Purpose

Purpose is definitely a key to Joy for me.  Knowing my Purpose, being conscious of my Purpose each day, working in an area where I can work my Purpose has also been wonderful for me too.

Purpose defined as “the reason why something is done or used; the aim or intention of something; the feeling of being determined to do or achieve something; the aim or goal of a person; what a person is trying to do, become”.

There are different tools and resources to determine or help reveal someone’s Purpose.  I love that the idea of Purpose and being on Purpose can be done whether you are a street cleaner or a courier or a receptionist or a social worker. 

When I was studying my Life Coaching Course, towards the end of the Course, my Purpose was revealed of “Spread The Yellow”.  Yellow = Love, Warmth, Connection, Presence, Genuine Interest and Curiosity, I'm Interested In What You Have To Say, I'm Interested In Your Journey, I Care, I SEE YOU, YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO ME, JOY, Happiness, Positivity, Energy, Excitement, Enthusiasm, Eye Contact, Just Being With Another, A Smile, A Moment, A Kind Word, Words From Your Heart, A Hug, An Encouragement, An Acknowledgement, Gratitude, Appreciation, Gift Of Words, Gift Of Thoughtfulness, AWARENESS, Opportunity, Possibility, Right To Choice, Right To Choose, An Offering, An Invitation, Make A Difference, Make This Moment Count!!!

Spread The Yellow is about Sharing, Moment To Moment, Positive Energy - and in that Moment, in that Creation, there is a Far-Reaching, Flow into the Universe, a Domino Exponential Effect.

'The' is about Purpose and Intent - in those Moments, Taking A Moment to Spread The Yellow, these Moments come from a Natural, Heart-Felt, Genuine, Place of Love. It is the small things that are the BIG things.

Over the years, in being focused on my Christian Faith too, I have chosen to bring light and hope to others which is in line with my sense of Purpose.  When I am bringing light and hope and giving to others, this makes me feel Joyful.

Knowing my Purpose and even writing about this topic is encouraging me to be active again in realising my Purpose, to explore the concept of Purpose and to be active in pursuing opportunities to be on Purpose.  I know this will bring myself and others Joy as I live each day serving God, living on Purpose, being and doing all that I have been created and inspired to be and do for my todays and my tomorrows.   

Being on Purpose gives an encouragement as I wake up each morning, a sense of positivity in the tough times and a sense of determination.  It allows one to look forward with hope which is a Joy starter too.

Work

Work can definitely bring Joy and it can definitely bring stress and unhappiness too - yet mindset is most important with Work. 

For me from my first job working at McDonalds to then the Keg Restaurant to then my first job out of University, I have always focused on doing my best, bring my strengths to the role, where one of my strengths is about being proactive and showing initiative.  This in itself brings me Joy.

Work defined as “an activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result”.

Work brings Joy at many levels - the Joy of feeling good for doing a good job and working hard, the Joy of using our strengths, the Joy of learning new skills, the Joy of working as part of a team, the Joy of getting to know different people and know ourselves through working with different people, the Joy of having goals and working towards and saving up for our goals too. 

As an Employment Consultant I am blessed that I love my Work and I am blessed that I can help others achieve Work and find Joy in their work.  For all of us we can sometimes find the things that we don’t like, yet we need to have a mindset of positivity so that we look for what does work at our Work - where there is Joy, where we can create Joy in our workplaces.

Truth

Telling the Truth brings Joy.  Telling the Truth can be hard, trying to find the right words, and yet it is true that the “Truth will set you free”.

Truth defined as “that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality”.

I think by choosing to communicate with Truth, this allows for Joy to emerge.

Today I told my children the Truth about my health and what I need to do to stay healthy.  It has been worrying me where I have felt that I have a secret and I wanted to tell them the Truth.  And now I feel relieved that they know what is happening with me.  Now I can relax and allow for Joy.

Now that the Truth has been revealed it allows space for the asking and answering of questions.  It takes away the stress that can inhibit Joy, stop the natural flow of Joy.

Present

Being Present is the key to Joy for me and needs to be a topic on its own too. 

Today I chose to be totally Present with my son.  To just be with him in the moment, not getting distracted by my phone, by phone calls or text messages or Facebook - just being totally with my boy.  And in doing this we both have the best day.  My morning was filled with Joy.  Seeing his Joy. Pushing him on the swing, helping him on the monkey bars, playing chasings, watching him come down the slippery dip, particularly the tunnel slippery dip, waiting, the anticipation and excitement as I see my little one get to the bottom with his happy face.  I look at my son and love looking at his face, listening to him, being totally Present.

