There is no emotion more scary than joy

Yesterday I started to write about what happened at the Women and Power Retreat evening but all that came to me were the thoughts I produced about Standing in our own power and I let it flow. Let it go as I am learning that sometimes I just have to follow the flow rather than trying to direct it bnecause when I do something so natural and beautiful happens. My writing is teaching me this lesson and I am truly grateful for this gift of writing. For allowing myself to just go with the flow. I am also learning to apply this lesson to my everyday life. To just go for it and do it without question, apprehension or fear. Just do it. Allowing me to feel pure and unadulterated joy.

This thought led me to a very powerful statement made by Brene Brown on the Opening Eve of the Women and Power Retreat when she said, “There is no emotion more scary than joy.” Wow was what I thought. Think about that statement for a moment. Close your eyes and reflect on it. “There is no emotion more scary than joy.” Repeat it to yourself and see how your body feels. And when you do hopefully you will understand just how true this simple but profound statement truly is. It jolted me when I realized just how true it is for me and for most people I encounter.

When I allowed her statement to flow through me, I realized whenever I have great joy in my life. Whenever everything is working out. When life feels wonderful, I often find myself holding my breath.  Waiting for the penny to drop. For the bliss to end. For the darkness to come rolling around the corner. Because life can’t be simple and it can’t be full of joy all the time. Isn't that what we were told when we were growing up? I know I was. Don’t expect life to be a bed of roses. Whenever the ocean is flat calm, it means there is a storm coming.  If the air is still, there is a storm coming. All these childhood statements led me to expect the bad when there is too much good. So instead of reveling in the moment of nirvana, often times I find myself thinking about what could possibly go wrong. Projecting myself out of the joyful moment into what is waiting round the corner.

So after hearing, “There is no emotion more scary than joy” from Brene, I decided I am going to shift my mindset. Shift it to accepting the joy. Feeling worthy of joy and embracing it full on even if it is for a moment because it is better to experience joy even if for a nanosecond than to sabotage it and never know it when it shows up in my life. Never appreciate it.

Joy is such a liberating and wonderful emotion that allows us the capacity to love, to be grateful, to be at one with the One Source. It is the sun shining down on my face. The sound of no holds barred laughter. The smell of freshly cut grass. It is my family. My home. It is in the surrender to the magic of the unseen but felt because joy is the essence of life itself.

So rather than feeling unworthy of joy, let’s feel it when it arrives and be grateful for its gift. Taking me back to that old gospel song, “I've got the joy, joy , joy down in my heart. Down in my heart. …” Because I do as do you. As do us all. Joy. Joy. Joy. Namaste.