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by those who have been conditioned to give and received them .
In the early 90 ’ s I married a man who for the last 25 years has shown me how to be happy without all the strings attached . My beloved Thomas is one of my greatest teachers on this Earth walk . Since the beginning of our love story , he ’ s demonstrated loving kindness , patience , compassion , and he wakes up every day happy to be alive . I ’ m incredibly grateful to be married to this extraordinary man . And guess who thought I might enjoy listening to Brian Tracy back in the day ? Yup , you guessed it .
Part of the beauty of being married to a loving and positive partner , along with doing the work of deep healing and personal transformation , is the realization that happiness comes from within . Happiness is an inside job . We simply get to choose how we wish to feel . We get to choose if we want to be happy or pissed off . We get to choose whether we wish to be joyful or moody . We can choose to be trust and surrender or crawl out of our skin annoyed by our circumstances .
When we make a conscious effort to choose happiness , we can tap into our stores of joy at any time through awareness , mindfulness , music , dance , Yoga , painting , gardening , and lots of laughter . And when something comes up that makes us feel sad , we can still find peace in the support of a trusted friend and remember that our sadness will eventually pass . Most days I find happiness right under my feet in the tiniest of wonders .
My signature coaching system includes a lesson about how you can be more mindful of each moment of happiness you experience each day . I call this simple and powerful exercise Joy Spotting™ . Every time
I bring Joy Spotting™ to a new audience or private client , they get fired up about how easy it is to practice and habitually infuse more happiness into their lives .
The art of Joy Spotting™ is cultivating keen awareness of the great and crushing beauty that is all around you . This practice helped me open my eyes to the pleasure of daily life and how to be present for the moments that fill my heart with joy . I cherish experiences like watching the sunset over Lake Michigan , spotting a Bald Eagle flying over northern skies , or the sound of my sweet Mulan kitty purring her face off . I adore listening to my daughter laugh and witnessing my husband create something new with great care . I love adding paint to an empty canvas and love to enjoy a peaceful nap on a weekend afternoon . These are the precious moments of being alive .
Joy Spotting™ has also been a great way to keep my family close . We often share our discoveries at the dinner table . And , even when one of us has faced a difficult day , we can always come up with at least a few joyful experiences that made us pause and smile .
I invite you to create a list of items , experiences and moments which make you feel joyful for one day . Hell , you may even end up with more than ten ! What little wonders will make your Joy Spotting™ list ?
SHANN VANDER LEEK - Shann Vander Leek is a podcast coach , producer , and voice over talent . She ’ s CEO of Podcast Bath , and host of the Anxiety Slayer podcast with 12.5 million downloads . Shann is the voice you hear introducing Linda Joy ’ s radio shows , interviews , and commercials . Click here to claim Shann ’ s Free Gift : “ How to Create a Podcast Recording Studio ”. Learn more about her services at www . PodcastBath . com .
WISDOM & SELF-GROWTH
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