Love: Life

This life was given to you.

It is not your own.

And at any moment it can be taken from you.

Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly in the distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. --Thomas Carlyle

I sat down at a coffee shop in Las Vegas, over 3 years ago and started writing. I had lost a lot (money, my job, friends). But I had family, I had a man who stood by my side through it all and I had my life. It takes losing to really feel truly appreciative for what you have. How can you be happy when you have never experienced pain?

Joy is being able to appreciate when it hurts, life when things go wrong and giving everything you have to help someone in need.

This month I was asked to co-host an event called World JOY Day. An entire day dedicated to doing what brings you joy and bringing joy to someone else. If you could do anything that brought you and others joy what would it be?

Love. That was my answer. If you can do all actions out of love, you are not only happy but full of joy. That is my mission statement in life. I live by it and follow my heart. If we are chasing something that is in the distance we will never find joy. When we look down at what is in front of us, the tools we have right now the answer becomes clear. We have money. We have time. We have social media. How can we bring all of those together to celebrate life, to give back to those who need it and feel joyful about it.

Joy comes down to ego. When you think you are better than someone else because of the car parked in your driveway or the clothes that are on your body then you will never know joy. Joy comes from looking outside of yourself, to this world we live in, the people that are all around us. You are exactly where you should be in your life at this current moment. You were drawn to read this blog. You are in essence a magnet and what you do in this life, no matter what you think of it, is a ripple in this world. Your joy can spread as far as you let it.

As you start to get older you realize the impermanence of "things" and you start to value quality in people that have stood by your side. You value truth and love above all else. Spread the knowledge of truth, the actions that are done from unconditional kindness is a memory, an experience that you create.
Live the life that you want.
Wake up everyday happy.
Love what you do, who you choose to be friends with and where you live.
Spread JOY!

Come celebrate JOY with me and Elise Joan on Wednesday March 20 at 6 pm. You can sign up here and select a team, you can donate money for World JOY or imagine1day or just come out and enjoy yoga taught by two of Santa Monica's amazing yoga instructors! Either way please take time out this week, especially Wednesday to being joyful, finding what gives you joy and spreading the joy in your life. I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible and sharing this wonderful gift of teaching that I have been so blessed with! XO