How To Bring In Joy, Merriment And Generosity To Our Lives

This season,

This time frame,

Winter reminds us,

Go in a little bit.

The season is for you no matter how it shows up.

And it's a choice that we have.

What do we want to feel in this time frame?

And I noted joy and merriment and generosity.

And how can we connect into those during this time?

And in fact,

You're around.

Why not,

You know?

And the beautiful thing about this time frame is like when we breathe in,

We notice it differently,

Right?

And we're inviting in that crispness and that coldness,

Unafraid of it,

Just saying hello to it,

Bringing it into the warmth of our bodies.

So inhaling,

Bringing in that crisp cold,

Letting it wake up our system.

And then as it merges with us in our centers,

We're warming it up for our bodies.

It reminds us of how when invited in,

We connect and we share that warmth.

The air comes at us,

And it's like cool,

And we bring it in to the warmth.

And here we're going to just imagine together the Christmas scene or the holiday scene or the winter scene that we want to.

We just open our minds to imagination.

So often,

You know,

This season,

This time frame reminds us to imagine,

Because we don't always sit back and imagine.

We're familiar with sitting back and worrying.

We're familiar with sitting back and trying to figure out how we're going to do this or that or the other.

But this time,

Let's imagine.

So we follow the air in to our lungs,

And we nestle down right close to our heart.

And let's imagine a scene in front of us,

Maybe a little fireplace,

But just whatever you want to picture.

And that scene is just so peaceful.

Maybe the snow's falling in there.

And it's already relaxing,

In a way,

Just to think about imagining the only thing that's shifted is instead of our mind handing something to us,

We're just taking a moment to use this beautiful mind for ourselves to create the scene we want to just inside.

And any time we forget that we're supposed to be in that scene,

We can just follow that air right down into our lungs.

And it's in there,

Inside of our heart,

That we're imagining this.

We can decorate it any way we want to.

And we can be by ourselves,

Or we can invite friends there.

We can invite anyone we want.

So set out some chairs and make the scene.

And who would you invite?

Because this is your space,

The place within you that's so warm and inviting.

And we set out,

And we decorate it whatever way we want to for our experience.

And you imagine that space filled with whatever imagery that you would like.

And it's comfortable.

There's blankets if you need them.

And it's calm.

There's warm things to drink if you want them.

And we can invite friends or aspects of ourselves.

We can be completely alone if we wanted to and comfortable.

But it's calm,

And it's peaceful.

And while we have whoever we want with us,

We're going to invite in the spirit of joy in whatever way that looks to you.

And for me,

Joy comes rushing in and just connects to the heart of everyone that's in that space with me.

And I just hold that.

Because as we gather together during these times,

And we share with one another,

And we give to one another during this time,

Even when it's a present,

What we're wanting to give is joy or happiness,

Something special.

We want that person to light up and enjoy and engage.

It's something just for them.

So each one that's in the room with you,

Imagine whatever gift you would like to give to them.

And don't worry about whether it's affordable or not.

Something you wish for them,

Whether it's happiness or joy or peace,

That spirit.

And this time frame reminds us that all that is,

All those energies that are around us are open to sharing to us,

And they love to be invited in.

And you can invite into your space any energy that you would like.

So let's do that.

And I'm just going to start with joy,

Which is already there.

Joy looked at me and said,

I'm already here.

And I'm like,

Yes,

You're right.

And each one in that space that you want,

You can imagine joy interacting with yourself and with each person there.

And that's the beauty of these energies,

These real and alive energies,

Is that they can be present to each person.

No one's waiting.

Everyone can have it at the same time.

And it's so interesting because the more joy that you imagine,

The more joy there is.

And in this moment we recognize that joy doesn't have to be a thing,

Because here it is present in our being with just a breath and an invitation.

A breath and an invitation is all it takes for the spirit of joy to enter you.

And we ask that spirit of joy to touch inside of our own bodies.

Where do you live?

Where do you live in me?

And to show us where it lives in our own bodies.

And we connect to that.

And joy,

How do you show up for me?

Is it a feeling?

Is it a color?

Is it a light?

Is it a touch?

Because joy isn't something outside of you.

Joy will show you where it lives in you.

And it's so funny,

Joy just showed me it's kind of been under this rock.

Oh my gosh,

I put a rock on the top of joy.

