3 Ways to Create More Joy In Your Life

I used to get so frustrated when I heard Influencers talk about the importance of joy.  They would say lean into joy more, be more joyful, do the things that bring you joy. And, at the time, it would drive me crazy because (and I’ll be really honest with you) I had NO idea what brought me joy.  I was so disconnected from myself, disconnected from who I truly was, that I had forgotten what joy was to me.

Life had become about the to-do’s, about my responsibilities.  I had been consumed by my identities as a mother, wife, employee, daughter, caretaker, and manager of life, that I had lost the most important identity, myself.  I had lost my vibrancy and zest for life. I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the adulting that joy was not on the top of my priority list!

And, it’s not to say that I never had fun. My life by no means was terrible or depressing.  My life was pretty good actually, but did I laugh every day? No! Did I spend time intentionally creating space to consider what brought me joy? No! Did I carve out time daily or on a very regular basis to do the things that lit my soul up? No!

I was not taking the time to intentionally connect to joy in my life.  

Hell, I wasn’t taking the time to intentionally connect to myself!

So, if this at all resonates with you and you’re desiring to feel more joy in your life then I got you! 

3 Ways to Create More Joy​​

Make Yourself a Joy List

Create a list of the things that light you up, that bring you to life, that make your spirit sing and commit to doing something on that list every week, or even better every single day! 

Things on my list are: walking on the beach, feeling the sun on my face, singing my heart out in the car (where no one else has to hear me ;)), dancing with my daughter, my morning routine, deep-soul conversations, yoga, hiking, laughing.

Some of these I do every single day and some of these I do as often as I can, but I am intentional about making sure my days always have moments of joy! 

Embrace the Beauty and Magic that is Only You

This one is absolutely essential to create real, lasting joy.  Because real joy truly is an internal state. Real joy is when you 100% love and accept yourself and show up authentically for life. This level of deep joy comes when you finally let go of caring about whatever anyone else thinks of you.  When you finally let your true self be seen. When you love and accept yourself exactly as you are and no longer are trying to “fit in” or mold yourself to someone else’s standards or expectations. This level of self acceptance, deep self-love, and stepping into your truth is where true joy lies.  This is when no matter what the circumstances, no matter what people say about you or to you, no matter what, you still feel a deep sense of joy. It’s a feeling you have that is unrelated to anything external, any outside circumstances. It’s a deep, rich, fullness from within.

Listen to the Whisper of Your Heart

We all have a deep calling in life. Something that we know we’re meant to bring to the world.  It is different for everyone, but we all have a purpose for being on this earth. For me, it’s helping women reclaim their lives and step into their greatness, for others it may be nursing by helping people feel safe and comforted when in distress, it may be painting, it may be motherhood, it may be bringing more laughter into the world through art, it may be underwater basket weaving.  Whatever it is, there is a whisper in your heart calling you forward to step into your fullest potential, step into your purpose.  And, I know from experience that you might not be sure what it is.  I spent so many years trying to “find it,” but now I know it was always there, I just wasn’t ready to listen.  But, when you bravely listen to that whisper of your heart and take bold action to become the person you are meant to become in this life, there is no greater joy.

I am so pumped and excited for you to step into your greatness! Imagine your life and how it will feel when you show up 100% authentically and true to yourself, when you love yourself deeply and know your worth, when you feel your most confident, when you feel in purpose, when you are feeling joy every single day, when you feel fully alive again! 

Are you Ready???

Reach out to me if you’re ready to experience your next level of life and step into your most confident, empowered, joy-filled self!

3 Steps to Finding Your Soul’s Purpose (plus an exercise to connect to your intuition)

If you’re anything like me you have spent years searching for your soul’s purpose. You have agonized about your purpose. You have been envious of your friends who seem to have discovered it in infancy.

You get excited about something and go all in, gung-ho, for about 5 minutes (okay, a week or two), only to realize you actually don’t like it all that much.

You are embarrassed that you have tried so many things and nothing has been it.

You want to figure it out so bad and worry that you are never going to find it.

I so get it! I spent a good part of the last decade in this cycle of searching, thinking I found it, only to be disappointed that, nope, yet again, it’s not my heart’s passion. I went from job to job, idea to idea, hoping that it would feel meaningful enough, but it never did. I worked with teens, toddlers, homeless, and autistic adults, I taught yoga, and dabbled in massage. And, that is only what I actually tried...the list of ideas could go on and on. I felt desperate to find more meaning for my life, to find my thing, my purpose, the reason I came onto this planet. And, I do truly believe that all of these different ventures were ultimately leading me down the path to where I was meant to be. It’s all a journey, right! But, I also believe I could have found it faster and with a lot less anxiety and stress if I had trusted more that my purpose ultimately would find me if I opened up and allowed it to come. So, keep on a readin’ if you are really wanting to know your soul’s purpose, why you are here, and want to open up to it in a way that feels good.

