Choosing Joy To Heal

I’ve realized two things in the last year – I have to work in a consistent way on healing my emotional wounds and yet, there won’t come a perfect moment when I can announce that I am healed! The good news that I don’t have to endure suffering while waiting for the “perfect” moment to start embracing happiness. In fact, I’m choosing joy to heal!

Choosing Joy To Heal

My personal journey taught me the transformative power of joy.

While I did make an effort to move away from people and situations that were causing me pain, this came with a price. Guilt that I had walked away from family and old friends. Pain at the loss of these relationships that I had given so much of myself too. And just exhaustion from the stress of dealing with these situations.

My health both physical and emotional took a beating. I found myself being very reactive. Making poor choices. Grieving. Being clingy. Feeling numb. Not being able to take responsibility. Blaming others.

This couldn’t continue. I realized that while it was impossible to change the past or overcoming every challenging circumstance, I did have the power to work on bringing a great sense of balance into my inner world.

I started spending more time on being creative. Writing more. Getting a morning routine going. Experimenting with cooking. But through it all, I began to enjoy my own company more. I began to try to live in the present, focusing my attention on the task at hand and approaching it with a sense of joy.

Rediscovering joy and embracing moments of laughter and fun is a powerful antidote to the disruptive effects of stress. I began to take myself less seriously. I made a joy list that you can read here.

I now recognize this truth : Within you, joy is an inherent aspect of your authentic self, waiting to be uncovered and rekindled. By intentionally seeking and reconnecting with this inner joy, you can center yourself and establish a healthier emotional balance.

Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.

Rumi

Life became easier when I made room for joy! Joy is like sunshine – it chases away the clouds and gives me the energy to work on my healing!

This is Day 41 of My 66-day Journey of Healing Through Writing and Sharing.