Doing Your Being

Last Friday, I did a little Inner Journey of my own – to some music, of course! As I let my breath take me to levels deeper than waking consciousness, the opening tracks were full of celebration and life. I felt as if the dancers were sharing the energy of the music and their pounding feet with the Earth itself – and that somehow all were participating in deep appreciation of being alive. Yes, the Earth, too! And as Life coursed through plants, their buds burst forth into beautiful blooms and vibrant colors filled my inner sight with Beauty.

It’s interesting that this experience followed several weeks of doing my best to be more mindful of Joy. I attended a weekend retreat Jan. 11-13th in which the presenter put out a variety of different photo-sized pictures on a table, asking us to select the one that moved us the most. There were mothers and babies, a galactic spiral with an infant, older people with smiles shining from their wrinkles and one with several spiritual leaders. I was about to pick the one with the galaxy and the newborn, until one at the end of the table caught my attention. I immediately grabbed it – an expression of the most pure Joy I’ve seen in a long time.

I hear that this photo has made many appearances in a variety of online places and no one has apparently been able to find where/how it originated. So I hope it’s OK to re-post here so you can see what injected a good dose of that elusive emotion (for me, anyway) into my day.

This image of the laughing girl and camel now graces my bathroom mirror and the drawing I did after my bliss-filled journey is propped up on my dresser. Life is meant to be joyful. In fact, whenever I get in touch emotionally with Life, I can feel its joy! My work with the Essene Gospels has brought this to my awareness. (As I’ve shared on this blog before, Joy has not been an emotion I’ve had much familiarity with over the years.)

Joy is also the Essence of “doing your Being,” as my mentor Jacquelyn Small used to drum into us. Nature does its being. Even in the cold weather, the birds have been singing away. I think of them reveling in awakening to a new day and being their cheerful selves (well, that’s how their songs impact me… I’ll admit to anthropomorphizing before I’m accused!)  And while the trees are sleeping in these shorter days and colder temperatures, I have no doubt that when they are nudged by Spring into another season of warmth and light, they experience delight in being able to leaf out and come into the fullness of their Being as Summer reaches its zenith.

And a "coincidence" -- while the Joy-filled photo was put out on a Sunday, my exultant inner journey occurred on Friday. Friday is Angel of Joy day, of course!

I’m doing what I can to be in Joy today – even if it’s just a little. How about you?