Bring Back the Joy...

"Bring back the Joy in what you do."

Angela Gwinner

A few years ago, I was in Sri Lanka. For an Ayurveda retreat.

One of the last words the Doctor gave me as I was on my way home again, was "Find your Joy..."

And these words have been accompanying me since.

I believe at that moment, I didn't understand the full essence of those words.

But with time, and as those words have every now and then come back like a whisper, I began to understand them in a new light.

How often do we walk through our day, taking care of responsibilities and tasks, but more with an attitude of "I must go to work..." or "I have to call so and so..."

What happens, if we change those words with "Thank God, I can go to work today..." or "I really want to call so and so... It'll be so good to hear their voice..."

What happens if we bring back the joy... and then a good dose of gratitude?

I promise you, it'll change everything.

Maybe "Finding Joy..." isn't always about seeking our passions, but let's do a bit of reversal in things. If we start with what we have and where we are and with what we are doing, and add a bit of joy as the secret ingredient... Even if that first means, tricking the mind into feeling that joy...

That's when you'll stop seeking and whatever you are looking for will suddenly appear. Because most likely, it's already there... Inside you, surrounding you, or just around the corner.

But we are so occuppied with the "I must's..." in our lives, and "Must" can be a heavy burden to carry... that we often forget that simple little word.

Joy.

"Bring back the Joy in what you do."

Just my little thought of the day.

Much Loves,

Angela.

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This Hour. That Person. Your Work.

"The most important hour is always the present. 

The most significant person is precisely the one sitting across from you right now. 

The most necessary work is always love."

Meister Eckhart

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Love and Compassion...

"I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion. 

And where it is not, that is where my work lies."

Ram Dass

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Make Mistakes... Holy. Powerful. Beautiful. Sacred.

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You are doing things you have never done before, and more importantly, you are doing something. So that is my wish for you, and all of us. And my wish for myself. Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody has ever made before. Do not freeze, do not stop, do not worry that it is not good enough, or it is not perfect, whatever it is. Art, or love, or work or family or life. Whatever it is you are scared of doing, do it. Make your mistakes. Next year and forever and ever."

Neil Gaimann

Holy. Powerful. Beautiful. Sacred.

And here is to a New Year... And loving our mistakes.

It's all about our perfect imperfections.

And our imperfect perfections.

Of living. And loving. And being.

Much Loves,

Angela.

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Like Shakespeare and Michelangelo...

"And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. Don’t just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn’t do it any better. If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well."

Martin Luther King Jr.

Whatever you are going to do today?

Do it like Michelangelo painted pictures.

And do it like Shakespeare wrote poetry.

Awe the world with your passion!

Much Loves,

Angela.

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The Job of Angels...

"Most people do not know that there are angels 

whose only job is to make sure you do not get too comfortable 

and fall asleep and miss your life."

Brian Andreas

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Do One Wild and Crazy Thing...

"Here is how to break through the perfectionism. Make a LOT of mistakes. Fall on your butt more often. Waste more paper printing out your shitty first drafts, and maybe send a check to the Sierra Club. Celebrate messes. These are where the goods are. Put something on the calendar that you know you will be terrible at, like dance lessons, or a meditation retreat, or boot camp. Find a writing partner, who will help you with your work, by reading it for you, and telling you the truth about it, with respect, to help you make it better and better; for whom you will do the same thing. Find someone who wants to steal his or her life back, too.

Now. Today. Do one wild and crazy thing. Wear shorts out in public if it is hot and even if your legs are milky white or heavy. Go to a poetry slam. Go to open microphone and read the story you wrote about the hilariously god-awful family reunion, with a trusted friend, even though it could be better, and would hurt Uncle Ed’s feelings if he read it, which he isn’t going to. Change his name and hair color — he won’t even recognize himself. At work, begin to fulfill your artistic destiny. Wow! A reviewer may hate your style, or newspapers may neglect you, or 500 people may tell you that you are bitter, delusional and boring. Let me ask you this. In the big juicy Zorba scheme of things, who fucking cares?"

Anne Lamott

Side note and random thought.

Sometimes that F word is the most beautiful word there is. It's the exclamation mark and Amen, with yet another exclamation mark!

Dear Anne... Thank you so for these words.

I know I needed them today. And I reckon I'm not the only one.

Much Loves,

Angela.

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To Live Life...

"Breathe. Smile. Relax. Enjoy. Laugh. Play. Create. Envision. 

Let it go. Forgive. Accept. Work. Serve. Contribute."

Lama Surya Das

And may I add... Let us do it all with Love.

Always,

Angela.

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Work and Love...

"One can live magnificently in this world if one knows 

how to work and how to love."

Leo Tolstoy

Work today, to make a difference in the world.

Work today, to step closer to your dreams.

Love today, to make a difference in the world.

Love today, to step closre to your heart.

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Make Life Delicious...

"Every day you are stirring the pot of life, and the most important ingredient you can put into your soup is you. Your love, optimism, trust, vision, communication, authenticity, appreciation and passion make life delicious, and the relationships you create at work and at home determine the substance and quality of your soup."

