Blast O' Joy

Create An Open Your Heart Support Team

First find a little quiet time out of reach of pagers, phones, kids, etc.. (I personally love going to the nearest not-too-noisy coffee bar, where I can sit at a table in the corner with a cup of tea.) Then pull out your journal and get busy.

Things I've Most Wanted to Do But Am Most Afraid Of

II. Now draw a line down the center of a new page, and on the left write, People I Hide Myself From. Leave a little space below each name for additional writing. On the right side write, People I Actively Share Myself With. Complete both lists.

Now go back over these lists and below each name, write down why you hide or share yourself with that person.

III. Next, turn to a clean page of paper, and letting your pen flow, create a list of exactly what you really need to fulfill your mission or dream(s) in life. Think qualitatively...do you need quiet morning time, more courage, more training, someone to bounce ideas off of, a really comfortable chair in your home office, more sunlight or some plants? Do you need constructive criticism? Deep encouragement? A tireless supporter who believes in you more than you do? What is it that your soul is asking for now? Let your pen move across the page as you assemble this important list of qualities.

IV. Put that list in front of you, and study it for a moment. Some items are things you can create for yourself, like a comfy chair, or quiet morning time. Tick off those that you can get busy putting in place now. Then circle those that need the help of another person to accomplish, like getting constructive criticism or deep encouragement.

V. Now put that list, and the People I Actively Share Myself With list in front of you. Looking back and forth between the two lists, assemble a group of people who can give you what you really need. This is your Open Heart Support Group. How could each of the people or organizations in this group support you? What do you need from them, specifically? Really try to pinpoint it.

VI. Finally (and this is the most important part), get in touch with the people or organizations on that list. Screw up your courage and approach these folks directly. Share this exercise (and essay) with them, if need be, and see if they'd like to open their heart as well. You can be their supporter in turn.

Feelings and Other Truths I Never, Ever Want Anyone to Know

I. Make the following lists:

If I Could Do Anything in the World, I Would

My Favorite Ezines

I've selected these from several years of receiving all kinds of Free ezines. These are simply the ones I find most useful in dream pursuit, may they serve you well!http://www.tut.com

TUT (Totally Unique Thoughts)

Contrary to popular thinking being worthy isn't something you earn, it's something your recognize. And once you do, you won't be able to think, speak or behave in any other way, than as if what you most wanted, was meant to be.

True! Sign up at

Rat Race Remedies

This is a relatively new zine, and like TUT it's short and sweet. The whole purpose is to get you organized to save money for your dream. Darlene, the editor, has you keeping track of extras you cut out (your Master Saving list), and important financial essentials like your Net Worth. Great for anyone who feels disorganized about money, and a little hopeless about making the break for his or her dream. Sign up at

http://www.RatRaceRemedies.com

Life Design Strategies

This is a feng shui newsletter that really helps you keep track of energy drainers like clutter...and learn more about how that ol' ancient art can enhance your dream. I like this zine's clarity and directness, which makes even doubters like me appreciate the subtleties of energy flow work like feng shui. Sign up at

http://www.lifedesignstrategies.com

(BTW, Vicki, the site owner, offers a "clutter class" that actually supports you step by step on clutter reduction. Great for the new year!)

Success Digest

This is Michael Angier's great, inspiring newsletter. He's been publishing it since 1996, and really understands just what makes the human mind get motivated and keep moving. (Michael offers a free membership in Success Net, his helpful site, with many benefits, including a nice assortment of practical free tools.) His zine just makes a whole lot of sense...I look forward to receiving it. You can sign up on his site at

http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=59595

Parent Preneur Weekly

If you're a parent and working from home, you have special needs. Parent Preneur Weekly gives specific information to help you stay on top of your business, and be more productive. This site has some excellent tools for these time and energy challenged dreamers, like the NoBoss Biz Op of the Month! Sign up at

http://parentpreneurclub.com/cgi-bin/ads/pl.cgi?we

The Buzz Factor

If your dream involves music of any kind, you want this ezine! Bob Baker takes you by the hand through the process of promoting, booking and selling your music. He's a good, experienced guide who's references lean towards pop and rock, but who's info covers the gamut. A recent issue covered the differences between demos and press releases and sales tools. Sign up at

http://www.TheBuzzFactor.com

The New Leaf

I love the way Molly Gordon thinks! She's got another great idea with every issue of this nurturing coaching ezine, which is the voice of her site, "Authentic Promotion". Molly's insights go way beyond the usual coach-babble and I find them refreshing. Sign up at

