Feel joyful for no reason

Whatever has guided you to this website, from the moment you make up the mind to change, you are already shifting into a new level of consciousness.  Now is the moment to get clearer about what you are doing, why you are doing it, as well as the underlying reasons for your life choices, how you are living, breathing, feeling and being. 

As the will to shift grows, it helps to hear about inspirational mentors who have made lasting personal change. This of course, is only heresay until we experience unique inner shifts ourselves. It pays to train ourselves to be more observant, to break conditioned emotional patterns, to see our environments and time anew to allow authenticity to blossom.

Rest assured, you may have already begun this process.  Nonethless, it can be valuable to receive a bit more insight, related to meditation, breathing and how your body and behaviour offer you signs and signals.  Who you present to the world is not necessarily who you ar at the core.  

Feeling joy for no reason happens as we dismantle our old identity and break the habit of pretending to be someone we are not.

12 keys to living more authentically

Many people are seeking authenticity and wonder why obstacles arise in this Path.  Watch what happens as it dawns that every apparent obstacle is actually a stepping stone to experiencing life from a point of wholeness.  Everything we do is like taking another step or leap into the loving arms of authentic being. Reflect on these 12 keys to living more authentically:

1. Tune into your internal messaging system

2. Sit with emotions (and hear their messages)

3. Take ownership for your feelings, thoughts and behaviours (rather than blaming others)

4. Keep your promises (live in integrity)

5. Do contemplative work (shadow work & inner child work)

6. Explore mindfulness techniques (i.e.varied approaches to meditation)

7. Explore dream symbols & images

8. Uncover interplay among identities

9. Know self is the only person you can help

(we can change our beliefs and behaviours, how we are perceiving, discover how authenticity feels and live from this vibrational point. We cannot force another person to do any of this.)

10. Develop wisdom (the result of life experience, intuition, discernment & deep inner listening)

11. Be open to forgive (allow yourself to experience the grief process: includes difficult feelings of anger, sorrow, anguish and dissapointment)

12. Know experiencing all emotions fully without judgement opens the heart to self-love  

Shift toward greater integrity

Sometimes we get the feeling we are getting ahead of ourselves or, are not quite caught up with where we think we are meant to be.  Reflect on examples where you feel in between places or conditions.  These are signs of ongoing shifts toward greater authenticity.  Notice where the universe is echoing this message back:

• Ever ask someone to assist with a project and that person responds after the job is already done?
• Ever get asked to provide a service in a geographic area after you have moved to another location?
• Ever feel like you are evolving at a different pace than your partner or entourage?
• Ever witness individuals you know not behaving in their integrity and feel awkward or restless about it?
• Ever see an honesty box by a roadside fruit stand and read a sign that some people take without paying, but feel compelled to pay?
• Ever intuitively pay the toll for the car behind or feel drawn to show compassion in new ways

Now is the reflect on deeper sources of discomfort.  What messages is the Soul really offering? 

5 Tips to feel more joy

The conditioned mind is shifting how it perceives and processes energy. We initially sense intermittent serendipity.  Then, it is as if random acts or events are occurring.  Next, right on cue, deja-vus and coincidences arise.  We come to sense increasing synchronicity until it feels every encounter and experience in our lives is interconnected. The more clarity we get about our passion, the more we unleash untapped inner power, the more we naturally share our unique gifts. We are magically inspired what to do with it.  As this evokes joy, we tune into and live in a higher vibration. Consider 7 tips to raise our pleasure threshold ;

1. Engage in breathwork

Whether we explore Rebirthing, Holotropic, Cathartic, Reichian or Integrative breathwork, Pranayama or  some combination of deep connected breathing techniques, this is a useful step to access and release emotions which offers glimpses of inner peace.  The more we tune into the rhythm of the breath, the more we get a sense of which emotions drive us and when, the more interconnected events and encounters grow self-evident.

2. Uncover limiting core beliefs

Negative or limiting beliefs are the filters through which we are taught to see ourselves and the world.   So long as we are unconscious, self-defeating patterns continue.  Awakening is about growing aware of the origins of our behaviours so we can allow healing or energetic recalibration to occur. 

3. Empower yourself

Standing in our power implies we are willing to recognize our misperceptions and shift our fear-based beliefs to unconditionally loving ones. This is about accepting and integrating all experiences as part of the whole.  It is also about recognizing that negative emotions are pointers and gauges for how much we love or reject ourselves.

4. Speaking our truth

Part of the deepening process of self empowerment involves getting clear on our passion and sharing that openly. The more we speak and express our truth creatively, the more we begin to live our truth rather than presenting different personas to different people in different settings. Speaking our truth is one way to raise self esteem and confidence. We are letting go of masks or identities which are incompatible with our soul.

5. Act on life purpose

This is about actually doing and being what and why we exist.  Once we are fully conscious of our passion or core reason for being, then it is up to us to translate or express that for others. The mind can never quiet until we recall or uncover our unique gifts and find the courage to take steps to use this to enrich the world. It is about noticing and following synchronicities, and allowing the truth to flow naturally without fear. Being authentic is the epitome of fearlessness.

5 Things to learn from a pineapple

It is easy to forget how much we can learn about ourselves from the external world. We are taught to see difference or separation rather than sameness or opportunities to shift perception. When on an exotic vacation or noticing the exotic where we are, we invite getting to know the unfamilliar in ourselves, making the unconscious, conscious so that we can see differently. Consider 5 Things to learn from a pineapple:

1. Recognize appearances are deceiving

Pineapples as spiky. Some might judge them as weird on the outside.  Yet, they can be sweet, juicy and full of pleasant surprises on the inside.  The lesson is we are each more than we appear.  Each of us can grow aware that we are more than we are taught to see about our external selves. Part of our deeper purpose is to explore and expand into more of our untapped potential.

2.  Intuit hardness hides softness

Although we can seem hard, stoic, unapproachable or hard to get -to-know on the outside, just like a pineapple, we all have soft inner core.  We stand tall but do we silently feel confident or put up a front?  The more we are kind to ourselves, the more we allow ourselves to speak our truth and be vulnerable, the more the outer hardness softens, the more we attract people and situations into our lives that empower us.

3. Know growth only happens in the right conditions

We are each like a pineapple which only grows in the right conditions. It cannot be too hot or too cold. There has to be enough sun and water, the right nutrient-rich soil. As we get to know and listen to the seed of our true selves, we naturally plant ourselves where we grow best, or move, transplant ourselves in spaces suited to different stages of our evolution. What feels right nurtures our soul growth. 

4. See groundedness nurtures growth

The pineapple's root system is broad and shallow with roots that often extend beyond its leaves, which can reach up to 5 feet long.  What does this tell you about feeling spread out, over-extended or properly grounded in your life? This invites you to discern activities that feel too confining, be unafraid to shift focus, orientation to face and absorb more sun. Its always okay to put down new roots.  (pineapple rows image by Nigel Goodman)

5. Discover what is self-seeding

Cut off the bottom of a pineapple and plant it to grow another.  Each of us is birthing something new.  When we are ready to express a vision or intention, we let it blossom. Upon closer look, a pineapple looks like a giant pinecone. This symbolizes the pineal gland or third eye (of the endocrine system), immortality and enlightenment that we can each evolve into. Light flows downward from the heavens into the green leaves. Pineapples offer a direct example of co-creation, self-directed growth, expansion, and regeneration.  Ask how a pineapple invites us to flower from within. (pineapple planting image by huffpost.com)