GROUNDING PROMPTS
How often do you feel joy in your life?
Is it enough for you?
Do you feel worthy of feeling joy? In what ways?
What would make you feel worthy?
What do you feel joy about?
What does joy feel to you in these experiences? In your body? In your mind? In your soul?
What blueprint can you create to make you feel joy any time you want? Paint it, draw it, write it, photograph it, record it, sculpt it… to have with you at hand. It is your own chosen permission to feel it 💜💜💜
GROUNDING PROMPTS
How do you feel right now?
What is stopping you from resting?
Where do these messages come from?
Why do you choose to listen to these messages? What are they bringing you?
What would rest look like for you?
How would you feel afterwards?
What do you need to allow yourself to rest?
What small action can you take this week towards this?
GOING DEEPER
What makes you happy?
What activities bring you happiness?
What does happiness feel like to you?
Do you believe that you deserve to be happy? Why?/why not?
What needs to happen for you to feel worthy of being happy?
What gets in the way of your happiness and doing activities that make you feel happy?
What can you do to minimise this?
PLAY - that is today’s quality card that I picked this morning. And I felt inspired to write about it. When I picked this card (it jumped out of the deck when I was shuffling, that’s my way of picking one card) my reaction was surprise, then pure glee, I got excited but also I felt a very strong synchronicity as I had literally just finished painting backgrounds in my Feelings Journal. I skipped 2 days because it was too late in the evening for me to paint a background and wait for it to dry.
This morning I literally just played - finger painting, using an old makeup sponge and also an odd sock (I had left my paint brushes downstairs and couldn’t be bothered to move from my bedroom!) I used to paint almost daily (mixed media messy art) a few years ago and was hit with artist’s block, desert island. When I tried to paint, it would feel so forced that I didn’t enjoy it anymore and, for well over a year, almost two, I did not paint. Now the fun is back and although I might paint once every couple of weeks, even just doing simple backgrounds of literally one rectangle of colour and a border in another colour for my Feelings journaling practice. It now truly feels like play.
This is just one of many examples of activities where I can feel the quality of play.
I remember a time when I used to work full time (currently at home on furlough since last year), going back home totally exhausted. It was so hard to find time to play, or even the energy. But every time I did, it felt like I had found my salvation, I had come back to life again - I was that little girl, carefree, and just exploring, having fun, making a mess; no stress, no worries, no responsibilities. It was so freeing. Playing brings you back to your inner child, in that state of innocence, untouched and unspoilt by society’s expectations, demands, judgements, values, right or wrong. You want to paint that tree blue and purple? You just do it, you don’t ask if it’s right or wrong - and by whose standards anyway?
Play is the ultimate freedom, unfiltered exploration where you find treasures by using your imagination and your intuition in ways you have always been meant to, and finding these gifts, insights and answers that would have never come to you by using the acceptable logic. Play is a portal to your happiness, freedom, discovering who you are and coming closer to your True Self.
It is so important to incorporate the quality of play in your life. The reality of this world can sometimes be so soul-crushing. Play brings you the balance, the uplift, shows you what is true and beautiful.
Obviously it does not work for everything- I am yet to incorporate the quality of play when I need to do my chores! But I can play pretend that I am a magician or a wizard/witch when I do the dishes (it sometimes work!)
The secret is, when you can, to not take things so seriously and make them less boring, less of a pain. We all have opportunities in our days to lighten up. We just need to notice, recognise and ask ourselves, how can I make this more fun, more playful? and just give it a go.
I encourage you to try it and see what happens. In which areas of your life could you do with a little bit more play? How could you incorporate this quality in simple ways? List all your ideas, pick one, and do it. See what happens. Probably some good old magic...
GROUNDING PROMPTS
What does truly matter to you?
Do you always do it/prioritise it? Why? / Why not?
What would it look like to do what matters ? What would it feel like?
What could you do this week that truly matters to you and that you don’t usually act on?
What would be a first easy step to prioritise it?
How can you make it into an easy and beneficial habit?
GOING DEEPER
When do you feel you could do just the bare minimum?
Do you let yourself do the bare minimum in these times? Why/why not?
If you answered yes, how does it feel?
How would it feel to only do the bare minimum when you feel tired, overwhelmed, stressed...?
What would doing the bare minimum look like for you, in practical terms? What would you prioritise? Why?
How do you usually plan your days? Do you take into account how you feel on that day? Why/why not?
What would it mean to you to give yourself permission to only do the bare minimum when you need it?
How can you make it an available practice to you for when you need it?
GROUNDING PROMPTS
How would you describe your physical pain? What events or experiences relate or contributed to it?
How would you describe your emotional pain? What events or experiences relate or contributed to it? Where do you feel it in your body? How does it feel like?
How would you describe your psychological pain? What events or experiences relate or contributed to it?
