Abundance of Joy: How to Live a Joy-Filled Life

by Helen Martino-Bailey

Overview

Abundance of Joy offers a holistic approach to joy.

In providing new insights, this comprehensive guide teaches you how to draw the best out of life through joy. You’ll discover the keys to attaining heartfelt joy and develop life-skills that promote joyful feelings.

Filled with exercises, visualisations and techniques that are quick and easy to apply, Abundance of Joy is a valuable source that will enhance your life. Its extensive array of tips, tools and suggestions will help you:

• enjoy life more

• improve the way you think and feel

• make better life choices

• reduce ego control

• increase your ability to experience joy

• improve your sense of wellbeing

No matter what’s happening in your life, this inspiring book will teach you HOW you can live it with more joy!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452507019
Publisher:	Balboa Press
Publication date:	06/14/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	441 KB

Read an Excerpt

ABUNDANCE OF JOY

How to Live a Joy-Filled Life

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By Helen Martino-Bailey

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2013 Helen M Martino-Bailey
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-0700-2

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CHAPTER 1

CREATING NEW UNDERSTANDINGS

"Joy is a sound investment that delivers great returns."

—Words from Spirit

Life can be viewed as an investment.

Each day we invest our time and energy in making deposits and withdrawals into our 'life' savings account. Joy, love and laughter are examples of energy deposits that credit our personal account; they make us feel good, and they improve our life experience. Guilt, blame and stress are examples that draw down on our account; they lessen our enjoyment of life.

The personal energy investments (PEIs) that we choose to transact each day are vitally important because these investments are the ones that return to us a healthy (or not-so-healthy) state of wellbeing; these are the ones that determine how much pleasure we get from life.

This book aims to teach you how to enhance your PEIs through engaging joy. Becoming more conscious of your daily PEIs and using joy as a tool to improve them is one of the best measures you can take to increase your investment portfolio!

Before you progress to the many joy-enhancing techniques and derive the most from them, there are a few understandings that I need to bring to light.

The Truth about Joy

Joy is a great feeling that is very beneficial to our lives. It has many positive effects on our health and wellbeing. However, not many of us live each day with joy! Why?

Most of us wait for joy to happen in our lives. We wait for good times to occur, for our lives to improve, for happy occasions to manifest, for hard times to change, for relationships to blossom. We wait until life conditions are good, and then we feel joy.

This is not a very effective method, for a lot of time can be wasted in waiting for the right circumstances to appear in our lives.

There is a better way, one that involves less waiting and more creating! This technique, which you are about to learn, provides greater opportunities for joy to flow through your life daily. It differs from the norm because it takes a holistic approach to joy and because it teaches you how to channel your personal energies in the right way. In applying this method you will see that life conditions don't have to be exactly as you want them to be in order for you to experience joy.

Fabulous!

Sourcing Joy

Most of us have learned that joy is a delightful physical emotion found in satisfying experiences, material items, great relationships and happy thoughts. These sources—which bring pleasure to the body and mind—are wellsprings for joyful feelings.

To increase our ability to experience more joy throughout life, we need to expand our options. A key point that helps expand our ability to experience joy is in the understanding of where joy originates. Identifying the point of origin of joy means we become privy to a source that is rich in joyful feelings.

Where Joy Begins

Contrary to what we may think, joy does not begin as an emotion. Our emotions are lifted as a result of feeling joy, but the source from where joy springs is deep within.

Our spirit—our spirit-self—is the birthplace, the abode, and the point of origin of joy. It's the source, the feeling from where joy blooms.

This understanding is quite different from the norm. Most understand joy as a physical emotion (as opposed to a feeling) that delights the body and mind. But if we understand joy purely as a physical emotion our potential to experience joy becomes limited.

When we understand that joy is the fabric and the very nature of our spirit-self, and that we have the ability to tap into this rich source of joy, we harness our full potential.

Being able to access joy of our spirit-self is what takes our experience of joy to a whole new level. It's the cornerstone to experiencing greater joy throughout our lives.

Our Spirit-Self has Value

To try and understand the nature of joy without including our spirit-self in the equation is a mistake, for it means that we miss out on a whole load of fabulous feelings that deeply enrich our lives, feelings that have the potential to sustain us in joy for long periods of time.

Our spirit-self has many life skills to offer. In fact, when it comes to joy, it has an abundance of skills to offer, and the good news is that learning to access the joy within our spirit-self is easy. It's my area of expertise, and I will show you how to tap into this amazing resource. Excellent!

So our approach to joy will be all-inclusive. All aspects of our being—body, mind and spirit—have a role to play when it comes to joy, and all aspects are important.

Relating to Life

Along with our holistic approach we will also take into account how we relate to the energy of life through our PEIs and how the energy of life responds to our daily PEIs. There's a lot going on that we don't see.

The Energy of Life

Every moment of the day, the cells of our body respond to how we think, what we feel, how we act and what we do. Our cells are constantly sensing and feeling the energy we hold.