http://www.mollygordon.com

The Self-Care Minder

How often do we forget to take care of ourselves? Well, how about at least once every hour? Jennifer Louden (my partner in several of my endeavors) knows how to nurture the snarkiest soul, and she shares her wisdom in this bi weekly zine. Funny, profound, great. Sign up at

http://www.comfortqueen.com

Prosperity Tips

Joan Sotkin is a terrific guide in getting out of a low-worth consciousness, and finding a way to think that really builds financial wealth and wisdom. All of which is essential in learning how to live your dream! This ezine is full (and I do mean full!) of practical advice about facing your finances with maturity and courage, no matter what you're background has been. Also, do check out her Build Your Money Muscle Program, which is the real hands-on, down and dirty financial work for the soul. Go to

http://www.prosperityplace.com/c/a/c.cgi?id=hmjc

Here is a novel ezine, and one of my personal favorites! Ever so often, you get a neat little thought sent your way -- short and sweet. A recent entry advised:

Tools For An Inspiring Desktop

The other day I posted about how to develop an inspiring desktop. Here are some tools to use!

On Windows 98 and higher, you can create wallpaper or background images by going into your control panel and clicking on 'Display'. Macintosh computers with OS 8.6 or higher have directions for this in the Help file under 'Changing the Way Your Computer Looks.'

If you're an artist, consider scanning one or several of your favorite works onto your desktop. (If you donÕt have a scanner, chances are your public library, a KinkoÕs or copy shop will.) If your dream includes finding a spouse or having children or living in a beautiful old farmhouse, look for an image that captures the essence of that for you. Use your intuition here.

You can find images to work with in magazines or calendars, and then scan them into your computer. Or if you can get your hands on a digital camera, you can create them yourself. To find royalty free digital images that are free for your use on-line, click on the links below.

Royalty-Free Digital Photographs

(professional-quality photos for free use in screen savers, mouse pads, web sites, on office walls, etc.)

http://www.photodisc.com

A broad collection of all kinds of subjects. http://www.digital-yosemite.com

Great pictures of Yosemite National Park.http://www.amgmedia.com/freephotos/flowers2.html

Beautiful shots of flowers; lots of different varieties.http://www.freephoto.com

Big variety of shots that are free if not used commercially.

What's With Your Screen?

http://www.top10-screensavers.com/html/screensaver_directory.html

6. Create an inspiring desktop. Bring nature to your desktop ... or big city skylines, or just about anything you can think of. Or why not make it something you'd like to create in your life? Unlike a screen saver, you get to look at this image pretty much all day long as you go in and out of certain files. That always helps when it comes to visualizing and manifesting, and creating certain emotional states.

3. Clean up e-mail clutter. Outlook Express and other popular e-mail programs have the capacity to create files for your already read email. This means you can empty out your in-box every time you check it, thus eliminating a lot of the clutter that drains your energy. You can also create file folders that establish business goals for yourself, helping you to visualize their reality in your life. Examples might be folders for Dream Financing, New Clients, Raw Support, Dream Resources, and Hot Offers. (I especially like the Raw Support option, as this file is where you stash your unsolicited raves and supportive comments from friends to pull out when youÕre feeling low.)

4. Create a mouse pad with emotional significance. Think about how many times per day you look at or use your mouse pad. If your mouse pad is a dreary, beaten up affair, or has the logo of the local computer repair place on it, toss it. Replace it with a custom-made mouse pad bearing a photograph of something inspiring -- a quote, or the photograph of a hero in your field. These can be inexpensively made at copy shops like Kinko's and photography stores. Consider putting the name and logo of the company you want to start on it, or your Soul Purpose, or a nature image that strokes your soul. Create a mouse pad from whatever image or words will immediately trigger a sense of spirit or courage in your life.

5. Use motivational software. Imagine a CD that plays gentle soul-soothing music, supplies pictures from nature on demand, and then pops up every so often to remind you of your goals and your dreams, and their divine purpose. I like Paul Bauer's Dream Minder software. It provides a soul-enriching 'space' (and great music!) on your computer, which you can run to whenever you need a little soothing. But even better, it's a motivator that checks in with you now and then (you determine the frequency) to make sure you haven't lost track of your creative endeavors. Undoubtedly other software exists that gets the same job done, but perhaps not so beautifully. You can learn more about it at

http://www.dreamsalive.com/cgi-local/af/b.cgi/842/

These days the average American spends hundreds of hours every month staring into a small screen, and tapping away at a keyboard. We pass more time with our computers than with our children, pets, and spouses combined. Many of us are also dependent on computers to help us do the work of our dreams, whether it be setting up spreadsheets or writing a best-selling novel.

