How to Create More Joy

We can all use more joy!

Joy is empowering. 

Joy is expanding. 

Joy is actually a natural state for you, it’s just that most of us have been conditioned to think it’s not. 

Today I wanted to give you some ideas for cultivating more joy, empowerment and expansion. The more you feel it, the more natural it seems. 

1. Be intentional about joy. Look for it. Notice it. Putting on a lovely body cream can give you joy. But not if you’re rushed and not paying attention. It becomes one more thing to do. Let the small mundane things in life be part of cultivating joy. Set the intention to notice how lovely that cream is and how good it feels on your body! Then think of ten other mundane things in your day you can turn into little hits of joy! 

2. Small things matter. These tulips I bought for $10 have been bringing me joy for days! It’s a small thing, but because I am intentional about creating joy, those tulips become a hit of joy! 

3. Be grateful and appreciative for the many things in your life that bring you joy! A few big things might come to mind right away; a relationship that brings you a lot of joy, your home, or a recent vacation, but don’t forget the small things that you probably take for granted; the way your heart beats without you asking it to, the fact that you have hot water you can access by turning on the tap… every day, all day! The books you have or the beautiful clothes you have (even if you have some you don’t think are beautiful) we are surrounded by so many wonderful things! Being grateful for them increases the joy in our lives. 

What do you say, how about we work on cultivating more joy, together! My week started with the tulips. What will you do to cultivate joy in your life today? Hit reply and let me know!

Live Lavishly Light Episode #28

Are you tired? Stressed? Tired of putting off what's important to you? 

Today's Live Lavishly Light Episode is for you! Learn how the stress hormone, cortisol, is literally killing us, while the happiness and pleasure hormone, serotonin, will bring you health, productivity and creativity. 

Make pleasure a priority! I've got a new program, Pleasure Power, coming. You can find out more about it here.  

Live Lavishly Light Episode #11

Feeling not creative enough? 

Maybe you don't feel like you're creative at all. 

I've got news for you. All of us are creative. We all may not be painters or writers, but we are creative. 

In today's episode, we'll explore creativity and I'll give you a couple of tips for how to cultivate creativity in your life. 

Let me know if you try out the tips and how they work for you in the comments below! 

xoxo

Brenda

How do you get your creative juices flowing?

How do you get your creative juices flowing?

Maybe you don't feel like you have any creative juice to get flowing! I'm here to tell you, that's not true!

All of us are creative.

We all have ideas.

Every new invention, every piece of art, every object in this beautiful world began as an idea. A thought.

From thought to form.

Every time we take a thought, or idea, and make it real, turn it into form, we are creating.

When you think of it that way, you've created a lot!

Creative space.

It's a lot easier to turn those thoughts and ideas into form when we give ourselves the space to cultivate and nurture our creative juices. Sometimes we spontaneously create something. The idea comes out of nowhere, we act on it and BAM! There it is! The painting, the blog post, the book, the freshly cooked dinner.

For me, it's much more likely that I create a space for myself that encourages my creative juices. What does that mean? I set the intention for this weekend to be one of creative space. I have a new program I'll be releasing soon, I want to free up some time to do more one-on-one coaching and I have some ideas about cool stuff I want to create for the holidays (they'll be here before we know it!) What will I do this weekend to make creative space for myself? Here's how it will look

• No deadlines or activities to go to. I want to feel the freedom of open time.
• Feed myself first. I've selected a couple of specific things to nurture my heart and soul.
• Order. That may sound odd, but I want my house in order. I don't want to create in chaos, so I planned ahead and did the chores I might do on the weekend during the week.
• Nature. I love to spend time in nature when I'm in my creative space. I'll go for a walk. If I can get near water (a river, ocean, pool, any water will do) I do that, I live on the third floor and back up to a wooded area. Sometimes sitting in my lovely living room looking out at the trees and sky is just what I need.
• Movement. I might hit the gym for a while, or go for a walk, but my body needs to move. This is not second-nature to me. I have to work on this, but I do notice that moving my body gets my energy moving and that really helps my mind be more creative.
• Love. Self-love. This means no judgment. No criticism. I don't look at what I create and label it as, not good enough. Even if I re-work it or create another version of it. Whatever I create, I love and value for what it is. Loving a 'raw' version of something opens me up to seeing what it might grow into. If I judge and criticize, it shuts off my creative energy.
• Enough Already! Yes, rather than focussing on how my creation isn't good enough, big enough, brilliant enough or whatever 'not enough' thing that might cross my mind, I remind myself that I am enough already. That I have everything I need, right now. The seed of every creation, every idea, every program, every gift I might bring to the world is in me. My job is to give it the love and nurturing it needs to be born. I am enough already.

What will you create?

What are you yearning to create in your life?

Will you give yourself the time and space to create it?

This I know for sure, the world needs what you yearn to create.