And with my daughter connecting with her, being totally Present with her is also so important to me.

As is time with my hubby, being Present with him is important, yet this can be challenging sometimes too.  Yet being Present for each other needs to be a goal.

Being Present with my parents, listening to them, talking with them, sitting with them, is more important to me now more than ever.  Being with my parents brings me so much Joy. 

When I am with our puppy, I love just sitting with her and being Present and just enjoying patting her and connecting with our little one. 

I love when I am in the moment and I am able to be inspired and led what to do next and love being Present rather than thinking about things or worrying about things.  I love just enjoying and finding Joy in the present.  This is a daily goal for me.  Each moment to be in the moment, to be Present, right here, right now, the greatest gift can be found in the Present.

 

Church

Going to Church definitely brings me Joy and peace.

Over the last ten years I have mainly been going to a Christian Church and this was definitely an amazing opportunity to learn more about God, learn more about what it means to be a Christian, learn the importance of being active in my faith, making a commitment to follow Jesus.

And I love that my children enjoy going to Church too - find Joy in going to Church.

After 10 years I have now found my home back at the Catholic Church and I am really finding Joy in being part of the community. 

I love going to Church every weekend.  I like the ceremony and the quiet.  I like the music.  I like the prayers.  I feel Joyful when I leave the church - Joyful and peaceful.

It is a commitment that I have made to raise my children in the Church and this is a commitment that is important to me.  And I do it for me too.  I feel I need to go to Church and I want to go to Church.  And I want this for my children too.

Cross

I love wearing my Cross.  Wearing my Cross gives me a sense of purpose and direction for the day.  Wearing my Cross gives me Joy.

I love my Cross that my husband gave me for our first Wedding Anniversary.  This makes my Cross even more special to me.

When I wear my Cross I feel a sense of responsibility and at the same time a peace of mind, knowing I belong to God, knowing I can be of service to God each day.

I love when I see other people wearing their Cross too.  I feel a sense of connection.

When I feel that I have a purpose each day, to be ready to step in and ‘be like Jesus’, which even as I write this sounds so ambitious, this gives me Joy. 

I actually feel lost without my Cross when I am not wearing it.  I really is very important to me and just like brushing my teeth, putting on my Cross is very important to me and is a daily routine.  And yet as I put on my Cross there is a definite sense of reverence, I do not rush, even when I am rushing - I put on my Cross with grace and feel ready for the day.  And I think I should say a silent prayer each day and pray for Joy and peace and God to look after my little ones. 

Hubby

I am blessed to have a fantastic Hubby.  I love calling my Husband, my Hubby.  I like this as a term of endearment.

I love that we are married.  I love that I have a Hubby. 

On 11 April we celebrated 10 years of being married and I love that we were able to have time away together.  I am blessed that my Mother-In-Law looked after our children and looked after our puppy too.

I love that my Hubby and I work together, that we are a team.  I am really very grateful. 

My Hubby brings me Joy. My Hubby looks after our family.  I love being married.

I love when we laugh.  I love when my Hubby smiles.  I love time together.  I love when my Hubby is happy and Joyful.  I want everyone in my family to regularly experience Joy and for our home to be filled with Joy.  Of course there are other emotions and yet I want Joy to always naturally and so evidently surround us and appear and surprise us and always be within reach to us all. 

Puppy

We have been so blessed that we now have a Puppy.  A Puppy that brings us so much Joy.   A Puppy that we wanted to bring our family Joy. 

Puppy defined as “a young dog”.

We got our Puppy on 5 March 2021.  We picked up our Puppy together as a family and instantly I felt love and Joy when I saw our little girl.

I had thought of so many names - Molly, Annie and Gypsy and Trixie were my two top names.  I love the name Gypsy. And I love the name Trixie which means “bringing of Joy” and I thought this was the perfect name.

Yet then when I wished upon a star and we were offered a Puppy 3 days later, and then when the name Stella came to my mind, and when I looked up the name and it meant “star” I realised that Stella was the best name for our Puppy.

Our Puppy brings us so much Joy.  I wanted our children to have a Puppy since they have always loved dogs.  And I thought a Puppy would be good for me too, for my anxiety, and to bring us all Joy and bring our family together, to just focus on our family.

I love playing fetch with Stella in the mornings and night.  Seeing Stella run and get the ball or toy and run back brings me Joy.  And I love racing home at lunch to see Stella and give her cuddles and have a play with her in our backyard.  And I love taking Stella for a walk and have so much Joy seeing Stella meeting other dogs too.

