I’m so excited! Fall is soon to be upon us, and the temperatures are at long last dipping below 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Arizona. There’s a sense of expectation in the air. The garden has been cleared out and replumbed for fall planting. The trees and bushes are all trimmed back, and the quiet emptiness is a clean and clear feeling. My planter boxes are resting, waiting for me to fill them with Autumn’s bounty. I hauled six large boxes out of storage, put the summer sunflowers away, and then decorated the house with my colorful leaf garlands, an overabundance of wreaths I made last year, and a forest of homemade pumpkin topiaries. The warm, rich tones of the season – golds, oranges, sage, and ocher – surround me. My heart is happy.
I come to life in a big way during the holiday season. While the world is mucking around in fear of lack, I see abundance everywhere. I just made a spicy radish sprout pesto out of a passionate crop of microgreens that I grew in the window – sprouts, parmesan, pistachios, olive oil, and lemon juice. It was so good that the oohing and ahhing while I taste tested probably made the neighbors wonder if I had a date! A celery stalk is sprouting in a little crystal cup I got at the thrift store – just wack off the bottom of your veggies (celery, green onions, etc.) and stick them in water, or the tops if you’re growing carrot greens. These things may seem trivial in the greater scheme of life, but they give me joy.
Last night, instead of struggling to write the newsletter, I took a few minutes to envision the good feeling of writing something satisfying, then did what gave me joy at the moment. I’ve been passionate about my new hobby of creating “Junk Journals” – gorgeous mixed media art books. The latest one is teeming with Christmas and holiday cheer. I look forward to recording seasonal recipes and memories. At the moment, however, the handmade cover is flattening between sheets of parchment under a pile of heavy cookbooks. The signatures (bunches of pages) have all been hand-sewn, the interior pockets are decorated, and I’m currently working on the cover art. It takes 10-20 hours to make one of these right now. I’m learning, and it’s slow going, but the joy of watching bits of stuff and paper come to a whole new life just thrills me. In the middle of my crafting bliss, the angels dropped in, and I had to run to the computer to capture their message.
“Life is like that,” I think to myself. We experience beautiful bits and times that seem to be utter garbage, but somehow, when you put them all together and look at them as a whole, life is beautiful. The angels are right. There is always joy to be found.
Sometimes, life offers us joy that is easy to reach. With loving people in beautiful places and situations we love, it requires little work to tune into the frequency of joy. Other times – when others are airing their sour grapes, when we feel lack or discontent with our situation – we must create or look for our own joy. Over the years, I’ve learned not to leave my joy to chance or rely on others to supply it for me. I appreciate it when easily offered and come up with it on my own when it is not.
Decades ago, I had a huge wallow and an epic pity party on my birthday.No one was celebrating me. No one was getting me a cake. In the words of a good friend who coined the phrase years later, I needed to “call the waaaa ambulance!” I was feeling royally sorry for myself. Suddenly the thought arose. “Why don’t you celebrate yourself?” Good question! I liked the idea. I went and bought myself a delicious cake and some balloons, put on great music, made myself a wonderful candlelit dinner, and focused on all the good I had been doing in the world and all that was right with life. i savored my freedom. I gave thanks for my life. Instead of feeling alone as I had been only a few short hours earlier, I felt surrounded by love – my love, the angels’ love (which I could now feel!). and Divine love. It was one of the most beautiful feelings ever to know I could create all that with a few good choices. A few years later I saved my overtime money, and took myself to Hawaii for my birthday!
One tiny good thought, and a few good choices, changed my feelings towards self-responsibility entirely. I showed myself that joy was my choice, and one that didn’t depend on the rest of the world acting the way I wanted.
The past few years haven’t exactly handed any of us joy on a silver platter. The world has argued for lack, pain, illness, and limitation. Wars, perceived shortages, economic instability, and political disagreements still abound. The world isn’t worse than usual. We just see the problems more quickly due to our fantastic communication channels. We can fret, or we can get in a high vibe, listen to our guidance to navigate around these things. We can find our own joy.
In the current economic downturn, I’ve watched the value of a little retirement account plummet. Instead of freaking out and wondering how I’ll manage life in the future, I choose thoughts of being on a thrilling roller coaster ride – surrendering to a fast fall down a steep slope. Instead of fearing an endless fall, I tell myself that the upturn will be equally exhilarating. I trust God to supply my needs – not a bank account, another person, or even my current work.
I also trust God to guide me. I hold steady in my commitment to maintaining a good, abundant vibration so I can pick up good guidance, and remain steady in my intent to make the most of what I have. In June, I got a junk advertising email. It read, “Amazon stock just split – Buy now!” I went to delete it, but something stopped me – just a feeling that I might want to look into this. Apparently, Amazon used to be over $2000 a share, but after the split, everyone who owned it got 20 shares for a little over $100 instead. For current owners, it was the same value. It became a bit more affordable per share for people wanting to invest. Acting only on my feelings, I sold the corporate stock I got through matching funds over two decades ago (which hadn’t done much!) and bought a few shares of amazon. I have watched it go up and down the past few months! Wheeeee! I’m on the roller coaster with complete faith that it’ll bounce back before I’m old enough to withdraw, or if not, something else will.
