awoken in the middle of the night with a new idea that my brain had to get out right then. Cue hours in the dark quiet of my house feeling more awake, creative and energized than I had in as long as I could remember.

Where do you feel joy? Not just happy, but true joy. I've recently been reading The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention, and the author Pamela Mitchell, lays out a few questions to ask yourself when you are thinking about careers. Caveat: let's switch these questions from career discernment questions to a search for where you find joy.

1. When are you in flow? She talks about flow as "an optimal state of mind that happens when you are totally absorbed in an activity, when time seems suspend and you feel a deep sense of satisfaction?"

2. What feels easy? Where are the places in your life where something feels as easy and natural as breathing? Mitchell asks, "What do people call you for all the time for?" What are your friends or those around you often turning to you for?

3. What are your inexhaustible interests? What do you consistently gravitate toward? What are the things you could never, ever get enough of? When you go to the library, what books are you consistently searching for? What hobbies could you do forever?

Now, this is not to say that you always should make these things your joy; that's not the point of this post. In fact, I had a fantastic conversation recently with a recently retired accomplished woman who was very good at many things that she had done during her career. But those weren't the things her heart needed now; it needed joy.

How could some of these questions help you identify those places where joy might exist in your life? And once you've found it, how can you have more? Our hearts, our brains, and our souls deserve that energizing and restful place of joy.

And speaking of joy, I'm developing a Joy Journeys workshop to be rolled out in the new year! Would you like to rediscover your joy and find more ways to live into it? This short workshop is for you! If you want more information as this workshop is rolled out, sign up to receive updates on our blog page (way at the bottom of this page... something else I'm fixing!) and you'll get all of the updates! You can also click the Get in Touch link and send me an email. Looking forward to finding more JOY with YOU!