3 Steps to Finding Your Soul’s Purpose

STOP LOOKING….

Say what? Yep, that’s right. Stop looking. The energy of looking, searching, trying to figure it out is low, desperate, and anxious. From my own experience, underlying was a deep fear that I would never know. That somehow I was just missing out on that clarity that seems to come so easily to some. I worried that I would always be wondering, wandering, on a search to discover. I mean we all want to know why we are here. We all feel a call to live a life of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment, but when we are in an energy of fear, worry, desperation to find it, we are only keeping ourselves separate from it. So stop looking and start trusting. Start trusting that if you stay in an energy of openness, exploring things that you enjoy, that light you up, and feel good then you are on the right path for it to come to you.

TUNE INTO YOUR SOUL...

What is that little voice inside of you saying? I bet you already know. Our intuition and highest self already knows. Get out of your head and into your heart. Start paying attention to the voice of your intuition, your own inner guide. What is it saying to you? What is that little niggle of an idea that keeps whispering to you. If you start tuning in more, I bet you will discover it has been inside of you all along. But, sometimes that little voice can be so far out, can be whispering to you something that seems too far out of reach, that seems unfathomable in your present reality so you have been ignoring it. Trust me I know, I spent 4 years ignoring my inner voice because I could not see a reality in which that possibility could come true. I continued to push it aside, ignore it, staying stuck in a job that was killing my soul, but it checked all the boxes; paid well, was incredibly flexible with my family needs, was part-time, was five minutes from my house. What more could I ask for?? Oh right, something that actually lit me up, made me come alive, feel excited, free, joy, purpose. None of those boxes were checked. And, let me tell you that those boxes are the most important boxes to be checked! So, what do you need to do to trust that little voice and open up to a new possibility even if it feels really far outside your current reality….

SUSPEND YOUR DOUBT AND JUMP INTO THE UNKNOWN….

That’s right, girl… you gotta get outside your comfort zone, stretch outside your box of safety and security, and trust that when you jump into the unknown of possibility and follow the path that your soul is leading you on, you will succeed. You will thrive! Take it from me, I spent 4 years stuck in my little bubble of mediocrity because I held an iron grip on my need to feel secure and stable. For 4 years, I didn’t let myself even consider the musings of my inner voice, my soul. It felt so so far outside of what was possible for me. So far outside of a reality that I could even imagine. I rationalized that I had a good job (even though I felt like my soul died a little bit more every day that I went), it helped pay the bills, there was no way I could give that up, my family needed my income, my husband would never be okay with me taking a big risk and losing my financial contribution to the family. The excuses went on and on and they were only the surface level. Even deeper I told myself, who do you think you are to dream so big, you can’t do that, you don’t know how to do that, you’ll fail just like you have with everything else you tried, you’re not good enough. That list goes on and on too!

But, here’s the amazing part! One day, I just decided to throw all my excuses out the window and listen to my inner voice. Which was saying, “you are meant to do something bigger in the world. You have a message to share. You are meant to make a huge impact.” And, even though I didn’t know the specifics, the how, the anything of what that meant, I decided to listen. That day I decided to bring that little voice out into light and see what happens. And, oh my god, with that decision my whole life changed. The reality that I could not fathom ever being possible came true. My family and friends completely supported me and from there I just opened up to receiving more and more information on what my soul was ready to do, how I could be of service, how I could make an impact.

I didn’t go searching, but I allowed it to find me, I opened up to all possibilities. And, that is when life coaching honestly fell into my life. And, the funny thing was I had been exposed to life coaches for all those years, but I hadn’t been open to seeing it as a reality for me, so I didn’t really see it. Only when I became open, let go of my own limitations and doubts, and stepped into the unknown did I finally see what had been in front of me for years.

When you’re ready, your purpose will present itself to you. So, let go of your need to find it, tune into your soul, your inner voice that already has all the answers, and allow yourself to step out of the confines or your current reality so that you can dream even bigger, so you can open up to a possibility so much greater then you can imagine now.

HERE'S AN EXERCISE TO CONNECT TO YOUR INNER VOICE

1. Meditate- sit quietly, close your eyes, and connect to your breath. After a few minutes connecting to your breath, ask for guidance, “Dear Universe, please allow me to connect to my intuition, my highest self, and your divine guidance so that I can truly know my soul’s purpose. Please reveal to me what I am meant to do in this life. I am open to receive this message now.”

2. Have your journal and a pen close to you and start writing down whatever guidance comes through into your journal. Allow it to be a stream of consciousness as you write whatever comes to you. Don’t think about it, don’t analyze it, or edit it, just write whatever comes through. This is your soul speaking to you.

3. And, if it doesn’t come through right away that’s okay. Just keep doing this everyday. Keep opening yourself up to hear and connect to your own inner voice, and with practice that voice will go from a tiny little whisper to a strong, loud, and empowered voice.

with so much love,

Shaina

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