7 Guidelines for a More Joyful Life

woty2014enjoyAs I may have mentioned a time or two, my Word of the Year for 2014 is ENJOY. Recently I’ve been paying more attention to when I feel joyful in my life, and when I feel stressed. I’ve been working on figuring out what makes me happy, and following those clues.

I’m not saying that life won’t have its moments of sorrow, anger, and other emotional upsets. I’m talking about encouraging a general trend of enjoying where you are and what you’re doing.

It seems like a worthwhile venture, to learn your own happiness formula.

Here are seven guidelines that I’ve found help me enjoy life more fully. I offer them to you in the hope that you can benefit from them. You could try them out, adopt one or two, or simply allow them to inspire you to discover your own personal guidelines. Enjoy!

1. Relax and let go. I’ve found that letting go of my mental and emotional grip on life is a huge relief. Sure, I still plan and make lists, but I’m not attached to being in control of what happens in each day, or even each moment. Intentions are much more useful than expectations.

2. Love and accept yourself completely. I watched a video on the basics of EFT (aka “tapping”), and what stayed with me most is the final affirmation. “Despite  [insert things that aren’t going right for you, or that  you wish were different], I love and accept myself completely.” We’re here on the Earth plane to learn, and challenges give us the opportunity to do so. Instead of judging your self-worth based on how well things are going, choose to love and accept yourself no matter what.

3. Don’t try to do so much. This is a huge one for me. The problem is, everything sounds like so much fun! But I’ve found that a very full week is a recipe for stress, even if all the things I have scheduled are fun and enjoyable. Taken as a non-stop whole, it stresses me out. I’m happier when I leave gaps in my schedule for rest, self-care, reading, and unstructured creativity.

4. There is magick in everything. Yes, everything. Look around you. Everything is made up of energy, and came into being through desire. When you look for the sparkly magick in your everyday life, more and more will appear. The faeries love to be noticed and admired. Shine your light on the nifty little corners of the world.

5. Spend time outdoors. Getting outside on a daily basis, I’ve discovered, is essential to my emotional health. I wrote a whole article about it for Feline Dreamers; check it out over here.

6. Come back to your center. Sure, we all get thrown off balance by those pesky, er, lovely learning challenges that arise. Discover how to come back to your center through whatever methods work for you. It might be taking several deep breaths, going off by yourself for a time, talking to a trusted friend, or dancing to your favorite music. When you get upset, feel your feelings, then re-center yourself.

7. Express your creativity. Life is a whole lot more fun when you spend time expressing the natural creativity you were born with. Only you know what that means for you. If you haven’t found it yet, think about what you most enjoy doing, and focus on that. Make it your own. Let your creative spirit flow.

P.S. How do you like the new look here at Starcat’s Corner? BlackLion refreshed the website so that you can more easily enjoy it on your phone or tablet. I’d love to hear your feedback. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!


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