So... about a year ago I set an intention because I had read how helpful it is. I sat with what I wanted in my life when a single word popped up, Joy. So, indeed I set my intention for joy & you know what? Joy has appeared within me & all around me. Honestly, after I set the intention I somewhat forgot about it, but when someone from Compendium sent me a message saying I had won their latest book I remembered the intention I set. I respond to Compendium's posts & questions frequently & so I don't recall that I had "entered" into a contest of theirs. I was so shocked & happy to win one of their books, but here's the amazing thing. Guess what the title of their book was called? Joy.
Now is that an accident, just some random fluke? I don't think so. I think we grow what we want in our life with our focus and our intentions. Some of the joy this past year has been easy & lovely like my free book from Compendium, but also equally I've really had to commit myself to Joy as well. But, I realized that joy isn't some accident, that it's an opening & an honoring. There were some not so fun parts of this past year as well & I felt the urge to be mad & rage, but then there was some deeper & calmer & wiser part of myself that told me I had a choice. And I understood that joy is a choice. And by committing to that choice all sorts of wonderful openings in our life happen.
I cut my friend's hair this morning & not just an inch or two, but more like eight or nine inches. This was a big deal for my friend & yet she embraced change & agreed to let me chop off a whole bunch of her hair.
As I was cutting her hair & listening to her talk about the attachment to her hair I thought about how hard change is for all of us. But, really I thought how wise it is to embrace change & go into your fears. Whatever feelings or ideas she had about her long hair she confronted by choosing to let go of them & embrace something new.
After I left she posted a picture of herself & she was literally glowing. I had never seen her so happy, radiant & full of joy. Now, I know it's not just the haircut I gave her, but it was something deeper than that. In letting go of her hair, and what that personally meant to her, she was able to let go of some old way she saw herself. She now can come into herself more fully & reveal that & share that with the world. I don't think it's my haircut that made the dramatic change, but more that she bravely chose to confront her fears about cutting her hair.
So, my lesson of the day is to embrace change rather than to wait passively for change to enact itself on us.
