Joy as Soul Medicine: An Antidote to Chaos for Sensitive Hearts
I feel exhausted by the fear, chaos, and the negativity in the world. I’m just sick of it all. School shootings. Political polarization pitting neighbor against neighbor. Wars. Famine. People and children dying. My own personal chaos as a caretaker whose past is being exposed for reexamination, like fissures opening in my soul. It’s more than my heart can handle at times.
Some days it feels like I am being swallowed by a dark hole. I searched inside for what could possibly help me feel better. My intuition gave me this answer: Joy. More joy is what my soul most needs. What?? Once I landed on the idea my whole body started craving joy like a moist piece of chocolate cake. I need it. I need it now. Could joy be the antidote, a shield of protection, the medicine to the chaos?
It’s a leap though, isn’t it? Going from despair to joy. Joy seems like a lot of work, an impossible dream. I can hear my clients saying, don’t talk to me about joy when I’m feeling like the world is ending. Well, that’s me responding too – to feel joy just may be too much to ask. Especially true for the empaths, the sensitive souls and women carrying the weight of others pain. It can feel revolutionary to smile or laugh. I know I am way too serious most days getting lost in my own self-absorption.
Joy is the opposite of fear, outrage, or despair. It’s like a homeopathic remedy. It’s stubborn and refuses to believe that the world’s chaos has the power to extinguish our inner flame. Joy isn’t created. It’s always there inside, a state of being that needs to be sparked. Let me say that again – joy is always there waiting for you. It’s something that maybe isn’t lit all the time but something we can return to again and again for its healing qualities.
Joy is being aligned with your essence. It’s less about what’s happening and more about who you are being. You don’t so much build joy as uncover it. It arises when you live in truth, love, and presence.That’s how it aligns with your soul. It’s more like a flame you tend, rather than a state you chase.
I think of babies and small children who giggle and laugh with sweet abandon. Where do those giggles come from? Babies don’t know if they’ve achieved their to-do list that day. They’re not criticizing how many times they burped out loud. They are totally present in the moment. They are love. Their laughter bubbles up from somewhere deep inside and contagiously affects anyone within ear shot. We all start giggling and laughing with them. I bet you’re smiling right now.
Joy is your birthright. It is the essence of who you are, your natural radiance.
Joy Zappers. Are you being too busy, comparing yourself to others, scrolling social media too much wanting to be the next TikTok sensation, watching or reading too much news, trying to be perfect, saying yes to more than you can handle, being unmercifully hard on yourself, disconnecting from your own desires? Oh yeh, joy zappers.
Look, we can’t be in the state of joy all the time, well you can if you’re the Dalai Lama. But you can learn what brings you joy and take yourself there. Measure your joy meter. Notice during the day the moments that not only make you smile but make your heart sing.
It’s not about being radiant every moment or denying your pain. Joy is more like a flicker—tiny moments where your soul(fire) breaks through the heaviness.
· Joy can be one deep breath when the world feels too loud.
· Joy can be holding your child’s, grandchild’s or dog’s face in your hands and feeling unconditional love.
· Joy can be hearing your own laughter again after days of tears or laughing uncontrollably for no reason.
· Joy can be a swish of a paint brush on canvas, listening to music that moves your heart, seeing a favorite band in concert (me, when I got to see U2), or dancing to a favorite song.
· Joy can be remembering: There is still life in me. I am still here.
All of these make your heart flutter. When your heart flutters, you feel radiant like you’re glowing in the dark. That is the experience of joy. Notice the little things during the day that bring you joy like a sip of a favorite tea or a lick from you dog. Create a list of joy restorers that let your radiance shine through…flowers in springtime, sunrises and sunsets, the general continuity of life….
What can you do to get more of those micro-joys and less of the joy zappers?
Instead of blocking or absorbing the chaos, learn to transmute it like a spiritual alchemist. Ask yourself, whose pain am I holding? Whose story is it? Bring it into your heart and feel gratitude for your ability to hold others’ stories with compassion. That is a gift, you know, being able to acknowledge and hold what is most difficult. Hold it like you would a baby with all the love and tenderness you can. Say cooing words like you’re talking to a child letting them know everything will be all right. Then release it. It is not your job to fix it. It’s your job to give it love, the transmutation factor. Offer it up to the Universe or let spirit to do the rest.
Joy is the inner flame that keeps you from being extinguished by the weight of it all. All it takes is a spark to remind you of what is already there.
Joy is the radiance of your heart. Joy is soul medicine.
Can you feel that?