And that's why I think we all need computers with just a tad more soul.

For all their importance in our lives, most computers are still pretty generic heaps of plastic and metal that do little to help us feel spiritually connected or creatively inspired. And yet ... if we are going to use them to live our Soul Purpose, and bring creativity and Spirit into our work, shouldn't they be a tad more personal? Shouldn't they be tweaked a bit so they can offer us soul support when we need it? Inspiration when we're deflated? A shot of creativity every so often?

Here are some suggestions on how to customize your computer so it really does nurture your creative spirit.

1. Put your Soul Purpose, the day's affirmation, or any important message on your screen saver. Most screensaver software has a text option that allows you to type in a phrase that gets repeated against a colored or black background. It's nice way to be reminded of what's really important whenever you casually glance at your screen.

2. Use somebody else's inspiring screensaver.

You can find all kinds of good examples you can download from the Top-10 Screensaver Directory. This is a comprehensive list of many screensaver sites (animals! Christmas!) many of which have downloadable free goodies.

Break Through

Have you ever wondered exactly what makes a creative breakthrough happen? I have...a lot. I got a real blast of insight into this little puzzle the other day, talking to a client I'll call Len.

Len is a lawyer who has always been reliable, responsible, and extremely competent at his craft. But, what he has longed to do more than anything is write. Len's dream is to break free with his writing and relax into it, letting his passion carry him as he lets the words flow. Something his rigidly cast role as a lawyer has not permitted at all.

Recently, however, Len had a breakthrough. At a retreat, he was invited to break a board with his bare hand, much the way karate experts do. Len was mildly intrigued, until a legal form was passed out releasing the teachers of responsibility in case of injury. Suddenly the lawyer in Len was on attack Ð how many people had been through this process and been injured? And how severe were the injuries? How could he be expected to sign this if he didnÕt know what to expect? Len refused to sign.

It was then pointed out to him that the resistance he felt is just what kept him back in life, in general.

At first, Len was annoyed, ready to quit the retreat then and there. (He could always say he had a sudden migraine!) But then his anger melted away as he began quietly running the question through his mind. What was his resistance about, anyway? Was everything in his life always subject to legal analysis? And what was legal analysis if it wasn't always to assume the worst, and hold back passion and impulse in the interest of self-preservation. In short...what was he so afraid of?

Len began to think. Maybe his trouble with accessing his writing had to do with fear. Maybe his whole life was lived out of a fear of bad things happening. Len surprised the group by suddenly being the first to volunteer to break the board. Without a single hesitation, he stepped up to the board and split it in half. The group was amazed, and Len was particularly blown away. In that instant, he'd broken through his fear.

A breakthrough can only happen when the reality we swirl around in (and so seldom see) is clearly analyzed and then chosen or rejected -- even for an instant. In my own work, I've noticed that itÕs the pungency of the question you ask or observation you make that cause this shift to happen.

In workshops, I'm often tempted to hold back, and just be Good Ol' Nurturing Suzanne. ("Sure, it's okay...you don't have to do the exercise.") Yet, that never moves anything forward. If clients are game, it's my job to really get down in the trenches with them and figure out what's going on.

And yet, it's not a matter of getting all muddy and mucky down in that trench as you wrestle endlessly, trying to coerce change. Instead, you have to say the right thing. And that is almost always what you feel in your gut...often the truth that's the hardest to speak.

We shy away from such thoughts because we think we're not up to the job. ("Who am I to say such a thing?Mother would be horrified!") We wonder if we can we really be that brutally honest. Yet, I'm not suggesting you come on like an Army drill sergeant, or one of those old toughies from the est days. (Am I dating myself here?) Instead, I'm suggesting we speak from a place of benevolent honesty; not one of superiority, smugness, condescension, or anything other than plain, simple love.

These are the moments that make breakthroughs happen, fully and completely. Best of all, such observations are gloriously simple, and wonderfully true. All they require is that we trust ourselves to say what we know.

Just another perfect design in an amazing, miraculous world.

Get To Great

The other day, something made me open O Magazine and check out Suze Orman's column. (That good old reliable intuition!) Suze made a wonderful statement: how you treat your money is how you treat yourself.

