Finding JOY

Our wish at Power Psychology & Associates is that you can find JOY even in the most difficult of circumstances. I once read that the Dalai Lama said our biggest and most important task in life is to find JOY. Fear and trauma limit our capacity for JOY. When we turn on our JOY circuits, we turn off the fear circuit.

Initially JOY can be fleeting. We might even feel guilt because JOY has come. However, the more we invite JOY, the more we make the path a little smoother and easier for JOY to find its way in.

Some therapists, such as Stephen Gilligan and Robert Dilts, speak of the three energies that are important to bring to the table when we are facing struggles, concerns, and uncertainties. They identify these three energies as 1) Positive Fierceness, 2) Compassion/Softness, and 3) Playfulness/JOY. The metaphor for positive fierceness I like is the mother bear defending her cub. No one is going to mess with her baby.

Compassion/softness is sometimes easy to find for others. When we fly, we are told to put on our own oxygen masts first. We need to invite in self compassion. We have a responsibility to take care of ourselves. As we learned in the lovely movie, "Inside Out", sometimes we just need to feel sad, to feel sorry for ourselves. All our emotions are important.

I contend that sometimes we have to be positively fierce to make room for JOY, to invite JOY in when circumstances seem to call for only sadness, fear, and anger. But JOY is always waiting. When we are positively fierce, we can find a little JOY. We can invite a little JOY in. Sometimes JOY is found in a beautiful special memory of a loved one.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post. At Power Psychology & Associates, we can help you find more of your Positive Fierceness, your Compassion/Softness(especially for yourself), and of course your "JOY".

Being a Power from NL, I also recommend that you watch this wonderful video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQpwDtIn4ec

May you find JOY,

Sharon Meredith (nee Power)