But that's no problem,

I can move it over and let it come through even more.

It's about freeing these energies inside your body and allowing them to support you and move through you.

And inside,

Joy reminds me,

Oh,

That spirit's always there.

It just gets covered up with something.

It's probably a thought.

It's all right,

I'm just gonna let that rock roll away.

And because it's my imagination,

I can just love that little rock.

Oh my gosh,

It became a little diamond.

And then my ear's not pierced,

I'm gonna pierce my ear with that little diamond.

And we're probably,

I want it to have joy too,

And it instantly does.

That which was blocking my joy is instantly loved and joyful.

And we just allow that to go to everyone in that room that we imagine is there with us.

Because the more joy there is,

The more joy there is.

And it's so easy to share.

And who would we hold it back from?

We don't wanna hold joy back from anybody.

So we let everybody get a little cup of joy because all of a sudden,

Everybody had a few eggnogs in mind.

And inside that sip of eggnog was some joy.

And it didn't require a thing to share.

It's just the intention.

The intention of joy.

And notice how your body is feeling.

Oh my gosh,

I don't wanna leave my body out.

Let me transfer joy.

Not transfer.

It was like,

No,

You're not transferring me.

Let me invite joy to every aspect of my body and you too.

Invite it.

Touch my toes.

Touch my legs,

My knees.

Flow through my blood.

Let it fill my body and my heart,

My mind.

Let it pour out my eyes and through my words.

And you can invite any energy to more freely exist inside of you.

To be shared to your entire being.

Physical and non-physical.

And as it fills you up,

Notice how,

My gosh,

There's even more to share.

It pours out of your body to everyone around you.

And you notice they have their own source of joy.

And,

You know,

Sometimes I look over and I notice Grumpy Uncle,

He didn't want any,

But oh my gosh,

He didn't last long.

All of a sudden,

He's full of joy.

Sometimes people resist it a little bit.

It's kind of funny to watch that,

But,

You know,

It's hard to resist the breath,

Isn't it?

It's hard to resist the joy when you invite it in and breathe it in and find its matching part inside of you.

For there's nothing that exists outside of you that doesn't exist inside of you.

It's always got a friend in there,

Always got a counterpart.

So we enjoy joy.

And what is it like when an energy or a spirit or a feeling is inside of you and you begin to celebrate it?

It just gets more intense,

At least with mine.

What happened with yours?

With me?

The moment I enjoyed joy.

Well,

There it is.

Doesn't matter what it looks like.

It feels pretty good.

But it's there.

And enjoy,

Enjoy.

Ah,

That's what joy wanted,

Was to be enjoyed,

Embodied through you.

Now that room is full of joy and everyone in it,

Then even if they don't normally appreciate joy,

Ah,

They're surrounded.

What can they do except for merge with it too?

And I invite in the parts of me that don't often feel joy.

You know,

There's those parts inside of us that plan.

Oh my gosh,

I got a big plan or I don't know about yours,

But my planner's gotta be seven foot tall.

Let's plan.

And I invite that in.

I invite in the parts of me that have to be right.

Ah,

There's lots of those.

Parts of me that wanna prove things.

Any part that you wanna invite in that runs the day so often.

Having pulled up a chair at that fire,

Introduced them to joy.

Felt so good to do that,

To invite all the stressed out parts of me,

All the overworked parts of me,

All the parts of me that overworked themselves.

It was really not necessary.

Hello,

Joy.

Introduce them.

Maybe there's a dance floor now.

People are dancing with joy.

And joy loves a party.

So the spirit of merriment let's invite in with our breath the spirit of merriment.

And merriment,

Oh my goodness,

Is contagious.

I was gonna invite it in to meet everybody,

But it just came in with a rush and jumped from person to person because it spreads like that,

Doesn't it?

Merriment.

Nobody has to be around for me to enjoy that.

But everybody there is joining in.

It's contagious.

That joy was interesting.

It was so embracing.

And merriment is so contagious.

You know,

Joy and merriment know each other because now they're dancing on the floor.

And I'm beginning to realize how often I use my mind in ways that are tougher on myself,

But not today.

I'm watching joy and merriment dance today.

There's no room to be aggressive toward myself.

There's no room to be aggressive towards me or you.

And then I notice that as joy and merriment are dancing together,

I'm dancing with different friends.

And there's a little part of me that shows up kind of young,

Holding my hand.

