Screaming for Joy

Kids are screaming on the top of their lungs for the pure joy of it. The air is sweltering, still and humid. Hardly any car noises are breaking the blissful peace of a late summer day. Adults, even though it is only mid-morning, are already conservative with their movement, seeking the shelter of air-conditioned homes. But the kids are screaming. It is so much fun to be alive! To move! To breath! To feel the sweat trickling down your neck, feel the skin being cooled by air movement created by running fast. Yeah! Feeling good.

Do you remember when or how you lost this pure joy of living? Or are you one of the few who have held on to it, no matter how many years have gone by? I hope that for you, the later statement is true. For many of us, it is not. Today, one of the newsletters I subscribe to, tiny buddha, featured this quote:

“As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” -Marianne Williamson

The post elaborates on the importance of doing what we want instead of what we think we need to do. You can read it for yourself, it is worth it and I won’t elaborate today. However, it made me think of a recent experience I had.

A good friend of mine, Ina Lukas, who is deeply involved in the Levity Project, started a 30-day challenge club on Facebook. We all posted something we were committing to do for the next 30 days and used the group for accountability, to share our successes and struggles, for support or to be supportive. The challenges included keeping a gratitude journal, putting on lotion every day, Hula hooping, doing Yoga, loosing weight, cleaning out closets—and the list goes on. 

As I was posting all the things I was going to do, I started to realize that my biggest challenge might be not to take on too much. As the days of the challenge went on, I found myself being more and more reluctant to do the activities I had committed to, and I realized that I had chosen things I felt I should do. Yes, they were good for me and/or needed to be done, but the idea of having to do it, even a self-imposed have to, made them so much less attractive. Finally, I conceded that my real challenge was to examine how I am choosing to spend my days. The first step was to get clarity on what it is I really want—how do I want my life to look. This led me to rethink just about every commitment I had on my time and ask myself the following questions:

•  Is this activity in line with my overall goal? 
•  Or is it at least a step towards it?
•  Do I enjoy it?
•  If no, can I afford to let go of it?

I will write about this process more later, suffice it to say that I gave up teaching several classes and pulled back from other activities to free time I can now use to run around like a little kid screaming for joy—well, if I really want to.