No matter how many times I read about it and hear about it, I still seem to struggle with the simple fact that we should always, and I mean always, lean into joy in life.
And by leaning into joy I mean to trust our excitement, and our passion to provide us with all that we could possible need.
Your soul chooses for happy
Too often we have old-fashioned ideas about abundance, and how to achieve it. I received this lessons again last week. You see, I’m not highly motivated by money, but of course it’s on the top 10 things to look for in a new job for example. After all, I deserve to have a comfortable life with nice opportunities.
Previously in my career I have tried to play the game by choosing for things purely based on their potential to bring me money. I tried negotiating a raise, and always failed. I tried to aim for higher functions, and burned out. It was just not in the stars for me, I thought, at least not in the corporate game.
But still, for years on end, no matter how much of a mismatch I felt with what I was doing, I pushed ahead because I wanted to ‘get ahead’, financially.
Your soul rarely says ” You must do this; you should do that.” Your souls says “Isn’t this delightful? Doesn’t this bring you great joy? Wouldn’t you love to do more of it?”
Creating Money by Sanaya Roman & Duane Packer
After years of trying and failing, I finally gave up. Or rather, I gave in. F*** it, I thought, I will choose for happiness. I will choose for joy and energy, for functions that I am good at, despite them making my ego cringe (because, I somehow should be more).
I choose based on other things than money, because I’m tired of being unhappy and tired. I choose freedom from difficult decisions, I choose for balance and no crazy working hours. I choose to play on my strengths, instead of always trying to push beyond my limits and hide my weaknesses. I choose transparency, openness and honesty. I choose to be who I am, to do only what makes me excited, to always try my best and I choose to be proud of myself.
With this decision I thought I was also choosing for a certain level of income. Because there was just no money in choosing joy, right?
Lean into joy
And the moral of the story? Well, as I have been leaning into joy in my work, being super excited and oddly confident, something happened. Abundance found its way to me when I wasn’t looking. I “accidentally stumbled across” a job that offered better pay than I ever thought possible for my fun kind of function.
I applied, and was my honest self in the interviews. Not hiding, not pretending. I talked about my ego and about wanting to be happy. I talked about what excites me and what I have learned in life. You get what you see, I’m done with games. And you know what? I got hired.
This was a small but important reminder for me, a reminder I apparently need to experience over and over. Because there is still so much joy I could lean into. So much I want to do, but am hesitant because, you know, will it support me and my family? But I will keep trying. Small steps at a time I will lean into joy, and let go of the rest.
What makes you happy?
It’s odd how hard it is for us to lean into joy, and believe that abundance will follow. It’s hard, because our inner guidance, which is joy and excitement, does not always lead us to instant gratification. It looks out for long-term sense of inner accomplishment and satisfaction. As Sanaya Roman & Duane Packer mention in their book ” Creating Money”, our inner guidance speaks in many different ways, but always through self-love and feeling good about what you are doing.
Yet we are programmed to think that only hard work and misery will bring us abundance. But how could it? Abundance is energy, and if we are grinding teeth and feeling miserable, this is not the right vibration to attract abundance.
Even if it doesn’t seem to make sense, there is always a benefit in leaning into joy. And how do we lean into joy? By trusting our voice of intuition, trusting that our feelings of joy and delight will always lead us towards our higher good. By choosing the better-feeling option of the available choices.
By not being afraid of being happy with what actually makes us happy.