So I was playing around with ideas for a new project, when suddenly the phrase ‘Commit To Joy’ popped into my head. Yeah! Commit To Joy! I got into it, noting down the ideas that were flowing and dancing about all over the place…
Thought I might as well get a website domain name sorted while I was at it too, so had a nosey to see if it was available, and ooh! it was ‘pending’, which meant it was up for renewal in 14 days. The signs were good.
14 days later I went back to see what was going on and a little auction was underway – Commit To Joy was up for sale. I backed down as someone else snatched the Joy from under my nose for a huge sum. I felt awful and was stomping about the kitchen, mumbling to myself and sighing, when I suddenly caught myself stomping about the kitchen, mumbling to myself and sighing…
’Where’s the Joy now, Corinne? I thought you were supposed to be committed?!’
I enjoyed a small giggle at my own expense – I’d been given this fab idea, not just as a concept or a product to develop – to Commit To Joy meant more than hunting down a pesky website domain. This was real stuff, about my Life with a capital L.
Just so we’re clear, Commit To Joy wasn’t about me prancing about and singing in the rain (although I freely admit to a bit of that every now and again, just for fun), pretending everything was wonderful, big smiles to hide the painful bits. Nope.
For me this felt like a strong desire to say Yes to finding the Joy – that frequency of deep and smiley-eyed contentment – in the midst of the challenges and all the dark stuff that comes with getting to be a human being on this beautiful Earth (and surely there’s a piece of spectacular joy-filled luck right there?!).
So, a few months passed, and some big Life stuff happened (more on that in other posts), stuff that reminded me how much I love being as awake as I possibly can to the mystery and possibility and just darn awesomeness of being Alive. I sat on my sofa and Commit To Joy popped up again. ‘Do it,’ it said, ‘Commit!’ And I realised I was being asked, as I’ve been asked so many times, to sign up for the real ride, to commit to going even more deeply into the crazy beautiful Something that is my Life.
So I’m doing it. I’ve decided to sign up and see where it takes me this time. I’m signing up to notice the things that open my heart, to stand in a noisy room and see what happens if I hold my centre and tune into Joy, to practise this.
And this is in the midst of a Life that is just as messy in parts as yours I bet...
I want to connect to that frequency of Joy (which is there, all the time, whether I choose to connect to it or not) in the midst of the mess. I’m gonna give it a go! And when I wander off or fall asleep or forget, that’s okay too, because the way I see it I’ll be recommitting over and over and over again, which sounds good to me – it’s what practice is!
So here goes, and if you want to join me and Commit To Joy in your own way too, I’d love that. You can nudge me when I forget why I’m doing this, and I can remind you what we’re doing it for. Because let’s face it, if our world needs anything right now, Joy is it. The darkness and violence and hatred exists, we can’t ignore it any more, and maybe this is our golden opportunity to look at it fully and unafraid?
Maybe it’s showing up for exactly that reason, to be seen and acknowledged and Loved back into something more whole again. Who knows?
In every moment I have choices: to throw anger and hatred and separation back at what I see outside of me, feeding the madness, or I can choose a different way. The choices we make create the world around us and if I, in my western life with such freedom to choose, can do my bit to at least stop adding to the mess, I’m going to do it. Can we keep choosing Joy in the face of hate until Joy, Love, Connection, The Good Stuff becomes our new reality? Is it possible? I don’t know, but here goes.
Sign up in the comments with your own I Commit To Joy, and let’s do this together.
PS And when I finished writing this blog, I had a nudge to check out the website domain name again, thinking, 'Yeah, yeah, it’s just a test so I have to Commit To Joy in real life and practise not being bothered about such tiny things, I get it’. Search...
committojoy.com was available, and this time it didn’t even matter. I laughed out loud and I bought it. Watch this space!