Episode 50
There’s a lot happening in the world right now.
Structures shifting. Systems cracking. Expectations breaking.
And what if the most important thing we can do right now… isn’t trying to fix the world?
What if the real navigation system available to us… is joy?
Because when everything around us feels unstable, it’s very easy for our attention to get pulled completely into the external world.
So if you’d like to explore this with me…
pull up a comfy chair,
take in a breath,
invite in your soul a little closer,
and be open to receiving exactly what you need to live, be, and thrive as the embodied soul you are.
And before we begin, I just want to say thank you for being here with me on this journey.
This happens to be the 50th episode of Embodied Soul, and it means so much that you’re walking this path with me.
When I was tapping into what message wanted to come through this week on Embodied Soul that would most support those who would hear it…
what began to come through was something a little unexpected.
I felt that what was looking to be shared this week was about joy.
And I questioned that concept, given everything that’s happening in the world right now.
But what came back to me was: that’s exactly why I get to share a little bit about joy this week.
Because here’s what’s happening.
As we are experiencing a destabilization — a restructuring, a dissolution of structures that we have been living within — the lenses that we have been seeing our reality through are beginning to crack and break.
And as those lenses crack, we begin to see through different eyes.
We begin to see where the systems we have aren’t supporting us any longer.
We begin to see where leaders are not leading with the agreements to systems that we had collectively agreed to uphold — which we talked about last week. Those systems only work when we are all in agreement to uphold them.
But what can really limit, reduce, or turn down our frequency is when we spend all of our time focused on the external environment that we’re in.
And that can look like focusing on the media and all the bad things happening in the world.
It can look like feeling guilty or ashamed that you aren’t going through some of the things that other people are going through.
It can look like anger and upset at broken expectations.
It can look like grief at the loss of structures and systems — and the idea of a reality that just isn’t holding anymore.
But as we focus on all the things that are going wrong, or not as we would prefer, that is where we are placing our energy.
And this goes back to the Choice Points episode of last week.
Where we are being guided — even though it may seem counterproductive or almost impossible — to pause and choose consciously.
Because many of us right now are standing at these choice points in our lives — and what we choose to focus on in moments like this begins shaping not only our path forward, but who we are becoming.
So I invite you to hold what I’m about to say with openness. Hands open to receive. And then you can discern for yourself.
What is your choice point, as you stand in front of one of the three doors we talked about last week?
Will you continue to focus on what you have been focusing on and get the same results?
Will you choose to do nothing and move with the current of what is happening — going with the flow of the collective?
Or will you make a new decision that will change your trajectory?
And that new decision is focusing on joy.
Some of you may be saying, “I don’t experience joy. I don’t even know what joy is anymore. I’m barely surviving in the life I’m living. How can I tap into joy?”
And this begins with remembering.
It begins with being open and aware of the things that bring you peace — the things that make you feel even one degree better than you did before doing them.
The things that make you feel lighter.
More expansive.
Because the important part of joy isn’t actually joy.
What joy really is, is a signpost.
It’s the way your soul lets you know you’re moving in the right direction.
Joy is a signal of alignment with your soul.
So what do I mean by that?
Our soul uses experiences and emotions to guide us on our path.
If an experience lights us up, draws our attention, makes us curious, opens us to wonder, feels expansive or interesting or light — that is signaling you to take a step in that direction.
Even if your current circumstances aren’t reflective of that.
And perhaps especially when they aren’t.
Because if you are feeling heavy, contracted, or upset, you may have every reason to feel that way.
This isn’t about denying that.
It’s about recognizing that you still have a choice.
You can ask:
What would make me feel even a little bit lighter right now?
What would expand me?
What would bring me a little bit of peace?
Because joy doesn’t have to look like excitement or happiness.
Joy is a frequency.
Not just an emotion.
Which means we can still be in a state of joy even while we’re sad, grieving, or moving through difficult things.
It becomes the underlying baseline.
And it’s also a spectrum.
So what can you do right now, from where you are, that would move you one step closer to joy?
One step closer to expansion.
To lightness.
To peace.
Because maybe joy feels too far away right now.
Maybe you’re feeling really sad.
And maybe the next step is simply finding a little bit of calm. A moment of peace. Something you enjoy or prefer. Something that moves you one step up the scale from where you are.
Moving toward what I would call joy.
Sometimes the path to joy isn’t a leap — it’s a ladder.
First we find a little bit of peace.
Then something that feels lighter.
And eventually we arrive at joy again.
And as you do that, invite your soul in.
Whenever you feel overwhelmed, invite your soul self in.
Invite in your divine self.
Say:
“I’m choosing to invite my soul self closer. Support me in seeing the next highest step I can take.”
What is the smallest, tiniest step that would move me closer to peace… to joy… to ease?
Because your soul already knows.
Those things that light you up — the hobbies you love, the things you do when time disappears, the moments when you can’t put the book down — those are signals from your soul saying:
Do that.
Your soul uses a kind of reinforcement.
When something feels expansive, it’s guiding you forward.
When something feels heavy, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to experience it. But you can shift how you move through it.
You can shift your perspective.
You can shift your physiological state.
You can shift your mindset.
You can shift the literal action you’re taking.
And the more we follow the expansion — the lightness — the joy — the more we align with our soul self.
Because we didn’t come here to struggle.
Yes, we have experiences we came here to have. But even those experiences can be approached with curiosity.
With wonder.
With the question:
“How could I move through this in the easiest way?”
“What perspective could I take that would make this lighter?”
Because we often don’t choose the easy way.
We focus on what’s going wrong and call more difficulty toward us.
But we could instead say:
“This situation isn’t very pleasant right now. But how might I view it differently?”
Maybe that’s the first step.
Maybe joy feels too far away.
Maybe the first step is simply asking:
“How can I move through this moment in the easiest way?”
How can I move through this in the lightest, most graceful way possible?
And once that moment moves through you — because emotions will move when we allow them — then you can ask:
“What would move my state into something lighter now?”
And then follow that.
Pay attention to the email that arrives and feels expansive.
The video you’re called to watch.
The person you feel called to talk to.
When you get those little hits — something interesting, curious, exciting, expansive — follow them.
Even when it doesn’t make sense.
Especially when it doesn’t make sense.
Because our souls don’t operate in linear ways.
Our souls move in spirals.
They are constantly conspiring to bring the right person, message, idea, or moment into our path to guide us to the next step.
And when we follow those small signals of expansion, we begin to realize something beautiful —
Joy was never the destination.
It was the compass.
Because we can’t see those things if our attention is fixed on everything that has gone wrong in the past — or everything we fear in the future.
We have to be present.
Choosing again and again:
The next highest step.
The next most expansive thought.
Allowing the emotions to move through.
And then choosing the next moment that moves us one step closer to joy.
Because as we follow those signals of expansion, something else begins to shift as well — the very identity you’ve been living within.
I’m sending you so much love as we navigate these waves of change.
The changing of structures.
The changing of identities.
We have already changed so much.
And maybe that’s a topic for another week — because we really are shifting and releasing the ideas of who we thought we were.
And that can be an eye-opening experience… and sometimes a little bit of a rocky one.
So I look forward to exploring that with you in another episode of Embodied Soul.
If this episode supported you, please like, share, and subscribe. It really does help these messages reach the people they’re meant to support.
And until next week, remember —
joy may not always be the destination… but it can always be your compass.
I look forward to being with you again next week on Embodied Soul.
