In an earlier blog this year, I shared the exquisite process of following my heart. – listening to that clear voice and intuition that speaks to us all the time. (That piece is still available in Food for the Heart.) Soon thereafter, I found that living from the heart can threaten those who don’t and I was succumbing to victimhood. The sparkle I felt from the change I made was getting encumbered by other’s anger and frankly, their need to have me be different. I write today to share how the story is unfolding as I reconnected with my dearest friends who had also listened to their hearts rather than to others. I hadn’t been in touch with them for quite some time.
One of those dear and close friends is Karen Aberle. She and I went through thick and thin to become initiated in the Huichol tradition. For 20 years, we traveled side-by-side to the tops of mountains, floated in the sea, and found our connection of 100,000 years in the desert of Wirikuta. Our journey was no less than beautiful and full of living experiences.
Joy is a birthright. Joy is the reason for being. It is the gift from us back to creator.
Karen is a very open and curious person. We reconnected and she immediately stepped back into our friendship, not missing a beat of her heart connection to me. I read her book, Love’s Invisible Dance: 7 Keys to Authentic, Joyful and Lasting Relationship. The book is a very comprehensive, savvy, and no bullshit guide to peeling off those encumbered layers that cloud the very essence of who you and strengthening the bonds of relatedness. I wanted more of her wisdom.
Karen invited me to participate in a powerful program she created called The SHIFT in which she asked a very BIG question, “Are you committed to living joyfully?” I have had a long history of struggling to maintain joy. Often falling short, bowing to other’s will which I see now was the source of depression and heartache. I want to tell you how The SHIFT process enabled me to move from victim and follower to taking back my own agency and being in joy.
Joy is a birthright. Joy is the reason for being. It is the gift from us back to creator. We ultimately are joy. We want to be in joy but committing to live in joy requires that we take action to find it when it is missing, when the twists and turns, the upheavals, heartbreaks, suffering takes us away from joy. A spiritual journey usually begins when there’s an awakening to the fact that joy seems to be nowhere to be found. Health, wellness, and death statistics show that the underpinning of illness, disease and complications that lead to early death is lack of joy. Joy is attainable but not a passive process. Karen gave me the tools to reattune to the exquisite flow of life.
My goal, to live in gratitude and with satisfaction, no matter what the outer circumstances are. This ultimately is the recipe for Joyful living. It’s always a choice. I have a daily practice that strengthens my orbit—that field around me where no one can intrude—It is my strength and power center. I teach others this practice.
More than anything, I encourage you to connect with Karen. She works both individually and in workshops.
You too can SHIFT from victim, unhappiness, fear into JOY. Karen can be reached through her website theshift.design. Tell her I sent you. En-joy!
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