Practice Joy Now - EFT Can Help

What is Joy?

I received a note from a friend a day or so ago. I wanted to share some of it with you, because I think we all go through periods in life like this.

Then below you can see my response, I hope this will help you, or a friend who may be feeling a loss of direction, sadness, or simply feeling stuck.

Here's part of the note:

"So good to hear from you. My heart warmed upon seeing your sweet message at a time when I really needed it.

I have been feeling challenged and unsettled lately. One of the things I'm currently trying to figure out is, which of my desires (e.g., dancing, acting, writing, painting) are "soul hungers" worthy of focus and devotion, rather than merely fleeting urges.

I want to feel like I have aim, focus, and a vision for my life; I am always so impressed (and admittedly envious) of people who seem happy and content because they are living their vision.

I'm also trying to figure out how to attain happiness. I know that it's a state of mind, but I have not attained such a level of enlightenment.

Also, I recently broke up with my boyfriend after two years together. I think this was the right decision, because we both had been unhappy together for some time. But thinking about future love, and what I need going forward simply adds to my current confusion, and I don't think I need the added complication of romantic love in my life at this time.

I sense that this is a great opportunity for growth for me, which is why I am trying not to give into my urges to either wallow in sadness or to try to cover my feelings with false happiness. I guess I am just trying to keep busy and also to allow enough time for introspection."

My reply:

I am sorry to hear of your unhappiness, or should I say confusion. I think you are just at a new plateau in your life. Time to revise your goals and get them into greater alignment with who you are now, what you have learned about yourself, and what you perceive as making you happy.

Happiness can be, a sought-after unknown developed by subconscious media ploys and fairy tales from childhood.

The real key is to live right in the moment. This is where happiness is.


It is not some future moment when we will be in love, when we will receive the Oscar, or get the home of our dreams, or finally receive the proposal we seek.

Happiness is here in this moment. Yes, some of the moments are exhilarating and can make us giddy with joy, but those are temporary moments, less than a single percent of our entire lives - though they leave lasting impressions that we can re-experience when we feel alone or need re-enforcement of our worth.

Practice joy now!

I find passion playing with my dogs, writing to you, singing with Cd's I love, and smelling the sizzling bacon. What we need more than anything is to release the dis-ease created by dreams of exhilarated happiness, and find the joy here and now.

Better not to try to separate which of the many passions you have, as though you can only choose one. Rather remember your life is a buffet of experience. You can do all these things, and as you do, you will find yourself filtering into one more naturally than forcing a choice.

Life is much too short to think, 'What if?'


It is much better to take action, then decide not to continue. This is what you did in your relationship, you gave it a shot, and discovered that compatibility was not deep enough to go the distance. You made a good choice. You learned from it. You changed. Now, you are ready to review and revise your call to the universe.

Keep going, but take the time to see what is joyful right at this moment.


If you feel down, tap out the feelings and realign yourself with the joy. This can be done by starting simply with gratitude for all you have. Make yourself a gratitude tapping list, and start tapping.


(My tapping reference is about EFT, a technique to release emotional issues, stress, phobias and more. I am an EFT-3 Practitioner. If you are new to EFT, visit this link to download the FREE manual: http://www.emofree.com/newcomer.htm )

Here are some things from my 'Gratitude Tapping List'

I am so grateful for my toes, my nose, my eyes, my lips, my ability to smell the blossoms, to taste the ice cream, to experience the wind, the rain, to sleep in a comfy bed with a warm blanket and breezy window, to hear the sounds of nature around me, to walk, and to have friends I can call, visit with, discuss things with. To have the coins to go out to eat, drive a car, share with the poor, travel to the ocean, watch a film, buy a book.

You have so much to be grateful for, as do I, that we must always remember to focus on these things when we feel lost or unhappy. Then put on your dancing shoes, go to a friendly dancing spot, and dance the blues away. You will come home feeling filled with life again.

Movement is life, whether it is the movement of your body in dance, or the movement of deeply breathing in the morning air. This activates passion, and passion is joy.

I hope this will help you find focus, and more important rediscover your joy.

Meaningful joy is not the toothpaste commercial falling in love, which advertisers embed deeply into our subconscious.


But rather meaningful joy, is capturing every moment in life in all its passions, even in the tears of loss. This makes us know we are alive, and in that there is true joy.


Blessing always,

Michele

To Best Friends - HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Pretty, Wonderful Peppy

It has been a traumatic, hectic week. One that ended today with Valentine's Day - a day when we cherish everyone we love. A time to indulge in love, chocolate, hugs, kisses, and all the endorphin kickers. A day when red heart shaped balloons float above registers in most stores, reminding us of all the Valentine's we have experienced.

What a day.

One week ago, our beloved seventeen year old English Pointer was making her midnight rounds, checking the perimeters of the property like she has done every night as long as I have known her. After giving her warning to the four directions, she banged the doggy door, and came inside.

