I’m not much of a political animal, but it’s hard not to be sucked in to what’s happening in the world given the crazy times we are living in. Last year was Brexit, where I was shocked to wake up on June 24 and discover more people in the UK chose isolation over inclusion.
Then November 8, I was horrified to discover the majority of Americans elected a man who I describe as a bull in a china shop, who has no diplomacy, no tact, and not to mention has limited respect for women and human rights (yes, I’m being very diplomatic).
My mind truly boggled at how that could possibly have come to pass.
I turned to my spiritual mentor to ask her what the f**k was going on and in a very rough paraphrase, she shared that these choices were essentially an outpouring of anger at the “establishment”, and choosing Trump was the only power they felt they had to express their dissatisfaction and disappointment in a system they felt had betrayed and abandoned them. And Hillary, of course, is seen as part and parcel of that establishment.
Understanding why people chose Trump helped me to soften and have more compassion for those people, but it didn’t help alleviate the fact that there is a whole world out there that is on tenter hooks, there is a volatile, unpredictable man in one of the most powerful positions in the world, and people are deeply afraid of what will come next.
People are worried about how it will affect financial markets, how will it affect world peace, trade relations etc etc. And while those things may feel removed from your everyday, that uncertainty affects our fundamental feeling of safety.
And when we feel uncertain and unsafe, we reside in fear.
And right now, I’m sure you’d agree, there is a groundswell of fear and it’s prevalent everywhere.
The day Trump was inaugurated I spoke to several friends who all had a bad day, swirling around in doubts and fears about their life and business, and it was the same for me (and I hadn’t even clocked it was his inauguration day). I received emails from people like Danielle LaPorte talking about the “collective pain”.
What I’m saying is, we’ve got to stop believing we’re unaffected and unconnected. We can’t bury our head in the sand and pretend world events won’t affect us.
We have to let go of the illusion that we’re separate. We’re not!! We are feeling beings and rarely do we remain unaffected by what goes on around us.
If you accept this as the truth, then the bigger picture here is that when the majority of the world is residing in fear, the rest of us have a hell of a time trying to not get sucked into the muck.
Fear is insidious and my god does it take strength and courage to not dwell in it and choose the light instead. To choose love. Compassion. Kindness and understanding.
Not only do we have to go against a collective fear, we also have to battle our own programming and tame or primal responses. No mean feat!
But if we don’t choose to be brave right now at this critical juncture on our planet, the consequences won’t be pretty.
We cannot individually dwell in fear and hope the world will reflect love.
Doesn’t work that way.
Truth is, every single one of us has a desire for something else, for something more. Greater connection, deeper love, to feel seen, heard and understood for who we truly are, without judgement, and to feel like our life has meaning and purpose. We all want those things whether we admit to them or not.
But all of that is hard to come by, and even harder to hold on to, when we are dwelling in fear. When we’re in fear we close our hearts. We choose protection over connection. We stay in the known rather than adventure into the unknown. We choose average, over extraordinary. We play safe, which often means we don’t expand into the fullest version of who we are or what our life could be.
I share this with you as someone who deeply understands dwelling in fear, playing it safe, and keeping myself within the bounds of the familiar. But I also share this with you as someone who wants MORE. Deeper connections, more love, more brilliance, more joy, more expansion. And I am someone who is committed to that vision and willing to be courageous enough to step toward it, to choose love and joy over fear, as often as I can.
And this year, given what’s happening in the world, it’s really hit home why sharing the message of joy is so important. More than ever I want to help my community, I want to help you, understand that joy is a path back to love.
If you’re swirling in fear, you can use joy as a bridge back to love.
And you need to get that right now, because the world can’t wait any longer.
Imagine that every single person in the world has a little spark of joy inside them. And each of those sparks is connected by a gossamer thin golden thread, creating a web of interconnectedness around the world. Just like we can all be affected by global fear through this connection, we can also be carried away by a human tide of joy and love too.
If you want to help affect global change, you need to turn YOUR spark into a flame. Become a beacon of joy and love for your family, your friends, your community and the world.
We have to wake up my friend and realise that each and every one of us has to start making brave, conscious choices if we want our lives to be better. If we want the world to be better.
Turn off the TV.
Stop reading the paper.
Make plans for how you’re going to change your corner of the world.
Create a joyful band of friends or family who want to create change with you.
Commit to having uplifting conversations – focus on solutions rather than dwell in problems.
Be brave in choosing compassion over criticism (toward yourself too).
And for god’s sake, make joy your ally.
Choosing joy is radical. It’s not selfish, it’s going to be our salvation.
Joy is one of the highest vibration emotions there is – its frequency is even higher than love.
So I’m not blowing smoke when I say “follow your joy, it will lead the way”. It really will.
If you’re stuck in fear, your heart is closed. And the world needs your heart to be open. And joy is a beautiful bridge between the two.
Keep it simple…
- Do what you enjoy
- Spend time with those you love
- Do work that lights you up
- Read books that inspire you
- Watch films that uplift you (or just make you giggle)
- Keep your outlook positive, as often as you can
It’s time to act, my friend. To take small steps to fan your inner flame.
Today I invite you to start infusing your corner of the planet with more joy and love than ever before.
Here are 3 of my favourite questions to help:
“What about this lights me up?” – Do MORE of it.
“How can I add more fun to this?” – Add MORE of it.
“What would love do in this situation?” – Feel MORE of it.
We can do this together, one ignited flame at a time.
Bless you and thank you for letting joy show you the way.
In gratitude,
Lynn
PS. If you want to learn what it really means to “follow your joy”, then you might want to check out Joy School, a 6-week online adventure that breaks down HOW to embrace joy from daily habits to cultivating a joyful mindset. Doors open again later this year, so read more and register your interest here.