For 6 months I have been looking up dog photos and dog videos every day and the photos and videos have brought me Joy.  I have loved hearing other people’s stories and seeing their photos and now we have our own little Puppy to love and enjoy and I love taking photos of our Stella. 

I knew that I would love our Puppy, yet I am almost surprised at how much I love Stella.  Just like my children I worry about Stella and love looking after our Puppy.  I feel blessed!

EasterHunts

We love EasterHunts.   EasterHunts is a long held tradition across many families.  I can’t remember doing them when I was a child.  I remember the excitement of the Easter bunny, waking up to see the special chocolate treats that I have been left by the Easter bunny.

EasterHunts defined as “an Eastertide game during which decorated eggs or Easter eggs are hidden for children to find.  Real hard-boiled eggs, which are typically dyed or painted, artificial eggs made of plastic filled with chocolate or candies, or foil-wrapped egg-shaped chocolates of various sizes are hidden in various places”.

Yesterday I organised a EasterHunt and it was perfect timing as my Nieces came over too my parents’ house too and so it was so much fun with 6 participants – the youngest my son who is 5 yeas up to my Niece and her boyfriend who are 17 years. 

Everyone had so much fun that everyone kept handing in their eggs and we would hide them again and again and again.  

Until everyone decided to take a break and that’s when I surprised them with notes in the plastic Easter eggs that involved having to do different activities in exchange for Easter eggs.  I long doing things that are different or involve activities too and so there was running around, kangaroo jumping across the yard (which should have been Easter hopping now that I think about it), playing tip, singing and dance moves.  

It was a lot of fun and definitely brought Joy to my children and Nieces and Niece’s boyfriend who were all running around and it brought Joy to me as the organiser and Joy to my Mum and Dad and brother and sister-in-law too, who were all watching with delight.

Today we have another EasterHunt next door.  It is definitely the hunting that is so much fun.  And then there is another hunt at my Mother-In-Laws during the week since we ran out of time yesterday.

We love all types of Hunts – the Teddy Bear Hunt when Covid first started in Australia – this was a lot of fun - people putting teddy bears out on display in the front of their homes and we would walk around the neighbourhood and spot them.  Plus Treasure Hunts around the neighbourhood have been great fun too – walking around with a list as a competition to see who completes their list first – tree with yellow leaves, red flowers, purple car, bird, etc.

I love doing all types of fun activities with my children to keep everyone active, engaged, and most important for me is bringing them Joy.  I love being creative and so the process brings me Joy.  And then in the moment, bringing the activity to life, and seeing everyone Joyful, expands and multiplies my Joy.  Joy shared is always the best. 

Jokes

We love jokes in our home.  We love good old-fashioned clean jokes - ‘Dad Jokes’ as some people call them.

Jokes definitely bring us Joy, a laugh, joint laughter, a laughter of looking around the room and agreeing that the joke was funny.

Jokes defined as “things (words in statements) that someone says to cause amusement or laughter, especially a story with a funny punchline”.

Yesterday, before we left for Easter, I quickly Googled Easter Jokes and put some of the Jokes on a Word document and printed out Jokes to be shared at Easter.

My daughter read them out after lunch and it was a lot of fun.  My daughter then read them to my brother and Dad who enjoyed them too,. 

It is tradition that week crackers at Christmas that always include Jokes and they are always fun too.  I often have kept some of the great Jokes.  We also have a Joke Jar filled with Jokes and we used to bring it out at dinner time and enjoy Jokes as a family.

For my son’s Superhero Family Party I also printed out Superhero Jokes and everyone loved them too and we all laughed together.

Jokes bring people together, the nodding of the head, the agreeing that ‘yes, good Joke’.

When my daughter and son had a Halloween Party I also printed out Halloween Jokes and once again the Jokes brought a sharing of laughter, everyone engaged to hear the answer.  The Jokes brought Joy.

We also have some Joke books too which we bring out and enjoy as well.

Jokes definitely bring Joy to our family and friends.

Reflect

Well I have now completed 56 posts and am half way towards my goal of 100 posts. 

So many things bring me Joy.  I love just paying attention to what brings me Joy.  I actually feel that I can’t keep up with writing about Joy.

I have been focusing on other writing projects and I am behind on my goal of 100 posts about Joy between now and this Mother’s Day.  I have 6 weeks and 1 day, or 43 days until the next Mother’s Day which means that 44 posts is achievable. 

My plan was to review or reflect or analyse or evaluate every 3 months and write 2 posts a week - yet I believe in flexibility and the most important to me is the end result which is to set the intention of Joy and consciously bring in Joy to my life and the life of my family.  It is also important to me that I achieve the goal of 100 pots too.