Jon Gordon

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Remember...

"It shouldn't be easy to be amazing. Then everything would be. It's the things you fight for and struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth. When something is difficult to come by, you will do that much more to make sure it is even harder, or impossible, to lose."

Sarah Dessen

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Personal Callings...

"I have come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that is as unique as a fingerprint. And that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you."

Oprah Winfrey

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What We Do Not Know...

"The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning. If you knew when you began a book what you would say at the end, do you think that you would have the courage to write it? What is true for writing and for love is also true for life. The game is worthwhile insofar as we do not know what will be the end."

Michel Foucault

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Accept. And Then Act...

"Accept. And then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life."

Eckhart Tolle

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Random Thoughts... Live as if...

Friday.

And I believe I can simply only look back at this week with gratitude. And wonder.

And then more gratitude.

It was a week ago, a Friday night like tonight, and I sat down, poured myself a glass of wine and started writing. For myself.

Yes, that is a daily ritual, but last week, I felt myself in a different sense of writing, a different clarity. There was a different energy in those thoughts I was putting to paper. I can't say I was in a different sense of thinking. Maybe better said, I allowed myself not to think, or to over think. I simply allowed myself to write. Without putting any thought to it.

And maybe it wasn't quite "writing" as I am in this moment. It was more like mapping. Writing out an intinerary or an agenda (how harsh a word...) as though I were on a journey. I know where my starting point is, I know where I want to go. And as a Sagittarius by birthright, I love the journeys and the travels. I also (sometimes) love the little detours and unexpected side roads of those journeys too. And even when it is not what I expected, I am starting to learn more and more to trust, those too, are all for a reason. I'm learning to declare the destination, and start walking towards it, but to let life steer the way. I am simply learning to trust. To trust myself. And to trust life.

But last week in my writing, my mapping, it was all so clear. The start was clear. And the destination was clear. And so everything I wrote in between was very clear as well.

I had a conversation earlier that day with one of my clients... Explaining to her, on a business but also personal level, what I mean when I say, "Live as if... Work as if..."

And those that know me well, also know my conversations when I start on that philosophy of mine. They are best spent over a good cup of coffee, or yes, a glass of wine. But it just might be better if I save that conversation of writing with you, for another day.

However, I know there was an energy and an echo of that conversation with my client, that was still resonating with myself that evening.

The "intinerary" that I wrote was about the portfolio of clients that I am building with one of my projects. About the successes my clients are experiencing, and hence, the personal successes that I can experience through that. I take my work personally. Passionately, and personally. So I feel it right to call a professional success, a personal success as well. It was about who my clients are, and where my clients are. Literally, that itself was not only a mind map and a heart map, but also a worldly map.

I clearly declared my professional and personal passions. And that my clients are found in each of these.

A fashion designer. A jewellery designer. More clients in the world of interiors. A winery or two and then some. And a skin care line. Just to mention a few.

And I even went so far, as to name and declare a few of those that I would like to see as my clients. Those, that I would like to do magic for. And I simply sent out a wish and a prayer, that the perfect others, we'll find our way to each other as well. Those perfect others, that I can do good for, and that are good for me as well. That we both add abundance and goodness and purpose to each other and our intentions.

Well, consciously or subconsciously, I simply carried on living as if... And working as if.

Today, a week later and a glance over my shoulder, the magic didn't wait for me to arrive, magic came to me.

One new client with interiors. And another new client as a jewellery designer. But not just "a" jewellery designer, rather "the" jewellery designer that I had written down. With an exclamation mark.

And needless to say, they found their way to me. I didn't call, I didn't write... I simply lived as if. And I worked as if. I so to symbolically speak, cooked the meal, set the table and cleaned the house as if company was coming.

There was no expectation. But there was also no question. And there was no doubt.

And that's the secret, of the secret's secret.

Cook the meal, set the table and clean the house. Company is coming.

So, here's me in gratitude and in a state of wonder and all the more trust. With all the more gratitude.

It's all unfolding, just as it is meant to unfold.

I simply have to keep walking towards that goal, towards that vision. Not forcefully, but trustingly. And as if it's already there. Because it is already all there.

And for some reason, I just needed and wanted to share that with you. To remind you... Declare it. Speak it. Trust it.

And promise me, live as if.

Much Loves,

Angela.
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With All Your Heart...

"Your work is to discover your world. and then with all your heart, 

give yourself to it."

Buddha

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Sacred Idleness...

Thought of the day...

"Work is not always required. There is such a thing as sacred idleness."

George MacDonald

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Build Your Castles...

"I learned this, at least, by my experience, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. And if you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

Henry David Thoreau

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Happiness...

"People tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will descend like fine weather if you are fortunate. But happiness is the result of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly."

Elizabeth Gilbert

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Today...

"Today, there is work to be done, 

and dreams to be made real."

Angela Gwinner

Do your magic. Do your thing.

Much Loves,

Angela.

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