12-6-21 Cleaning up my desk the other day, I rediscovered some intentions I wrote for myself. I do that periodically to get through difficult times, to jumpstart something new or to align with the planets. In other words, I do it often. Regardless of the action steps that were specific to each intention, they were all about being joy in more of my moments.

There are so many things that can pull me away from my joy – but only if I let them. There might be good reasons (I tell myself) for being upset, worried, hurt, angry, distressed, or impatient but it all comes down to the same thing - I am wasting many good moments of my life when I indulge in feelings that don’t serve me. Wait, let me clarify that. All my feelings serve me. It’s just that I experience some of them only when I am present in the moment and dwelling in my heart. These are the ones that energize and inspire me, such as appreciation, caring, peace, and compassion. Other feelings only come when my head is flying solo, with the kind of thoughts that define my present moment based on past and future scenarios. These thoughts are accompanied by feelings that deplete me (see my list above of upset, etc.). When I am feeling those, and especially if I hang out with them too long, all they serve to do is rob me of vital energy with which to do something about them. When I notice and acknowledge hurt, anger, etc. then I am using them productively by acknowledging what is missing for me in that moment, re-connecting with my heart, which allows me the best chance of getting what I need. Residing in my heart, I gain instant access to my heart’s wisdom and there I find my joy again because that’s where it lives.

Living in joy doesn’t mean I don’t experience hardship or don’t still feel sad ever, but when I do it’s going to be from a more honoring, everyday wholeness way.

I meditate each morning and lately I’ve been using technology to check how coherent I’ve been during my meditation. Coherence is a measure of how much I’m residing in my heart with energizing feelings and breathing. The more I’m in my heart the more I’m reminded of my inner gifts, that I’m more than enough and capable, and much more able to indulge in self-love and appreciation and be my best self. I want more of that! That’s it, no more excuses…though there are obviously going to continue to be situations in my life and the world that can take me away from my heart. I invite you to join me and continue to do whatever it takes to keep yourself heart-centered.

A great start is to take a pause here before reading on and give yourself a big hug right now as you tell yourself 1 thing you appreciate about yourself. Excuse me while I do that right now too.

Here’s a few of the old intentions I dug up out of my desk I’d love to share with you:

I vow to live my life as my heart’s prayer, which is to Be Love. I intend to trust in the moment because it contains all the Love I need. When my thoughts go to “I’m not doing enough” I spend that moment coming back to my heart, Being Love and remembering that is my most important mission.

And: Every morning I ask my heart to stay open, wholeheartedly willing to freely give and receive Love…to embrace life all day, in appreciation, with my arms (and eyes) open wide.

And last: I love myself enough to take care of myself. Lightness of Being and Joy are my companions of choice from which I create my perfect day.

With each of those intentions, I wrote down a plan of action of how I would specifically bring it to life. You can use the three above if they resonate and flesh them out for yourself, or you can use them as stepping stones to create your own heartful intentions. Let’s not waste another moment. Today is a good day...and I make it so!