I'll dance with you too.

And because it's our imagination,

I can be partner to every single one in there.

At the same time,

There's no limit to me in this space.

I can choose and enjoy,

Be merry.

And of course,

If you know me,

Be merry and gay.

It's not hard for me to be gay.

But you can stick with joy and merriment every how you want.

Just allowing it to dance on its own and to say and invite merriment to every part of my body.

Sometimes I think merriment is something I say.

But there's already the bubbling of humor on its own in merriment.

And it fills our eyes and our looks and our ways of being,

Right?

Because sometimes you don't have to say anything to crack up a room.

And of course,

When everybody's in merriment,

You don't have to say anything because everybody's looking to enjoy themselves.

Merriment and joy,

They're partners.

Oh yeah.

Now these partners might be polyamorous because there's room for more.

We don't have to limit them.

But they certainly love each other.

As do everyone in that room.

When we let go of our thoughts and go into imagination,

We can include everyone with joy and merriment.

No one's left out.

Even the hot,

Angry,

Grumpy ones.

Easily in imagination.

Allow themselves joy and merriment.

It's not scary in there.

And so we just feel that.

We let merriment go through our toes and our knees and our thighs.

And oh,

I find that it really likes to live in my belly.

You know,

Now I understand those imageries of the spirit of Santa grabbing his belly and just ho,

Ho,

Ho,

You know.

Because that merriment is there.

Right there.

You know what?

Good food goes right there too.

And who doesn't enjoy that?

Man,

I made my macaroni and cheese the other night and everybody likes my macaroni and cheese.

And the funny part was it goes right there.

Right there in the gut.

So,

You know,

Don't look at pounds and say,

Oh,

I gotta lose weight.

Look at all that merriment.

So just enjoy it.

And allowing it to fill your chest.

Gosh,

I can feel merriment.

And it's so different from joy,

Isn't it?

Like joy was a little different.

Merriment,

When it comes in,

It's just like,

Oh,

Make room.

It just fills up.

It fills my lungs and merriment in my throat and merriment in my smile and eyes.

And this one we just share with everybody too.

We invite everyone in that room and we introduce everyone in that room to merriment.

And I just enjoy imagining everyone in the spirit of joy and merriment there.

Control it.

It's quite a party.

Quite fun to watch.

And instead of my mind insisting how things must be and Uncle George is always this way and Aunt Penelope,

She'll just gotta do that.

Not worried about that.

Just enjoying sharing these gifts.

These unaffordable.

Because who could buy joy?

Who could buy merriment?

They can be shared.

They can be intended.

They can be luxuriated in when you allow them.

And I noticed that with merriment,

I had no rock.

With joy,

I had it kind of stuck with a little rock,

But you know,

Once you start allowing it in,

Even the rocks roll in and enjoy it too.

And then generosity.

Let's invite in the energy of generosity.

And oddly,

Generosity kind of struck me different.

I don't know how it showed up for you,

But generosity was already kind of there,

But also behind me.

And I'm like,

What are you doing back there?

And it's like,

I'm not waiting to be invited.

And oh,

It just reminded me that sometimes,

You know,

That generosity,

I'm a step ahead of it.

And not because,

Oh,

I'm so generous,

I'm giving already.

Really?

Generosity had not quite yet been fully merged.

I was a little afraid of it.

Being too generous.

Not having enough.

So I let generosity show me.

I need to be taught by generosity right now.

So teach me generosity.

And oh no,

We're not going to do it from a like a ha-ha place,

Right?

Like,

Oh,

It's time to be taught.

First,

I'll let joy and merriment teach me how to dance with generosity.

And I won't try to figure it out with my mind.

Because then it might turn into a philosophy.

I want to dance with generosity.

I don't want it to be just behind me,

Me a few steps away from it.

Because my mind wanted to say,

Oh,

I was a few steps ahead of generosity,

That's how generous I am.

But no.

I was running from it.

So I don't want to think.

I just want to join,

To invite generosity more fully.

And I dance with it.

And I let generosity teach me with how it moves.

And I see that it moves with merriment.

And at no point does generosity put me over a barrel or scare me.

It functions with what I have.

And it shows me that it is not limited to just a financial generosity,

But a generosity of space and speaking.

That it is generous to listen.

A generosity of listening.

A generosity of touch.