Think about that for a moment. The notion really stopped me dead in my tracks, because what it all boiled down to was energy. My lifelong habit has been to spend money freely, sometimes downright carelessly. And when I looked at my life, I realized with a jolt that I've been spending my energy freely, and sometimes downright carelessly.

In the back of my mind I've had this long, fat Dream To-Do List much of which has been ripening for a very long time. Meanwhile, I'm so busy I literally can't cram another thing into my life.

The connection one can make is that if you spew energy in too many directions, instead of choosing wisely and carefully, you'll begin to rack up an Energy Debt. And just like a financial one, it will drain you of your natural vitality as you worry about it,

On the other hand, maybe you hoard your money, and so are "stingy" with yourself when it comes to embarking on your dreams and things you really want to do in life. Or perhaps you are always in drama about money, and so are always facing some dramatic consequence when it comes to creating the life you want and need. Perhaps you're scared of money, and so may be scared of what you can create.

All of this pushes us towards a larger realization, which is that we need to dedicate ourselves, simply and wholly, to what author Cheryl Richardson calls our "Yes List". This is the list of ten or twenty things we deeply wish to make happen in our life; our most important tasks that come directly from our Soul Purpose in life. An easy way to make this list is just to get clear on 10 things you know, in your gut, you must make happen before you die.

Once you have that list, keep it nearby. And look at how you go about accomplishing each item. Are you holding back from even beginning it? Or are you having trouble fitting these truly important items into a daily agenda littered with less important tasks? Can you just get on with it, simply, directly?

Please do keep in mind that getting to the items on that list may mean making sacrifices; it may mean "spending" your energy more wisely. For instance, if I want to develop the show I keep thinking about writing, I have to give up performing with my beloved local theater group. Another example might be giving up a friendship with someone who can't support your dream, or giving up the security of a day job that deadens your soul but pays the bills.

Only when we climb out of the safety zone that has been comfortably nurturing us for so long, and move on to the next level, do we make serious progress on our dreams. Cheryl Richardson wisely calls this, "Giving up good to get to great". I love that, because then your sacrifice isn't just about fear and pain; it's about possibility and authenticity.

Just how are you treating yourself these days, and what can you give up to "get to great"? I encourage you to spend your energy wisely, and buy yourself a wonderful, soul-enriching dream -- a gift for yourself, and the world.

Timid Types, Take Note!

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about our propensity to hide; to tuck our greatness away in the safe bosom of inaction and inertia. Given the state of the world, some of us are more inclined than ever to hide. Yet, we can't...at least, not if we plan on being true to God and to the gifts that we've been given. Nonetheless, hiding persists.

I am naturally timid; I always have been, and part of me always will be. Like much of the world, I've spent significant chunks of my life listening to an inner calling to express myself, then doing anything -- anything -- not to answer it.

For most of us timid types, a warning message always flashes off and on in the background whenever we come close to being seen: Danger! Potential Visibility Ahead! We share a pre-disposition for staying in the background, a love for anonymity. And we have a real need not to be known, because this is the only way we think we will ever be truly safe. Yet, there may also be a nagging need to express ourselves, as if God were making some grand karmic joke

For my husband, this shows up as a need to cry sometimes when he runs across stories of social justice, where someone is making a difference in a small but significant way. He cries because he knows this is work he could be doing -- if only he didn't feel such an urge to hide. Deep in our hearts we know that we will not achieve our dreams in life until our tenderest underbelly has been seen. There is simply no other way out.

Hiding often shows up as self-sabotage. It's the emergence of our inner thirteen-year-old, an adolescent basketcase who just wishes Mom would step in and take care of things. My own favorite tactics have included sending out elaborate mailings which I never followed up on, being disorganized and losing key phone numbers and papers, and at one real low point, working hard to get important auditions that I never showed up for. Often we hide out in comfy, unchallenging jobs that surround us with pleasant people, provide a paycheck, and seem benign enough, except that we're not expressing ourselves one tiny bit. Some of us even resort to getting sick in order to lay low.

The ironic thing about all of this is that we hide because we think it will simplify our lives -- and yet, hiding actually takes tremendous energy. You have to put up with situations you hate, and keep making excuses to anyone who will listen, all the while ignoring the persistent emptiness of your life. Then you have to tune out the guilt that keeps playing at a low, steady hum every time you think about what you really should be doing. There is no serenity, or sense of balance to life. All there is is longing, denial, and shame.

