Being in alignment isn’t a consideration when you are joyful.
Please discuss. How does this play out in life?
I’ll start us out. There are the things we think we should be doing and those we love to do. Unfortunately, for many of us, we spend the bulk of our time on the former—job, chores, family obligations, etc. We dutifully press on through what we feel we ought to do, leaving far less time for activities we wholeheartedly enjoy. This creates an inner conflict between our desire to be reliable, productive, supported, and liked and our need to feed our soul with pleasure and fulfillment.
Yesterday’s blog post talked about the need for internal alignment. “When you are in harmony with yourself, life falls into line.” Today’s message, while seemingly contradictory, provides me with a simple way to recognize when I’m aligned: I’m internally coherent when I feel joyful. When I’m doing something I love, when my heart sings, when I’m so caught up in something that I lose all track of time, when I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing—these are all signs that every part of me is enrapt, or in rapture, with what I’m doing. I feel joyful, and that’s a clear indicator that all of me and life are harmonized. If I cannot avoid activities that don’t spark joy, a viable option is to reconcile the way I think and feel about them. Reframed, it may be possible to find a measure of happiness and satisfaction in the less desirable activities. Maximize joy and happiness!
How about you? How do you recognize you’re in a sweet spot with yourself and life?