Every moment of the day, the energy of life responds to how we think, what we feel, how we act and what we do. Life is constantly sensing and feeling our presence within its energy.

We are not separate from life, and neither are we separate from our thoughts, our feelings or our cells! All affect one, and one affects all.

The Law

There are some simple laws of life that, when embraced, improve our experiences tremendously because they take into account the inseparable interaction that we have with the energy of life. Many of you may know these laws as the laws of attraction or energy attraction. Whilst this is not a book about the law of attraction per se, I do want to highlight a key concept of energy attraction that is pertinent to joy, and that is the law of magnetic attraction.

Like everything within life, the thoughts and feelings that we hold can simply be broken down to forms of energy. As forms of energy they draw to them, like a magnet, energy of similar kinds, vibrations that are either positive or negative.

The energy that you project onto life through your thoughts and feelings is matched and drawn back to you. What you think and feel each moment of the day attracts and creates more of the same vibrations to your life; like attracts like.

Taking this law in relation to joy, if you believe that you are lacking joy, and you are in the habit of reinforcing these types of thoughts, then you'll experience an absence of joy in your life. This is because your PEIs—in the form of your thoughts and feelings—are magnetically drawing to you a carbon copy of what you are projecting. Life mirrors what you tell it. If your personal vibrations send messages out to the energy of life that say, "I lack joy," the resultant energy pattern that you draw and attract to your life is a "lack of joy."

If this is what is happening in your life right now there are ways to change this for yourself, break the pattern that you are creating, and improve your experiences.

There are ways to direct your thoughts and feelings so that you work effectively with the energy of life, and as a result of doing so, create better outcomes for yourself.

Focus of Attention

One way to do this is to become more conscious of your focus of attention—that is, become more deliberate about ensuring that your focus of attention is heavily weighted towards the feelings of joy. This is a great step that will help you to create more joy, and you'll learn how to do this.

You may think, "There are many circumstances happening in my life right now that aren't joyful," or perhaps there are circumstances from your past and their effects still trouble you. How is it possible for you to think and feel joy when life's difficult? Whilst it is not possible to be full of joy all of the time, there are strategies that you can employ that will help you feel better during difficult times and return you to more positive feelings as soon as practical. Excellent!

The focus of the strategies that you are about to learn centre on working with the energy of life in positive ways. They aim to improve your PEIs so that even during difficult times you are able to continue to attract joy to you. And the joy you attract will help lift you during the challenging life circumstances.

The Two Top Joy Enhancers

Incorporating the skills of our spirit-self and the laws of energy attraction into our understanding and application of joy are key elements because (1) the virtues of our spirit-self teach us how to live life in higher ways and (2) the law of attraction teaches us how to work with life in higher ways.

Applied together, like two hands, they are more helpful and more efficient than one. They form a magical combination that rapidly increases our ability to experience joy.

So our approach to joy will be all-encompassing. It involves improving our PEIs so that we get the best out of our body, mind and spirit and the best from the energy of life.

In order to do this, here are some points worthy of consideration.

Joy—Decide How Often You Want It

It's good to have goals in life as goals give us direction and focus. With regard to joy, it's helpful to have a clear idea in your mind of just how often you want to experience joy. Are you happy to continue experiencing joy intermittently from time to time, or would you prefer a daily dose?

My recommendation is to set your sights high. Approach life with the attitude: "I love joy, and I want to experience it daily!" Why not aim high and make this your personal goal? Joy is free. It is always available to you. You may not believe how that is possible right now; however, it is, and your life will improve immeasurably through joy.

The Truth

Like any new skill that we undertake, we have to work at it, and joy is no exception. Initially, it takes work because you are changing ingrained habits that you have grown up with, habits that are not helpful in assisting you to experience joy. Although it takes concentration and effort, once you incorporate some of the practices into your life, it becomes much easier.

Here are three qualities that will assist you in mastering joy. I call them the essential three P's: practice, persistence, and patience.

Practise the exercises contained within this book. They are specifically designed to increase your daily experiences of joy. Also, they bring out your best side.

Persistence pays off. Getting rid of old habits is not a quick fix (darn!). Performing the practices once or twice (or here and there) won't change ingrained behaviours. You need to hold firm and remain committed to your purpose of self-improvement through joy. Persist, and you will succeed.

Patience is what will take you there. It's an essential attribute that will ensure you are triumphant.

Take Charge

Whilst it's good to go with the flow of life, when it comes to joy, action is required. This involves putting yourself into the driver's seat—of life—and steering your travels so that you set a course towards joy.

Inevitably, life circumstances will cause you to detour from joy at times, but like all detours, see them as temporary inconveniences that you can drive around. And when it's appropriate, get yourself back on course, headed towards your daily destination of joy.

Living with joy won't mean that from now on everything in your life is going to be all bright and happy. Life will still present challenges; it has to for our personal development and spiritual growth. We have to live out the ups and downs of our 'life contract.' However, joy will help you to develop better life-management skills that will get you through life's twists and turns and help you overcome life's difficulties.