How would you describe your spiritual pain? What events or experiences relate or contributed to it?
Do you agree with this affirmation? Why? In what ways?
How can you turn your pain into gold nuggets? Physical? Emotional? Psychological? Spiritual?
*please remember that I am not a professional. These are techniques that I personally use to dig deep in my soul journey that support me. I am presenting these to you in the hope that they will be of some help to you, even if just as inspiration. If anything gets triggered in your soul journey either by any of these prompts I present weekly for Affirmations and Journaling Prompts, or anything else in your life, please ensure that you have qualified or professional support in place to help you. Wishing you all the best in your journey, my beautiful souls❤️
GROUNDING PROMPTS
What does joy look like to you?
What does it feel like to you?
What do you feel is blocking joy from coming to you every day?
What is your first reaction when you’re about to receive joy?
What is your self-talk?
How can you find ways to include joy in your life?
How can you make yourself ready to receive joy? Open to it.
GROUNDING PROMPTS
What does this mean to you?
What does it look like?
What does it feel like?
Does this affirmation feel true to you right now? Why?
How would your life be transformed when this affirmation feels totally true to you?
What can you do this week to move towards making this affirmation true to you?
GROUNDING PROMPTS
What does honouring yourself mean to you?
What does it look like?
What does it feel like?
Do you feel that you honour yourself every day?
Why is that?
In what ways could you honour yourself?
What can you do this week (and commit to) that will take you closer to honouring yourself?
If you had a ritual/ceremony to honour yourself, what would you like it to be like? What practices and activities would you include in your ritual?
What would this ritual represent to you?
GOING DEEPER
How do you feel held back in your life?
Think of particular examples.
Why did you feel held back on these occasions?
Whom did you feel held back by?
Why?
How did it make you feel on each of these occasions when you were held back?
If you had done as you wanted on these occasions, what can you imagine could have happened?
What lessons are these experiences bringing you now in this present moment?
What do you need to let go of in order to stop feeling held back?
What do you need to do in order to stop feeling held back?
How will you feel when nothing holds you back anymore?
What can you do this coming week to move towards this?
I bet that you’ve read the title of this article and thought “what’s the secret?”!
It is unfortunately not uncommon for teenagers and children to dislike vegetables. Most vegetables have either a plain, bitter or metallic taste and are not received the same way by the developing tastebuds of children and teenagers as by adults’.
There are A LOT of foods that I now eat and enjoy as a middle aged adult that I wouldn’t even look at when I was a child or a teenager. I remember on many occasions being forced to eat my vegs, only to end up in the toilets at the end of the meal, throwing them all up.
My teenage son is not a fan of vegetables, and I can’t really blame him for this, considering my story. I have never forced him, again, remembering my story and how painful psychologically it was to be made feel there was something wrong with you for not eating or liking vegs.
However, I’ve always tried to “skilfully” sneak a vegetable or two in his food, mostly failures, I have to admit, but one success - my “special mash” is boiled potatoes, with either boiled broccoli or spinach (occasionally I might dump a carrot as well), butter, a little bit of milk all blended together, and half a pack of grated cheese. By its colour, it is obvious there are greens in there, but since it’s “special” with loads of cheese (he’s always loved cheese), it makes it all better. When he was little and until recently, that would be the only way he would eat vegetables willingly.
However, in the last year or so, he has become more and more passionate about Japan and its culture (hopefully at some point he’ll get to Zen practices 🤣). We have been watching some Japanese anime series on TV and very often we would see characters eating “ramen”. To me, it looked like a “made up” meal, but by researching online I discovered that it was a genuine Japanese traditional dish. Searching for recipes - there are many if you google “ramen recipes” - I realised that some of the ingredients were unfamiliar to me, but that I could easily reproduce something that would look like and taste like ramen.
It is now a MUST weekly meal that we have twice a week (because I cook bigger quantities so there is always leftovers for the next day - time saving!) and a favourite of his - and he is fully aware there are vegetables in there; he even eats the soft boiled eggs even though “he doesn’t like eggs”! But you see, it’s Japanese, so if it’s Japanese, it’s delicious!
I hope this little story would have brought you a glimmer of hope and inspired you to try and find creative ways to help your children and teens eat more vegetables painlessly (both for you and for them) and wilfully.
As a bonus, here’s my recipe for my Ramen-style dish: - it is about 4 servings
Ingredients: mince beef (about 250g), 2 stock cubes (beef or vegetables), 1 courgette, 2 peeled carrots, 1 peeled parsnip, 1/4 small white cabbage cut in thin strips, 1 pack of noodles (I now prefer using thick rice noodles usually for Udon as I am gluten intolerant, but you can use normal flat noodles. I did on this first attempt on the photo), 1 soft boiled egg per person, pinch of pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder, 1 tablespoon of ghee, 5 to 10 mushrooms depending on size (chopped in thinnish slices, whatever you can safely manage - I like using chestnut mushrooms since I have very limited access to the “real” type)
I peel my vegetables (skin off, then carry on peeling the whole vegetables - it’s quicker to cook and the taste is not as isolated and noticeable as when you chew chunks), then place them with all the ingredients (apart from eggs) in a big stew/casserole dish, and cover it all with boiled water from the kettle. Put on medium heat for about 15 minutes with a lid covering the dish (I leave a tiny bit of a gap to let some of the steam escape). I mix it with a wooden spoon once in a while to separate and spread the noodles.