For many of us, that shame is all about the messages we got when we were growing up. Some of us, like Alex, a pop songwriter, got chastened to be ladylike when she wanted to climb trees or sing loudly. Alex remembers her own mother as a woman "who never got to express herself, so she felt threatened that I was so expressive." Her mother, and my mother, were part of an entire generation of women in the fifties and sixties who dedicated their lives to their kids, and never got to find out who they were as creative beings. Consequently, a lot of us got shushed, and learned to associate full self-expression with shame and 'inappropriate' behavior.

For others, hiding was a coping mechanism we learned in response to stress. In the case of a friend who is now a nationally known television producer, her own invisibility was originally a way to "get some peace and quiet." Coming from a family of seven children, hiding provided an oasis of tranquillity where she could finally be alone. For Sarah, a ghostwriter, hiding was a way to avoid a demanding, hyperactive sister. But it was also a good destination in itself. "In my own imagination I could be who I was, she says, and I needed to be hidden away alone to be that."

The good news is that when you finally do expose yourself and let yourself be known, the sky does not fall. I know from my own emergence that there is a certain queasiness at first, and a deep suspicion of going public. But then there comes a lightness -- a kind of 'Aha!' and a sense that you are, indeed, in a very, very right place. Things begin to unfold; miracles suddenly happen. And on the heels of that comes a new kind of security, and a deeper sense of connectedness; one that is not in any way empty, or hollow.

Timid types, please take note.

I wrote the following essay for my column in New Age Journal, and am re-printing it here, simply because it says everything I want to say about the power of finally emerging.

Kindred Spirit...Revisited

Because I am on vacation this week, I've decided to run an old essay that was popular when it ran. My best to you! Suzanne

Recently I had the distinct pleasure of speaking at a New Age bookstore/tea salon in Key West, FL called Kindred Spirit. This wasn't a 'must do' stop on the circuit of major bookstores for Authors On Their Way Up. The business was brand new and unknown. In fact, when the owners invited me to speak, they didn't even have a location yet for their store. Still, I had a feeling that this was a place where I had to speak. There was something about Kelly and Karen, the owners, that resonated with me when I met them at a conference. They had a certain intensity, the air of women on a mission. It was clear that their lack of a lease at that moment was pretty irrelevant -- they would have exactly the space they wanted, and it would be great. Not only that, I would do an event with them, and that would be great. The Big G was clearly whispering in their ear.

When I got to Key West, my hunch was confirmed. Here was a beautiful old two-story clapboard house, with a gracious front porch, waving palms, and those cool dark green shutters that are so much a part of the Key West landscape. Every inch of this store held things that were beautiful and unique, each artfully arranged. Karen had hand-painted fresh, original calligraphy on the walls, and they had composed their space so you could wander at will, finding treasures at every turn. There was even a tiny antechamber, beautifully decorated, where you could have a reading with a remarkable psychic. Lace-covered tea tables here and there waited for you to sit down, relax, and have superb cup of tea. The effect of being in Kindred Spirit was that my travel-jagged soul was immediately soothed. This store had the ability to heal people.

That healing comes from what my friends Yannig and Karin calls "the essence". It's an immutable standard for your work that comes from within, a refusal to deliver less than exactly what your soul told you to create. And this takes considerable work. When I met Karen and Kelly, they were coming off of weeks of 12-hour days putting the finishing touches on their store and holding their first event. This is the same kind of effort Yannig, an artisan bread baker, puts into his loaves of Crown Point Bread. It's the same care Karin puts into developing her candlemaking business. It's this slightly insane, but critically important vision you get that pushes you forward, and forward, and forward, until you do create exactly what you want.

And please note that such work is not just a string of non-stop, blissed out moments of creative joy. There are many moments when you want to go home and go to bed. There are just as many when you lie awake worrying. Still, there is something sacred and holy that pushes you forward, whether it be the 'essence' or your own hands-on interpretation of God. Not surprisingly, all of Key West turned out for my talk at Kindred Spirit; the event was electric! All, I say, because people wanted that healing at the heart of Karen and Kelly's hard work.

May be you as moved as I've been by the healing work of all creators, great, small, famous and unknown, who are driven by nothing more than their desire to deliver what they feel. And may you discover the same within yourself.

For more information on Kindred Spirit, call Karen or Kelly at (305) 296-1515 or email kindredspiritinc@cs.com

Take The Plunge

While leading our Writer's Spa in Taos, New Mexico, a few years ago I got a powerful reminder of the importance of being vulnerable.

