I believe every one of us was designed to be happy, yet we are missing opportunities every day to create joy in our lives. And quite frankly, we believe that external joy is real joy, when in fact it’s a fallacy. Real joy only comes from within and that joy can only manifest authentically to the degree that we are willing to do the work to be happy. I understand that may feel easier said than done, but the more I dig into the Course in Miracles, the more I’m reminded that we absolutely have the ability to control our happiness.

Happiness at the end of the day is an inside job. We may be fortunate to have amazing external experiences, but just think about it, when the buzz from those experiences have passed, we are only left with self. And if you are in inner turmoil, then that’s exactly what you’ll have to face. We have all heard the stories about people who appear to have ‘everything’ on the surface, but are miserable. Nothing outside of ourselves can create real happiness in our lives. Only we can do that.

As long as we continue to think that people and things are to blame for the lack of peace we have in our lives, then we will never achieve true happiness. That can only be done by working through whatever is blocking us from being happy. And unfortunately that’s the work, and it’s hard work, or least that’s what we hear, but is that not a mindset? What if we reframed that idea to be something more useful for us, like ‘I’m going to do this work and my life will forever be changed as a result’ or ‘this work is going to make me come more into myself’ or ‘this work will help me find more joy’. All those perspectives provide an open pathway for us to enter into and to do the work in whatever way we so choose.

Although I’m a licensed professional counselor, and believe wholeheartedly in the power of therapy, I have done my ‘joy work’ through a lot of mechanisms. There is a saying, “when the student is ready, the teacher will come”, and my teachers have been therapy, books, community gatherings, retreats, vacations, coaching, and more. In other words, when you’re on the journey to self actualize, which I believe epitomizes what it means to be happy, we will discover that everything and everyone can serve as a source of ‘teaching’ if we allow it. If we are ready. 

And back to this idea of hard work…would you rather be stuck in the cycle of unhappiness until God knows when, or decide to do the work, knowing that little by little as you work it, little by little you will find more peace and joy? I don’t know about you, but I would rather take the latter. We can conjure up 1,000’s of reasons to stay the same, drowning in a life devoid of real joy. Or we can choose today to be open to all the light we can hold. So what’s holding you back from doing the work? Whatever it is, you can decide today that you will no longer let anything interfere with your divine birthright to be joyful. 

If you’re ready, one of the ways we can help you do the work is through our Be Well Beautiful Woman Retreat which is an all-inclusive luxurious experience overlooking Gull Lake October 25-27. We just launched a special that if you book with someone else you both will get $150 off using code SAVE150. We also have a programming only option. Feel free to message me for more information!

In the spirit of joy & peace,

Demarra West

Founder