Today's Joy Work lesson is about peace.
We will explore several simple ways to achieve peace in your life so that you can find the calm centered self that you need in order to create joy in your work and work with joy.
We'll begin with a poem called Here from my book Tongues in Trees.
Here,
What if there is nothing to wait for?
Not that there is nothing,
But that it's already here.
That happiness you hope for?
Here.
That sign you look for?
Here.
The peace you search for?
Here,
Here,
Here.
Listen to the three chirps of the cardinal in the tree right there.
His song is all you need.
Here,
Here,
Here.
You might find it curious that we're starting with the theme of peace because we're not living in a time of peace.
Personally,
Professionally,
And politically,
Many people who are labeled as different are feeling stressed,
Overburdened,
And anxious.
So how can we start our joy work with peace?
This is a good question.
So hear me when I say,
If we don't make peace a priority,
We will never achieve it.
Peace is not the icing on the cake.
Peace is not even the cake.
Peace is the daily bread,
The challah,
The gluten-free protein bar we need daily.
Start with what is necessary,
Nutritious,
And nurturing.
Start with peace.
Now I invite you to settle into a comfortable position for a meditation.
It doesn't matter if you've never meditated before or if you've been meditating for years and years.
You can't fail.
However you do it is fine.
So lie down or sit down.
Close your eyes or keep them open.
It doesn't matter.
All we are going to do is breathe.
Take an inhale through your nose and feel your belly rise.
As you exhale,
Observe how the belly falls.
That's all there is to it.
Let's do it a few more times together.
Inhale and the belly rises like a wave.
Exhale and the belly falls like a wave receding.
Inhale rising.
Exhale falling.
Exhale filling.
Exhale emptying.
Continue on your own with this belly breathing.
If you've seen babies breathing in sleep,
This is how they breathe.
This is how you came into the world breathing.
It sends a signal to the autonomic nervous system that it's okay to relax and let go.
Inhaling as the belly fills.
Inhaling as the belly empties or muscles begin to let go.
The nervous system sends signals to all of the organs and systems to be at peace,
To function smoothly.
The heart rate decreases.
Blood pressure lessens.
Breathing in and filling the belly.
Breathing out and emptying.
Feel the effects of this in your body right now.
Very good.
Notice now how different you're feeling than when you first began your joy work today.
Allow yourself to believe that you have the ability to create peace in your body,
Mind,
And spirit.
Slowly through the unification of your breath with the belly.
Now go ahead and grab your journal or notebook if you need to pause the audio to do that.
I encourage you to write by hand,
Which has been shown to create the same kind of peace that we achieved with our belly breathing.
Being on devices and keyboards creates different kinds of pathways in the brain that can lead to feeling more anxious and stressed and a desire for control that may be impossible to achieve.
But writing by hand unites the body,
Mind,
And spirit and has been shown to allow the brain waves to regulate in the same way that the belly breathing regulates all the systems of our physical self.
Once you have your journal or notebook and a writing instrument of your choice,
I'm going to give you a writing prompt and we'll write for two minutes.
Two minutes isn't very long and there's a reason that we use timed writing in joy work.
Often people avoid journaling because they're afraid of diving in and not being able to come out.
We all have emotions and experiences that we know we have not processed or healed from.
And beginning to write about these can seem scary.
So we take tiny,
Tiny baby steps with our journaling.
In the same way we take baby breaths when we belly breathe.
I'll time us and as you write,
I'll write so that we're doing this together.
Allow yourself to write whatever comes to mind.
Just let the hand move across the page without editing or criticism or judgment.
This is just for you.
This is the place where you can tell the truth.
Listen to your own voice.
For two minutes,
Fill in the blank with this phrase.
My belly says.
Begin.
Exifter.
Ex operator,
Interrupted a few.
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