Your vulnerability...that wormy, queasy, little child feeling you get when you're stepping into rich, new territory, is your sign that you are, indeed, pursuing your dreams as you must. It's the emotional jolt that suddenly puts you in touch with all kinds of humiliating stuff from your past. Your vulnerability makes you feel just plain dumb, and full of doubt.

What if the all-knowing "they" discover what a miserable fake you are?

What if you stumble or make a mistake?

What if your endeavor does not turn out perfectly?

Well. What if?

Your vulnerability is like a well full of pain and fear. It runs cool and deep with all the emotions of your accumulated experience through life. Yet, these are sacred waters. Drink from them, and you'll get in touch with valuable ideas and emotions that can inform your creative work. Sip them from time to time, and you'll stay honest and authentic in your self-expression. Turn to antiseptic bottled water, on the other hand, and you'll lose that achingly perfect, universal tug that can move people to tears. There is no substitute in self-expression for the God's honest truth.

Your well of pain, aka your vulnerability, is the source of all that is truly human and wonderful about your work. And it will elevate your work from just plain competent to brilliant, if you have the courage such truth-telling demands.

Now this does not mean you have to wallow in old painful chapters of your past for days on end. Nor do you have to go around "suffering for your craft" to make it valid. My Writer's Spa co-leader, Jennifer Louden, recommends pulling up those memories by the dipperful -- just enough to refresh and inspire you, without pushing you into a dark emotional funk that seems to have no return.

Why not use the next two weeks to stoke up your courage, and bring the true you out into the light? This may mean trying something you've been aching to do for ages, but somehow "just can't get to". It may mean submitting your creative work for professional review, or making tough cold calls to expand your reach. It may mean asking for something you need you've been afraid to request. It may even mean sitting down to write/paint/create something emotionally wrenching because you know you simply must.

Whatever task you choose, remember that this leap of faith will serve you in the long run. Feeling stupid really is good, because if nothing else, you will grow like a hollyhock, strong in the sun.

Please go forth and take the plunge. Allow yourself to feel stupid! I know you'll be glad you did.

My heart is with you,

Suzanne

If you've taken this ezine for a while, this is not the first time I've gotten on my podium about vulnerability, but bear with me. I have some new, deeper insights to share.

Personal Joy Triggers

Lately, the world has seemed like an especially grim and frightening place; I'm almost afraid to turn on the radio each morning. So in order to help soothe souls, I'd like to offer up this essay which I wrote last spring. May it serve you well!

I was in no mood for joy this morning when I started working on this newsletter. I'd just spent twenty minutes in telephone hell, listening to one recording after another, trying to find an actual customer service representative at one of the long distance phone companies. By the time I hung up, I was convinced I was experiencing the final decline of western civilization. Gradually, as the smoke stopped coming out of my ears, I remembered a certain page on my web site -- a discussion thread on the Joy Boards called Finding Fifteen Things a Day to Be Joyful About. I went there and just read for a few minutes, and as I did the smoke cleared, my mood shifted, and life was good again. It really was as simple as that.

On this thread, people list fifteen things that bring them joy -- and some of them stop by to list them every single day. Some of my favorites: "A walk in the rain on this lazy Sunday." "Sitting in my pajamas on the kitchen floor with my three year old grandson, eating spoonfuls of peanut butter before breakfast." "The moss on a tree outside my window." "The energy I received walking around the strip in Vegas on a Sunday morning." "Being in bed, getting ready to fall asleep, and having my cat curl up on my belly and purr like a diesel engine." "The dancing smiles of friends." "That my neighbor is an 88 year old woman who grows a garden all year long, and does her own yard work."

There is something almost hypnotic about reading what makes others joyful, yet listing them for yourself is even more powerful. In fact, it's remarkably soothing. No matter how sophisticated we think our brains may be, they don't seem capable of holding both tormented, anxious thoughts and happy thoughts at the same time. So by stopping for a moment, and forcing yourself to think about what makes you happy in life, you get a profound perspective shift. Suddenly, the desert you wandered in only a few minutes earlier is gone, and you're back making brownies in the kitchen with a child, each of you licking a beater. I can't emphasize enough what a powerful tonic this is for healing the furious, fed up, frustrated, or just plain downtrodden soul.

In terms of pursuing your dreams, this is also a useful tool. In just a few moments, it can snap you out of your 'beleaguered victim at the end of a long,hard work day' mode into one that's far more productive. I urge you to stop in at our website and list fifteen of your own personal joy triggers on the Joy Boards.