Within an hour, my husband woke to the sound of her trying to get up. He thought she must have lost traction on the hardwood floor and went downstairs to help her.

But tragedy had struck, and Peppy had lost the use of her hind legs. She could not stand up.

Joe stayed with her all night, attempting to keep her calm as she struggled with fear, and the inability to regain control of her limbs. Joe piled up some of the many beds I had bought for her, wanting her old bones to find soft padding in every room in our tri-level.

Early the next morning, Joe woke me, and told me what had happened. Exhausted Joe went to bed, and I went to the family room.

Immediately seeing me, Peppy attempted to get up to greet me. She struggled, and I sat close to her. I rubbed her hind legs. I massaged her back. I cried knowing that if a miracle did not occur, she would not be able to adjust to this lack of mobility.

So went Sunday. We took her for a short ride outside in our red flyer filled with pillows. It gave her a little comfort to feel she would not dirty herself, though we diligently cleaned up after her. We wanted her to feel safe, to know we loved her, and that she was good, loved, and that nothing could ever change that. She looked so tired. Finally in the late afternoon she fell asleep for a little while. Joe was also sleeping upstairs, and I worked while keeping an eye on her.

I thought of our many times together. How she loved to chase a stick, dive for rocks, and hike for miles with us. How she always followed me around the house, slept on the futon behind me as I worked and Joe worked or played golf away from home. How she snuggled against me, and licked my face when I cried, and wanted me to be happy. She always loved, always watched, always cared.

Back in 2000, we had hiked to Eagle Lake in Tahoe. It was June 27 or 28th, and there was still snow on the ground. Pepper promptly found a stick to carry, which she always did when we hiked. Then Joe and I found walking sticks. Pepper and Joe quickly outpaced me. I lagged behind with lots of other people on the trail, each making their way to some area around the lake at the top.

At some point, Pepper turned to see where I was, she noticed me, and the really large stick I held. She dropped her stick and raced to me. Then began a tug of war for my hiking stick. I laughed, and hollered for Joe to call her. Everyone around me stood laughing as Peppy attempted to take the biggest stick. She was amazing.

When we finally got to Eagle Lake, it started to snow. The water frozen in some places, must have been freezing cold, but Pepper dove in, and began her favorite routine. Searching underwater for rocks to present to us. She could hold her breath for as much as eight seconds while digging below the water to release a choice rock, before surfacing. Then she would dive back down, get the rock in her mouth, and present it to one of us. It was too cold, I pulled her to me, afraid she would freeze. We put an extra sweatshirt on her and I snuggled with her to keep us both warm. She was such a love.

A few years back, while living in Reno, a family of raccoons, a raccoon mom, and three grown youngsters, moved into our garage...they liked eating cat food. Pepper ran them out of the garage to the back porch, where Pep fiercely snarled at the mother coon, who hissed back showing teeth and claws. It was a terrifying sight. Calling Pepper off, Joe sprayed the coons with water.

Pepper feared nothing. She would protect her family from anyone or anything.


Joe & Peppy at the lake

Her best friend and mentor was our Mr. Jags, a big, intelligent, gumbie cat. He raised Peppy, as well as our other two cats. He was the cat of cats, not to be kept inside, but to wander and then come home in the evening. When he would return home, he always found Pepper and licked her face. You can see a picture of them here. This picture was taken last March, a short time before Mr. Jags died. He was nineteen years old.


Old Friends - Pepper (16 years) and Mr. Jags (19 years)

It has been a hard week, and to say the least it has been a difficult twelve months.


Best Friends for more than sixteen years

On Monday morning, we took the twenty-two mile drive to the vet, to release our lovely Pep from the body that would no longer work for her. We brought her home and buried her on our land, not far from Mr. Jags, and across the yard from our big sweet orange cat, Mr. Sousi, who also died last year after Mr. Jags. He was over twenty years old

I want to say lots of things about all of these friends because it is Valentine's Day and I love them, each of them and the many that have gone before them over the many, many years I have lived. So I am adding pictures to honor them. To share their love, and I hope you will snuggle with you friends, and lover, and recall all the beings who blessed your life with unconditional love. These wonderful life forms, whose language we seldom understand, but who try relentlessly to understand ours, to teach us love, and who bring us incomparable joy and friendship. We are so lucky to share our world with them.

Hugs to each of you...may your life be blessed with unconditional friends, who make you laugh, lick away your tears, and beg you to exercise with them so you can both live long healthy lives.



Mr. Sousi in his prime


Jags, Gump, and Peppy - Spring 2002


Shogun (12 1/2 years old) and Peppy (7 years old)


Homer - One of Peppy's best friends, Shogun's mate, and my protector for 15 years.


Miss Luna, with her best friend Mr. Jags, who she dearly misses.


Pumpkin and Pepper, friends from the start




My dearest friends - both now on the astral together