10 minutes before it’s done, I boil some water in a kettle and, in a saucepan, I place my eggs and cover with the boiled water. I leave on medium heat for about 6 minutes and place my eggs in a bowl of cold water for a couple of minutes to cool the shells and outer egg, then peel the shells off.
Once the Ramen is ready, fill in the serving bowls, cut the eggs in 2 and place on top of the “soup” - et voila! Enjoy ❤️❤️❤️
You can obviously replace the beef with any other meat - or fish - you wish, or if you are vegetarian or vegan, pulses would be very nice as well, or meat alternatives such as quorn or tofu. And of course, any vegs will do as well ❤️❤️❤️.
GROUNDING PROMPTS
What do you know for sure, in your heart?
What do you wish you knew in your heart?
What do people tell you that you don’t know in your heart?
How can you make it happen? What steps do you need to take?
What will happen when you do?
GOING DEEPER
In what areas of your life do you feel your personal space (in and out) is being violated?
What examples come to mind?
How does it make you feel?
How do you wish you could respond?
What would it mean for you to respond that way?
What boundaries do you need to establish?
How can you present them to people around you (family, friends, work...)?
How can you enforce these boundaries with kindness and in a way that will feel natural and comfortable to you?
How will it feel like to have these boundaries respected?
What will be able to start happening for you then?
GOING DEEPER
Have a look at each area of your life that applies to you (health, relationships, self care and personal growth, social, finances, work/career, studying, environment, spirituality, fun - as examples) and determine on average how much time in a day (or a week if you prefer) you spend in this area
After you have determined how you spend your time, are you surprised by the results? In what ways?
Are you happy with the results? In what ways?
If you’re not happy with these results, what would you like to change? How? Have a clear picture of what you’re aiming for for each area of your life. Be as detailed as you can.
What can you start doing this week to move towards the way in want to spend your time? Review every week
Good job! You have just tried the Wheel of Life exercise (more to come on next article)🤩🤩🤩⭐️⭐️⭐️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏
New beginnings - what a fitting theme for a new year, wouldn’t you agree?
We always talk about New Year’s Resolutions, which are a perfect example of new beginnings. You make the commitment to yourself that you will exercise every day, or that you will eat healthy, or will start that new hobby you’ve always wanted to try. It is a conscious decision that things can no longer stay the same and that a change is needed in order for your life to improve - the quality of your life.
New beginnings can happen in a new year, a new decade - and we would all agree that the 2020 decade started with much hope, and quickly disappointed, to say the least. And with 2021 staring, even greater hopes are arising, for a better future.
These are most noticeable New Beginnings time frames, but we need to remind ourselves that no matter the month, the year, the decade, every single day is a new beginning. The sun rises every morning for us and tells us, here is a new beginning for you, here is another chance, new opportunities coming your way. And when the sun sets at the end of the day, it is time for us to review, be grateful, and let go of what dragged us down, annoyed us, no longer serves us. Every single day you have this opportunity to start afresh. It is also a conscious decision in the same vein as New Year Resolutions, but maybe more manageable as, it is well-known that New Year Resolutions often get forgotten after a few weeks, whereas every day is more definite and not as long a time commitment. If you feel you fail one day, it does not mean you will fail the next day. It is up to you. You always have a choice how you can respond to events around you and how you feel. Every morning, at the end of my meditation, I always tell myself an intention for the day, such as “today is gonna be fun/amazing/full of joy”, “today I will focus on doing my best in everything”. Obviously depending on how I feel and what is scheduled for that day, I will model the intention to what I will need.
Of course, some new beginnings are somewhat forced upon us, such as losing a loved one, losing a job, as many have in 2020 with the pandemic. In this case, the grieving process is essential in order to be able to build the foundations of a strong, stable and positive new beginning. There is not a lot more that I will offer as advice or guidance in this matter as I strongly believe, first, that the grieving process is very personal and takes many forms that need to be respected by all - including the person grieving -, and also that it needs to be supported by professionals and trained personnel or organisations such as Samaritans (there are many more around the world, just do a Google search in your area or country). Only when you have grieved and accepted your loss, whatever it may be, will your mind be clear enough to decide what to do next, what your next step needs to be.
What new beginnings do you wish for?
What are you going to do to put them into plan and action this year?
