I get excited when change and transformation are afoot and that is because my inner Maximizer naturally starts tracking the light. It is not that I ignore the unfortunate circumstances, oppression, and inhumane acts of violence. How could I? It is to say that I center the light of humanity especially those whose breath, light, and life were diminished and lost in trauma. No, I get excited about change and transformation for the clear and evident choice that gets put on the table. Will you evolve with humanity in an ever-changing world or will you fight to live in the shadows of the past, in a lifetime that has already been lived?
"Sorry for the journey,
but grateful for the evolution."
So, as people keep fighting for their basic human rights, on the battlefields of their oppressors, trying to breathe, I center their breath, voice, and wisdom so that it can be carried onward as we build a path forward, beyond the battles, one that is grounded in joy. From the wisdom of my joy, I center and honor the fact that people are not designed to fight. I, we, name the fact that the world keeps fighting about very minute and basic differences in our DNA, freedom of choice, truths that have already been lived. This is what actually distracts us from our own evolution. In joy, I will continue to uplift the light so that we can build, not from destruction, survival, and trauma, but from overcoming, wisdom, and that which is already working well.
"We can't cultivate a better world from the battlefield and wonder why we can't stop fighting. In joy, we can lead from our wisdom within and inspire a world of opportunity."
When you center joy, it is easier to give weight to all of the positive things that are happening despite the struggles of the world. There is so much light in the world right now and people are moving from their joy within to continue to show up and empower people forward. I wonder if we can listen to that light, lift it, and let is become the wisdom from which we move.
- Lights are turning on and people are waking up to the harsh realities that their fellow human beings have had to face on their own so that we can stand, together, in solidarity.
- People and organizations have joined forces to collectively move together for a just community and better world.
- Voices (known and unknown) have risen above the struggle and offered sanctuary to communities that are grieving and hope to those whose liberation is being lost in the shadows.
- Leaders who have pushed forward in ways that call humanity forward in real and tangible ways through policy changes, campaigns, etc.
- Oppressive systems images are being removed, questioned, and re-claimed.
- Corporations are standing in harmony with humanity and putting their power and budgets behind their values.
- The very underpinnings of who is seen as a quality leader in the world are being challenged with a new call for accountability.
If there is this much light in the midst of all of this struggle then I wonder what else is possible if we simply follow our joy within. I have had times in my life when I could only learn from struggle. My soul, exhausted from the journey, finally said enough. But, then I had to ask myself, if I am not going to learn from drama and trauma, what am I going to learn from? That is when I gave myself permission to listen, learn, and lead from joy. My entire world flipped right-side-up and around. All of a sudden I had access to all this data about some of my most favorite moments of me showing up in my whole self, amazing things that I had done in my life, what was working well for me. Similar to how one feels after a really good chiropractic adjustment, my soul stood straight up and just knew how to be and move with ease.
Knowing what I now know about joy, I wouldn’t want humanity to have to continue to learn from the trauma of struggle. It is such a long and arduous never-ending journey that I don’t think we can afford anymore. It is time to live and lead from the knowingness that the our wisdom of our joy within is sufficient for our evolution. if we could only name it, hone, it and track it above all the noise.
Lead from the data on the other half of your soul.
Build Pathways Of Systematic Joy
It is time to focus on building pathways of systematic joy, so that we all have somewhere to go when all of this fighting is done. You can’t wait for the battle to end to build. You will be too tired. The resources will be exhausted. The opportunity is to stop fighting a fight that has already been fought, and won, and keep building everything that you need for your own continued liberation. We must build now so that there is an easy and clear path for people to follow. To build that path we need data on what is working well. We need to know what is giving the breath of joy to us, our families, communities, organizations, and society. That is what #JoyMove is all about. Join us in tracking joy so that we can collect all of the data that will inform a bigger, better, and, certainly, brighter future for us all.
Your joy is critical for our collective evolution.