A generosity of kindness.

A generosity of love.

What a beautiful space.

Generosity.

Merriment.

Joy.

And these beautiful energies are not limited to a time or place or being.

They live inside of you.

These energies do not require anyone else to teach you anything.

These energies want to dance with you inside your being and inside your imagination.

Because the imagination allows where thinking does not.

Because today we danced with generosity and merriment and joy,

And we shared it to ourselves and one another.

And let's.

.

.

Generosity is like,

But wait,

You didn't share me with your body,

So let's share generosity to our bodies,

To our toes,

To our legs and our thigh,

To our chest,

To our smile,

To our minds.

Oh,

Be generous with your mind.

So often I try to clamp down my mind.

I don't allow myself to think that.

Don't allow myself to say that.

So quick to say where I'm right.

Generosity opens my ears to listen and my heart to receive.

Oh,

Wait.

I thought generosity would open me to give and it opened me to receive.

Enjoy merriment or just laughing.

How we think we know,

But our imagination can show us the truth.

And allow,

Allow,

Allow.

And the beauty of it too.

Generosity and merriment and joy.

I don't have to go anywhere.

Even when I quit imagining,

Their scent lingers.

It's so funny I can remember it too.

I can remember it like a memory.

Like a memory I think is so real,

You know,

When someone said something or did something.

But there I was imagining and I can return to that as a memory.

How is that possible?

It didn't happen,

Right?

It didn't really.

It was just pretend.

And yet,

I have it as a memory.

Isn't that amazing?

That this whole time,

This imagination that I'm still in,

I can already recollect it as a memory.

Was it real?

Invite into any memory you have from the past.

Invite energies into it,

Whether you need to invite love to that memory,

Self-compassion.

When it comes up again,

Make a little space for it and invite in the energies that would be most loving.

And change those memories or enhance those memories.

And know that whatever you allow to play in your mind affects your body.

And it's quite alright to enjoy imagination.

And be amazed at what all it can do for you.

Imagine all the beauty and all the joy and all the merriment and the generosity that you would like in your life.

Imagine it to be happening.

Let it play out in your mind in a scene.

Let it fill your body.

So before we stop imagining,

Let's take the time while joy and merriment and generosity are here to imagine the most beautiful day,

The most beautiful sleep,

The most beautiful evening,

The most beautiful interaction.

And again,

Imagine a beautiful year upcoming.

And imagine if it wasn't just an imagination.

Because it can be a memory.

It can be a way of life.

I love you.

And so take this party into your way of being.

And again,

Imagine beautiful energies for any memory or any situation.

But take the time to imagine and enjoy those imaginations because now it's a memory.

And of course memories are absolutely real,

Right?

Sometimes we're generous to those memories,

Letting them be too real because they were in the past.

They don't have to be brought forward.

They can be loved as they were and allowed to breathe.

We can be generous with our memories and not make them trapped in time.

We can love them now and let them have a different life as we have a different experience from being that powerful with our minds.

I love you.

Who knew you were so joyful,

Merry,

And generous,

So powerful?

And we share it out.

We let it go to everybody in the world and our gift to ourselves and each other.

So take these tools of understanding how powerful imagination is that it could be a memory.

And if you have a memory then it was an experience that you had that was real.

And what it makes us question is the reality of memory but also the malleability of reality.

Take that one and chew on it a little bit.

If they're both true because we can do both of those things,

Imagine that our memories are absolutely accurate but also have a memory that was imagined.

It just means that no experience controls your life,

That you are the chooser.

So if you have a memory that hurts you,

Love it,

Heal it.

And if you have an experience you want to have and you haven't had it,

Then imagine it.

Imagine having it.

Feel it so real that it's in your memory and you can go back and experience it again but not just as a memory because then it'll project into your life.

The energy of joy and generosity and merriment,

Let them teach you.

You don't need a guide.

Just open the floor and dance with them.

See how they show up.

Don't overthink it.

But dance with them until you become merged and let them teach you so much.

You don't need someone else when you're all that is because you are also the same beautiful energy.

So live a life of joy,

Merriment and generosity.

Even if at first you just live it in your imagination,

It won't be too long before you start recognizing it outside of you.

And joy and generosity and merriment will be aware that you like to dance with them and you'll dance a little more often with them in all kinds of ways.

Invite in what you want in your life.