What new beginnings did you choose in 2020?
What new beginnings were forced upon you in 2020?
How did both of these feel?
We all have had new beginnings throughout our life, that is what got us where we are right now. So while new beginnings can be and feel scary, especially when forced upon us and feel out of our control, but not exclusively, you are strong enough for the next one, because you have done this before, and you made it. Reviewing the challenges and new beginnings of the last year, last decade, even just the last few months, will bring you more awareness on what you have gone through, what you have overcome, give yourself some credit, what your strengths are and how you can use them for any future new beginnings, all can get you prepared and pumped up to initiate the new beginnings that will transform your life into the one you were put on this earth to live, fulfilled and happy, and enjoy.
Many blessings for your new beginnings ❤️
GROUNDING PROMPTS
What opportunities for growth have you experienced in your life so far?
What opportunities for wealth have you experienced in your life so far?
What do they have in common?
How do they differ?
How do you usually receive opportunities for growth? For wealth?
What other ways would you like to receive these opportunities? Where could they come from?
How would you feel about these?
How do you see your personal growth 1/5/10 years from now?
How do you see your wealth 1/5/10 years from now?
How would you embrace/explore/start the process of allowing? What do you need for this?
GOING DEEPER
What are you scared of right now?
Why does it scare you?
What would happen if your fear(s) were to come true?
How would that impact your life?
What goal is your fear trying to achieve by coming into mind?
Close your eyes and imagine your fear is taking form. What does it look like?
You say hello to your fear and ask it, What do you want from me? Why?
How can you and your fear can co-operate on what you are trying to achieve? Ask your fear form.
Regardless of our background, current circumstances, past experiences and health levels, we all have at one point (or more, hopefully) in our life, experienced joy. That's for sure.
But what is joy? How does it feel like?
According to dictionary.com, joy is "the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying".
So what is the difference between joy and happiness?
There are many explanations you can find online and in books, but to me, joy is more exuberant, more colourful than happiness, which I feel as more contentment and more a stable and durable state. I see joy as moments of bright light, flashes of colours, like your toddler walking his first steps with a big smile on his face and aiming for your arms while feeling so proud of himself.
While happiness feels to me as a constant lightness, openness and groundedness, joy feels more like little sparks popping here and there, more intense and more special. Obviously, these can mean and feel totally different to you, after all we are all unique human beings with different perceptions and ways of feeling what is going on around us and inside us. It is all good.
Dr Patty Hlava from @AwakenPeace Healing, on the Insight Timer app, led this live session on Tuesday 15th December 2020 (a replay may be available at some point in the future but, currently, is not available). Her guided meditation/ visualisation was so insightful, powerful and an open door to feeling joy.
Some of the highlights for me were the following:
Thinking about a joyful moment you have experienced in your past (remote or recent), visualising, reminiscing as if you were back there and focusing on how you feel.
Keeping that feeling in and gathering more by opening your hands, receiving more joy energy from the Universe, and bringing it in to your heart space, keeping going while you open up your hands/arms more and more each round.
I am quite an introvert at heart and only with very close friends and family will I be demonstrative; so as I was opening up to receive joy from the Universe, at one point in the meditation/visualisation, I actually caught myself having my arms wide open. My instinct had told me to let go of the restrictions and boundaries I put on myself, and just be literally open to receive what the Universe had for me. I know that it will sound for many people rather airy-fairy, and that's totally OK. It does not in any way diminish the experience for me. But it just shows that, instinctively, we all yearn for this feeling of joy, open up when it is there for us and that a lot of it is meant for each and every one of us - we just need to trust and open up to receive it without resistance, fear or mistrust.
If you're into guided meditation, on Insight Timer, I really like "Joy" by teacher Shelly McSween-White, MS - it is 1 hour and 20 minutes long so you go really deep. If this is too long for you or you are a beginner, I also recommend Lo Madigan's "5-Minute Meditation for Cultivating Joy" (the whole audio is less than 7 minutes) or Sono Lumin/Jonas Malvik's "Joy - Increase Vibrational Frequency" if you prefer music (only 9 minutes long).
From a vibrational point of view, joy is a positive, uplifting emotion of a high vibration and frequency. It is 540 Hz and is expansive, meaning that the more joy you feel, the more you get.
If you're into Chakras, it is the frequency closest to the Sacral Chakra (under the navel - 417 Hz) which corresponds to creativity and pleasure.
Practising gratitude regularly (ideally on a daily basis) can also help you connect with joy and raise your vibration to start your day. Smiling is also a great way to connect - more with happiness in my view, but it is still one step forward.
With so many ways, and more, to connect to and explore joy - try and observe your relationship with this emotion. Can you fully connect to joy? What events, people, experiences help you connect to joy? I invite you to explore with this emotion, visualise, meditate and journal so that you have an imprint of joy for when you need it the most.
