What Brings You Joy?

I come from the land of drought.
No, I'm not talking about the fact that I live in Los Angeles  ;)
I'm talking about my background of foundational beliefs.
Call it family, religion, culture, whatever.
The fact is, I was raised to believe that there is never enough and you better hold on to what you've got.
With that came the belief that you should be stringent and not splurge.
Of course, it's not good to splurge without a sense of balance.
But when you are focused on save, save, save, not enough, not enough, not enough, you soon find yourself holding back in every area of life.
I used to love to listen to music and dance in my room and draw and paint just for the joy of it.
As I got older and became immersed in the disappointments of life, I started to hold back from enjoying all the things I loved.
Self punishment?
Who knows.
All I know is that, one by one, I started cutting out all the things in life that once gave me joy.
After many years I found myself living in a desert, dying of thirst, with nothing to nourish me to continue on for another day.
If you come from a crazy background like mine, you even believe that that kind of deprivation makes you a certain kind of holy and godly person, which is so not true because pretty soon it backfires and you feel so angry at life that you soon find yourself not anywhere near being any kind of holy and godly person.
I mean, how holy and godly can you be when you no longer see a reason for living?
And even if you still think that depriving yourself is the "holy" thing to do, what happens when someone else needs your help?
What do you have to give them when you have nothing to give?
In order to have joy in your life you must allow yourself to enjoy the things in life that give you joy.  And when you keep filling your life with joy, not only will life be so much better for you, but when someone else is hurting and finding it hard to find joy, you will have plenty of joy to give.
Which brings you even more overflowing joy and a grateful heart.
So what brings you joy?
Taking a walk?
Reading a novel from your favorite author?
Painting?
Listening to your favorite music?
Think about what brings you joy, and then do yourself and the world around you a favor.
Go out for that walk.
Open up that book.
Bring out those paintbrushes.
And turn up the music.
Indulge in what brings your life joy.
And your drought will soon give way to a rain of blessings.
Wishing you a Happy Heart,
Carol B.