YOUR LIFE A-Z:DELIGHT

DELIGHT IN ALL THAT SURROUNDS YOU

DELIGHT

What is it that brings you DELIGHT?   I would imagine that you do not have enough DELIGHT, charm, enchantment and pure pleasure in your day-to-day life.  The missing DELIGHT factor in your daily life must be fixed.  It is important to experience genuine DELIGHT just for the sake of DELIGHT.   A daily dose of DELIGHT will boost your immune system; bring a smile to your face and to the face of others.   Life is full of complications, chaos, and often-negative surprises thus it is important to learn to be a pursuer of DELIGHT.  It is true that DELIGHT is most often a spontaneous experience and cannot be created in the laboratory of control.  However, there are probably many opportunities of DELIGHT that you ignore because you allow yourself to be too busy to notice.  In order to become a pursuer of DELIGHT allow yourself to take time to experience the flower department at your grocery store.  Walk through it and notice the colors, pick up bouquets and smell them, and allow yourself to soak in the care they need to stay DELIGHTFUL for you.  I believe DELIGHT is a tenderness emotion that comes from our deepest experience of being truly in the present.  DELIGHT is an outcome of joy.  DELIGHT massages our soul and to experience physical DELIGHT engage in a body massage from an expert who’s hands know how to DELIGHT your muscles and your feet while totally relaxing your facial muscles.  DELIGHT is all around you waiting to tickle your senses.  

YOUR LIFE A-Z: JUBILANT

OUTER EXPRESSION OF INNER DELIGHT

JUBILANT

JUBILANT is an outer expression of inner happiness and delight.  Sometimes our parents, teachers, or even friends shame JUBILANT expression as being too over the top or us being too big for our own britches.  The TWENTY MINUTE COACH is giving you full permission to be over the top about something important in your life.  You can be JUBILANT about getting a parking spot in the busy mall or the fact that you got a call from a very important person.  Often, we minimize the “big” things that happen in our daily life as being not important or not big enough.  Yes, perhaps you can imagine being grateful for a convenient parking spot or an important call, but JUBILANT? Yes, be JUBILANT. Living life with exuberance is a JUBILANT way of life.  By practicing being JUBILANT you will feel less depressed, less anxious, and more independent of the circumstances that often make your life miserable.  Being JUBILANT is like the energy conversion of gratitude into humor and expression of delight.  Being JUBILANT should not be saved for special occasions or big events but should be a part of our daily existence.  If you were a prisoner and you needed imaginary ways to entertain yourself, you could spend your mental energy imagining your release date into a great crowd of friendly faces and emotional supporters.  Imagine situations now that will allow your inner JUBILANT self to take center stage and release you from your own emotional prison. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z: GASTRONOMICAL

HEALTHY EATING COMES IN MANY DELIGHTS

GASTRONOMICAL

GASTRONOMICAL is the art and science of good eating by choosing, preparing and serving food to bring all of your senses together in a pleasant and fulfilling dining experience.  The last two days has been a very inward journey of self –exploration.  Today I invite you to look outward and inward at the same time.  If this exercise will not work for today that is okay, but do take some time to plan it today.  First think healthy food.  Next, what healthy foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, lean meat) do you enjoy?  If you don’t want to prepare this dish for yourself, then which restaurant can you indulge your senses by planning a GASTRONOMICAL experience while dining out?  Write down the dinner you want to plan with every side dish you will enjoy, plus a very nice desert.  GASTRONOMICAL experiences must include a delightful and beautifully prepared desert.  This dinner is not a reward; it is intended to be an experience that will allow your senses to come to life.  As you imagine your perfect GASTRONOMICAL dinner what colors are on your plate?  How is your plate of GASTRONOMICAL delight served to make it appealing to the eye?  What aromas bubble up in your kitchen as you are preparing it or whiff upward from your plate as it is served?  What is happening to your taste buds right now as you think about the perfect GASTRONOMICAL experience?  Life is to be lived and it is always lived better through GASTRONOMICAL delight. 

Your Life A-Z JOY

THE SNOW LION IS ALWAYS FULL OF JOY

JOY

Joy is a feeling of great pleasure and delight.  Joy follows the word interest because we have only nine innate affects (that means we have hard-wiring in our biology that generates anger, distress, sadness, dissmell, shame, disgust, interest, joy and surprise).  As I alluded to in yesterday’s word, interest, without interest there is no real joy. We do not experience joy in our relationships, work, family, friends, hobbies, or chores unless we have some interest in them.  Some people hate to clean house and if they have no real interest in having a clean house, they usually don’t clean house. However, if they have a vested interested in a clean house, even though they may hate housework, they feel a sense of joy and accomplishment when it is done!  Learning how to cultivate interest will lead naturally to more joy in your days and weeks ahead. 

Today, what do you imagine will bring you great joy and delight?  Cultivate it as if you were making a special cake for your birthday.  List the ingredients you will need to experience a delicious sensation of joy and then go out and accomplish making a joyful event in your life.