Joy is the Shortest Road to Healing
I used to be a relationship control freak. I wanted to control every aspect of every relationship in my life while desperately trying to pretend that I was extremely laid back and cool. It was pretty much a full time job and not very spiritually or emotional mature.
I won’t go into the gory details, but that path led me into the rooms of relationship recovery over 13 years ago. Friend of Lois, anyone?
I started in Al Anon (for friends and families of alcoholics) not because I had any particular alcoholic loved ones but because I was getting emotionally drunk on trying to control my girlfriend’s every behavior. She has since escaped - God bless her - but it was a long few years.
It’s cringy to even type that out (but maybe you’ve been there too). Usually I just pretend I was born a perfectly formed 35 year old and lived a wonderful, successful, calm few years since then.
But the truth is it was pretty difficult being a relationship control freak. It made everything feel so serious. Like, deadly serious. Like I have to make this person love me exactly the way I think they should or I’ll die. Honestly it sometimes felt like that!
So God bless the rooms of recovery where I met other former control freaks who taught me how to release my desperate grip and get some relief.
Feeling trapped in a control cycle? Sometimes you’ve made an unconscious agreement we can uncover and remake in a healthy way. Book a Clairvoyant Counseling session to find out.
The thing I remember most from the first few months in the rooms was how much people laughed. In particular, how much they laughed at me. Or at least it felt like they were laughing at me. It took me a few years to realize they were laughing with me, only I didn’t know I was supposed to laugh too.
I would share at meetings about horrible things that were happening in my life. Usually along the lines of how horrible it was that people weren’t doing what I thought they should do. And then I would describe my serious and important efforts in getting them to ‘see the light’ and the whole room would errupt in laughter!
This was humbling enough that I didn’t share for a while. But I kept going to meetings and kept learning that the one who actually needed to see the light was me.
One day, I heard a newcomer share something about her desperate and outlandish attempts to fix, manage, and control the people around her. The room started laughing, I started laughing, and to my delight she started laughing too.
It gave me the courage to share again, and when people laughed, I also laughed this time.The miracle was that the laughter started to heal me. I could see myself a little better and say “Oh wow, I’m the insane one. That’s funny!”
I began to laugh more in all parts of my life. I began to actually enjoy myself and the people around me. Since then, joy itself has been one of my foundational practices.
Joy shows up in my personal rituals, I laugh with clients in every call, and I somehow found a very funny partner and get to enjoy his great jokes all the time. And I don’t even control him that much! Or at least I try not to.
Curious about this anti-control pro-enjoyment path of healing? Lucky for you I’ve collected all my joy practices in one place and put them in one big fat online course for you to use. All the juicy details are below and I hope you have a very enJOYable day.
In Pursuit of Joy - Starts February 14th!
Module One - What’s Blocking your Joy? Teachings and practices for overcoming apathy, stimulus overwhelm, future tripping, expectations, and control
Module Two - The Mystical Roots of Joy. We’ll discuss the Upanishads, ananda/bliss, the prophets of Yahweh, the teachings of Yeshua and Christ Consciousness, and joy as an ancient path of modern truth
Module Three - The Masters of Joy. Judas and the joy of fulfilling your destiny, Gabriel and the joy of catalyzing change, Magdalena and the joy of spiritual clarity, and more
Module Four - The Purpose of Joy. On being drunk with joy as taught by Mirabai, Hafez, St. Teresa of Avila, and Rumi as well as the hierarchy of angelic beings some of whom are simply useless with joy
Module Five - Joy is a Flow State. Exploring the true nature of flow states, how to enter one, and joy and spiritual practice are dependent upon flow state access
Module Six - Joy is the Path to Spirit. Enjoying people as a healing medicine, using joy as the bridge of connection, and how joy and gratitude empower your whole life.
Cost is one payment of $315, three payments of $105, or you can use your 15% discount if you’re a Mighty Networks member. Course is 6 modules to be completed at your own pace and includes one Clairvoyant Counseling session with me - a $165 value.
FREE Joy Intro Convo - February 12th 6:30pm MT
Grab your evening beverage and come join us to get all the juicy deets for In Pursuit of Joy.
I’ll go over the course content, guide you through a mini-joy practice, and answer any questions you may have about the course. There will probably be some bible jokes in there too, if I can swing it.
This is a great opportunity to connect with other students and me, your instructor Rev. Cindy, to see if it will be a good fit for you.
Join us on Zoom on February 12th at 6:30pm MT.
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Artwork? Top image is Jubilee Procession in a Cornish Village by A.G. Sherwood Hunter. Second image is by Song of the Wind by Chen Yanning.
