5 practices that will allow you to JOYFULLY enter the New Year
The state of your home and the things you surround yourself with can weigh you down or uplift you... can overwhelm you or inspire joy. You choose. You have ultimate control over your surroundings. Is it always easy to remember to choose your own joy? Nope.
That's why I'm sharing with you 5 easy ways to choose joy and inspiration TODAY--5 practices you can use to rid your life of the weight and the overwhelm. Read on to start off the New Year with more lightness, clarity and joy!
1. Practice joy
Find one thing in your home that you know makes you happy (right now!). Hold or touch that thing. Notice the response in your body. What does it feel like, in your body, when you hold something that brings you joy?
Now find one thing in your home that does not make you happy. Hold or touch it. Notice how it feels in your body when you hold (or even think of) something that doesn’t make you happy. You’ll notice It weighs you down, dampens your inner fire.
Pick 10 things in your space that you don’t think make you happy. Start with easy things--not items you’re emotionally attached to. Hold each item in its turn and pay attention how your body feels when you hold it.
When you feel that dampening weight, allow yourself to THANK the object and then let it go.
You don’t want to start off a new year surrounded by things that weigh you down. If it doesn’t inspire joy, it doesn’t belong in your space.
You have control over your space. When you surround yourself with things you love, that bring you joy, it makes it a lot easier to FEEL joy and love in every moment of every day.
2. Let go of gifts you received that don’t make you happy
I know you just received them, and the thought of sending them on their way makes you feel a bit guilty, but the purpose of a gift is to give it.
A loved one enjoyed giving that gift to you, which means after it’s given, the intent of the gift is fulfilled. If you hold the item and don’t love it, but you feel guilty getting rid of it, it means you are associating that guilty feeling with the loved one who gifted it. And I can promise you, that is not the purpose of the gift, nor the way your loved one wants to be thought of.
3. Find your happy place
No really, I’m serious. It can be anything.
A memory from your childhood of ULTIMATE BLISS...
That moment when you got to the top of the rise and you felt on TOP OF THE WORLD...
A dream you have about the future that FEELS SO GOOD, even though it’s not yet present.
Find that happy thought. Whenever you find yourself going down the rabbit hole of negativity (we ALL find ourselves there, many many times, throughout the day)...
Stop.
Take a deep breath.
Conjure up the image of PURE BLISS and know that your happiness in this current moment is the most important thing. It is from that state of happy that you access all your resources, identify inspired actions, achieve your desires.
None of those things are available to you from a state of negativity, guilt, anxiety, stress, unhappiness or blame. None of them.
By putting your happiness first in any given moment (and knowing you can consciously find that state of happiness when you choose to), you will be capable of incredible focus and productivity, From that place you are also capable of spreading the joy, compassion and unconditional love you are meant to share--and that is what will make your world a better place.
4. Purge any broken items
Have a number of things that are broken that you’ve been meaning to fix or replace? Put them all in a big pile (you’ll be amazed at how many of these things there are). Decide here and now if they are worth your time to fix, or if you should put them in the trash, or (if they’re well made or valuable) pass along to a mechanically minded teen who likes to fix things.
We all have 40 hours of unfinished business hanging out around us. You can reduce that by as much as half, by letting go of the things that really aren’t worth fixing (and determining to buy well-made objects in the future whenever possible).
Release the physical objects in your life that are broken and watch the rest of your life flow so much more smoothly.
5. Give everything a home of its own.
Have new gifts that DO make you happy? Find a home for them TODAY, a home that makes it EASY to put this thing away when you’re done using it. Most clutter that clogs your space, comes from items that do not have homes or do not have homes that are easy to access.
Start off the New Year with a lighter load.
Release what does not bring you joy.
Allow yourself to let go of the need to fix every little thing that breaks.
Practicing and paying attention to what brings you joy in your physical space allows you to have a similarly discerning mind when it comes to how and with whom you spend your time.
When you consciously surround yourself with the things and the people and the situations that make you happy, you are practicing putting your happiness first. This is not a selfish act. On the contrary, without maintaining your own happiness, you are not able to spread love and compassion to your loved ones.
So go forth, allow, release, purge, lighten, clarify, find joy right in the here & now.
Be well,
:) Tenaya