Reflect defined as “think deeply or carefully about”.

In reflection so far I love that I have set this intention of Joy since I am very conscious of this each day - conscious to do what brings me Joy, conscious to take note of what brings me Joy, and conscious to bring Joy to others too.   When I hear my husband get home from work or home from a visit to his Mums with our little ones, I race to the door to Welcome them - Joy! When I see a Kookaburra out the back, it is a big deal, and we race to have a look through the window or tip toe out so that I can take photos.

I haven’t yet put up my list on my bedroom wall.  I will do this at the very end of the 100 posts.  I will type up the list and put in categories.  I will look at this list and be active in living this list too. 

Sometimes the day or night doesn’t go to plan – such as tonight, where my Cranky Mum part of me gets tired and starts getting mad at my children who aren’t listening to me.  I hate when I get Cranky.  I want to be the happy, relaxed, peaceful Mum.  My best friend tells me that all Mums get Cranky at their children.  I know this is true.

Choosing Joy has definitely helped with my anxiety.  The anxiety is still a reality for me - yet I’ve also worked out the things that bring me the most anxiety and I am trying to make changes to avoid these situations - such as feeling stressed at the morning since we are running late, my children not listening to me, feeling overwhelmed at work and feeling it is out of control.  Being in action and being proactive is key for me.  Eating chocolate should also be a no-no for me – I love chocolate yet once I’ve eaten it I actually do get a headache and it can cause me anxiety and I sometimes almost feel a dip into depression, not full blown depression, yet it can definitely affect my mood.  And usually as it is late at night I find myself wanting to pop 2 panadol to cure the headache. 

Starting this blog has helped kickstart my writing and I am finding that writing is bringing me so much Joy.  I am loving writing. 

My children bring me the greatest Joy and the greatest heartache sometimes too - yet for me being with my children, being totally present with my children is everything to me.  This is my priority.

In my pursuit of Joy, and in the journey of life, acceptance is also becoming key for me.  Acceptance that I am not perfect, acceptance that my life is not perfect.  I need to breathe and bring in my Zen Mother especially at 9:00pm at night when my children won’t go to bed.  I need to find this Zen Mumma within myself - not sure if she does exist - I know that being the Zen Mumma would definitely bring me Joy.

I also have to be in acceptance that health problems can happen and things outside my control can happen.  Recently I found out that I have the BRCA2 gene which means that I am at higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer.   This wasn’t a surprise to me yet the choices I am now making are so real and life-changing.  And in this process of doing what I need to do to help myself to be healthy for as long as I can for my children and husband and future grandchildren I will see Joy and bring Joy.  By consciously focusing on Joy this will help me in my recovery.  I find in life that there can be two emotions travelling side by side, like a train track (my friend said this once from a book that she read) and I find that I will always try to choose Joy despite the pain or worry or anxiety.  I must choose Joy too when I feel my Cranky Mum coming out or when I am recovering from my surgeries.

When I studied my Life Coaching Course I remember finding my purpose of Spread The Yellow and I need to embrace this purpose each day – this is about being in Joy, being on purpose and spreading the Joy too.

This is what I wrote, a long time ago about my purpose - Yellow = Love, Warmth, Connection, Presence, Genuine Interest and Curiosity, I'm Interested In What You Have To Say, I'm Interested In Your Journey, I Care, I SEE YOU, YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO ME, JOY, Happiness, Positivity, Energy, Excitement, Enthusiasm, Eye Contact, Just Being With Another, A Smile, A Moment, A Kind Word, Words From Your Heart, A Hug, An Encouragement, An Acknowledgement, Gratitude, Appreciation, Gift Of Words, Gift Of Thoughtfulness, AWARENESS, Opportunity, Possibility, Right To Choice, Right To Choose, An Offering, An Invitation, Make A Difference, Make This Moment Count!!!

Spread The Yellow is about Sharing, Moment To Moment, Positive Energy - and in that Moment, in that Creation, there is a Far-Reaching, Flow into the Universe, a Domino Exponential Effect.

'The' is about Purpose and Intent - in those Moments, Taking A Moment to Spread The Yellow, these Moments come from a Natural, Heart-Felt, Genuine, Place of Love. It is the small things that are the BIG things.

This is who I am - I cannot lose myself - whether I am busy or not busy, stressed or relaxed, a Mum at home doing housework or hanging out with my children, or at work doing administration work or being with my Clients.  I cannot lose myself on the day before my surgery or the day of my surgery or after my surgery.  I can be real.  I need to be real.  There are always so many more emotions yet I will choose to embrace Joy each day too.