Joy is a sound investment that pays good dividends in good times and bad, but success in mastering joy can only be reached when you take charge, set your sights, and take personal responsibility for joy in your life. Unless you do these things, reaching your goal will be difficult.

We're Starting Anew

You are about to learn a completely new approach to joy. In order to make the most of the information that will be presented to you, here are some pointers. You'll find the forthcoming exercises more effective if you are prepared to do the following:

• Be open to seeing things a little differently.

• Be willing to value all aspects of your being—body, mind and spirit.

• Give the suggestions ago. They can't hurt you!

• Do a little personal work.

Warming Up to Our Approach

In order to get things moving along, we're going to begin with eight warm-up exercises. These techniques begin the process of broadening our vision and approach to joy. They are designed to get joy flowing.

So, let's not waste any more time. Let's get into joy because ... joy is in you!

Keys to the Abundance

• You greatly improve your life experience when you invest in joy.

• Your ability to experience joy increases when you approach joy in a holistic way—body, mind and spirit.

• It's necessary to take charge, and start driving your life towards joy!

"Let us not forget that each day is a gift. If we treat each day with joy and reverence we have not wasted time."

—Words from Spirit

CHAPTER 2

UNLOCKING JOY

"Be not afraid to unlock the greatest joy within you, the joy of your spirit."

—Words from Spirit

Believe it or not, we all hold notions about joy. For instance, we may believe that we can only feel joy when we are happy, that certain circumstances need to occur in order for us to feel joy, that we are undeserving of joy, or that we lack a lot of things that could bring us joy.

We may regurgitate thoughts that prevent joy from entering our life—thoughts that stem from personal belief systems that make us afraid to feel joy.

Conditioning, past pains and fears all colour our impressions of joy.

And if all these things are not enough to contend with we hold certain habits that block joy. Perfectionism, selfishness and laziness are examples of character traits that can quell joy, as can emotional reactions such anger, blame and silence. Any of these habitual reactions can block joy, and if we are not careful we can turn "not feeling joyful" into a habit!

In order to develop healthier beliefs and habits we are going to engage in a system upgrade. The suggestions and visualisations in the chapters ahead are focused on new ways to improve your understanding of joy. They will help you to see joy differently and these new insights will bring many benefits to your life.

The best way to approach these insights is firstly to view them as innovative ways that are designed to enhance your skills in joy. Joy is a skill, and upgrading your proficiency is an essential step in mastering joy.

Secondly, see the process that you are about to engage in as being similar to what happens when you are installing new computer software. New software overrides old programming, and in effect, this is what we'll be doing—upgrading our old operating systems by improving upon our current beliefs and habits. Like all new software it may take some getting used to, but it will have you running your life more effectively and joyfully.

The more you embrace and apply the strategies given, the more skilled you become at mastering joy.

If, while you are engaging in the strategies, old thoughts surface that undermine your new beliefs you can thwart them by telling yourself, "I am in the process of engaging in a system upgrade!" How good is that!

First, Let's Imagine!

Current research in the science of neuroplasticity, in relation to brain pathways, reveals that each time we learn or experience something new, our brain is rewired. New connections are made and old ones wither away.
(Continues...)

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Excerpted from ABUNDANCE OF JOY by Helen Martino-Bailey. Copyright © 2013 Helen M Martino-Bailey. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Preface....................     xi     

Introduction....................     xiii     

Before we Begin, Some Key Points of My Philosophy ....................     xvii     

Part I Learning the Art of Joy....................          

Chapter 1: Creating New Understandings....................     3     

Chapter 2: Unlocking Joy....................     14     

Chapter 3: Spotting Joy....................     22     

Chapter 4: Taking Action....................     25     

Chapter 5: Feeling Joy....................     30     

Chapter 6: Appreciating Joy....................     36     

Chapter 7: The Joy of Peace....................     44     

Chapter 8: The Heart of Joy....................     52     

Part II Understanding the Things that Bring You Joy....................          

Chapter 9: Creating Your List of Joys....................     61     

Chapter 10: Developing Your List of Inner Joys....................     70     

Part III The Four Tools and Four Factors that Lead to a Joy-Filled Life...          

Chapter 11: The Four Tools....................     83     

Chapter 12: Using Tool Four Effectively....................     98     

Chapter 13: The Four Factors....................     107     

Chapter 14: Applying the Four Factors....................     118     

Part IV More Tips to Living Life with Joy....................          

Chapter 15: Helpful Questions to Ask when the Going Gets Tough.............     129     

Chapter 16: The Medicinal Powers of Joy....................     138     

Chapter 17: Joy at Work....................     148     

Chapter 18: Holding on to Joy....................     160     

Chapter 19: Getting Rid of Negative Energy....................     168     

Chapter 20: Quick Fixes....................     176     

Chapter 21: Embracing Joy....................     184     

Part V Bringing It All Together with the Daily Checklists.................          

Chapter 22: How to Start Your Day with Joy....................     191     

Chapter 23: How to Live Your Day with Joy....................     200     

Chapter 24: How to End Your Day with Joy....................     207