Choose Joy

"There are two vibrational streams around us. We can choose the lower one of struggling...or the higher one of joy. Joy is our natural state of being. It is what we are when we act in accordance with what is natural and truthful in us.

Some people object to feeling or expressing joy in the face of such conditional as war, crime, child abuse...is it right to feel joy when our brothers and sisters are suffering? The best way we can serve the world is to be in touch with our inner joy...when we are connected to this inner teacher, we know exactly what we must do. When we act from our center of joy, we serve humankind in the highest way possible.

We choose joy when we feel good about ourselves even though another puts us down. We expand our capacity for joy when we recognize the need for love in those who criticize us, when we let go of our self-doubt and self-criticism, when we accept new ideas, things, and people; when we let go of all expectation...."

-Peggy Jenkins, "The Joyful Child"

Community

Dear Friends,

I'm having community-withdrawal. It's leaving me sad and off-balance.

We spent the last week immersed in our Portland, Maine community, and every time I leave to come back to NYC I'm sadder than the last time I left. It's led me to think a lot about the different kinds of community in our lives, and the meaning of community.

In NYC I have community. I have physical community -- the people I see everyday, some of whom I've known since I was a child, some of whom I know from the restaurant I work at, some of whom I know through my 4 year old's connections. Some from the coffee shop where I sit and work most mornings. Some just from the shops and parks we visit and the streets we walk. But they are people with whom I share very little other than geographical location.

There are also friends, some of them really GOOD friends. But in NYC everyone is so busy struggling to make a living, get the rent paid, get ahead a little for some breathing room, that even my best friends and I sometimes go for two weeks or more without spending time together. And I'm the same way -- most of the time every hour is scheduled - I'm running somewhere, trying to get something done, working all morning and most nights. Very little time for a social life, for quality time spent with people I love, etc.

In Portland, everything is different in beautiful ways. Most of our friends are what in NYC would be called "poor" -- but none seem to be really struggling. Most of them do work they love, have roommates or communal households, spend lots of time involved in activism, community work, thinking outside the box, raising kids together, having potlucks, spending evenings playing music, talking, meeting, communing, being outdoors. Everywhere I go in Portland I meet people I know, friends, doing things they love -- holding skill-sharing workshops, having clothing swaps, pitching in to build something for someone, creating open-mike nights at local cafes, sitting in the sun, teaching neighborhood kids to hula hoop in someone's yard, planting stuff, having cooking-together nights.

The more I get to know myself, the more I realize that one of my biggest joys is the creation of and existence within community. Joy to me includes authentic communication and interaction with like-minded people. Sharing of ideas and values and passions. Feeling included in something beautiful. Feeling heard and understood. Being a part of something I believe in.

Here's an example of a beautiful way to be in community:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/help-sustainable-farmers-join-a-crop-mob.html

How do you create community where you live? How important is it for you to feel included in a community?

I would love to hear about your joy. I lovingly encourage you to leave comments. :-)

Please email Spirithouse@gmail.com to get on our mailing list, and check out www.InArmsCoaching.com for more ways to celebrate your joy and build a life you LOVE to live!!