My “Forrest Gump” method of managing money works for me. After I quit engineering, I often made $6 a week after taxes as a “psychic in the window” at a local bookstore. I had to drain my savings just to pay the bills and eat. It all worked out. By the time I had no savings, I had a decent income. I wouldn’t recommend you do as I do! Instead, I recommend you follow your own inner compass and listen to your feelings – only after you’ve tuned yourself into a strong feeling of abundance. In that vibe, your guidance will be reliable. In a vibration of lack, don’t trust yourself to make abundant choices! Get your energy right first, and then good guidance will come easily.
As I’m writing this, a friend informs me the railway workers might go on strike, which would cause more shortages. I could live off rice, beans, and the herbs I grow if push came to shove, and it never got that bad even in the middle of covid, so I’m not worried. I think it is a good thing that the human beings who quietly work behind the scenes to supply us with so much of what we take for granted get more humane treatment. The pot is being stirred here upon the planet, but the angels remind me that the soup needed stirring.
Rather than worrying, fretting, and looking at what experts say about the economy, have your own economy based on the security of God’s love. Rather than focusing on what isn’t working in our world or lives, focus on what is. Rather than becoming upset about all the people acting in unkind ways, stop. Stop giving them your attention. The angels get in my head at my request. “Stop. Stop. Stop! So much good to focus on, Ann!” I catch myself when my mind runs down the wrong tracks, and I change it.
We don’t need to waste our precious life force on nonsense when there are solutions to be received, joy to be found, and things to celebrate right here and right now. If you’re sick, the couch, bed, or pillows are a luxurious gift. If you’re feeling broke, go outside and enjoy the abundance of nature until abundance starts to flow in other areas. If someone has been cruel, celebrate your own kind heart and all the kind and loving people in life. Don’t dignify them with your attention. Many things aren’t working well, and many people have forgotten love, but so many more things are worth focusing on.
As the angels say, if life is a buffet, we have the freedom to focus on the foods we love or the ones we don’t like. Why not focus on the most pleasing thoughts, the kindest people we know, and the most beautiful things around us? As children, we came into this reality wired for joy. Too often, well-meaning people trained or guilt-tripped us out of it. However, we’re not children anymore. We have a choice. I will continue to choose joy over and over again. When I’m in joy, I want to share it. I want to create beautiful things to elevate myself and others. I want to celebrate the breath in my lungs and my beating heart. In joy, everything starts to go right.
It takes some dedication to shift out of old thought patterns of fear, lack, upset, etc., but one little moment at a time, you can challenge yourself to find something that pleases you too.
Here are a few tips to help you create more joy in life…
1. Play the “What Pleases me?” Game
This is a game the angels once mentioned to a parent to play with their children, but I loved it and have used it myself. Randomly stop. Look around. Ask, “What pleases me?” Look for something that pleases you – a color, a texture, a thing, a thought of something beautiful, a pleasant memoriy… Journal or think about why you like it. Admire it. Love it. Feel the goodness in your heart, and your elevated vibration, as you challenge yourself to look for “what pleases you.” Look for increased synchronicity and clearer guidance.
2. Keep a Joy Journal
I made a journal for myself, and every day I write one thing in it that gave me joy that day. Simple things like “my family,” “my art,” “my gluten-free tuna casserole,” “fresh basil,” and “the sound of the rain.” All of these are beautiful moments of goodness. I recall the song “My Favorite Things” from “The Sound of Music” and feel like I’m keeping a record of my favorite things. Even opening the book and looking through it pleases me. There is so much to appreciate and thousands of simple pleasures to enjoy.
Allow yourself to focus on joy even when some things aren’t going right. It will help you turn that energy around.
3. Use your imagination
My brother and I played a fantasy game when I was a little girl. We imagined we were tiny and lived in a hollowed-out redwood tree. (Don’t ask me where the idea came from!) We took turns describing one floor at a time. I envisioned a level filled with every craft supply known to me at the time – paper, markers, spirograph; you name it! My brother filled the next level with sporting goods. When it was my turn, I described an indoor garden. We both agreed on having an Olympic-size swimming pool on another level! I don’t think we remembered kitchens, beds, or baths, but the rest of the place was very well-appointed for two kids existing in a fantasy world!
It was ridiculous fun, yet after a few minutes of the game, we felt rich as kings, fully fulfilled and overjoyed about the unlimited life we were living… in our own minds.
To this day, I use my imagination to enter the joy zone when I’m in need. I can imagine flying, being in one of my favorite places, or moments in the past. I can imagine myself in a dream home with a majestic view. I can think about fun moments with family and friends or imagine cooking the perfect gluten-free pizza crust. I made a sign for my desk that says, “Imagination is the key to any future you dare to dream.”
Your imagination is your bridge into the quantum field, where anything is possible. It allows you to attune your feelings to any reality you wish to create.
Allow yourself to imagine and play once again – in your own mind – and you’ll become the joyful creator you intended to be.
The Divine intended for us to have a preference for pleasure, even a moment after seeing the contrast that causes us to seek it. Our angels care about our joy. Our loved ones in heaven exist in bliss and want to guide us into the joy they are feeling. We are the ones that must start to care about it, seek it, see it, and allow for more. The angels know we all deserve to feel good. We just have to remember and remind ourselves often. Joy is there for the taking. Whether the world offers us inspiration or misery, there is joy to be found – if only we are willing to look.
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