This track feels almost tribal to me. I imagine the drums being played and everyones letting themselves go, inside the warm, carefree fire lit circle of supportive beings. So how can we create that abandon in our every day lives? Let your joy be unconfined. I love that phrase. I really wish that for everyone.
Where do you find your joy? What about it’s close sibling awe? When did you last look at something and go ‘wow’?
Are you able to forget your stresses and distractions for a few moments to marvel at the tiny details of life? who believes that ‘it’s the little things’ or do you ‘save yourself’ or hold yourself back, for the things that make us go ‘wow’, the grand statements or gestures?
If we’re able to notice what absorbs or delights us, even for a split second, we are much more able to enjoy that moment and also, create more chances to experience this in our every day lives.
It also helps if we don’t censor our thoughts and reactions about what we honestly enjoy. It’s all too easy to write things off and dismiss them as ‘only’ something silly, or something small.
I’ll give you a few of mine, which I’ve realised really do give me joy unalloyed. That first mouthful of a cup of tea in the morning, sitting with a take out latte somewhere warm and sunny (even in the car, which does the job in winter months!) with one of my favourite caramel waffles to accompany it, thinking ahead and putting a towel on a hot radiator before a shower so that when I come out... taking a photo on my phone which really thrills me, being silly and nonsensical and laughing with the one I love...
Sometimes people like planning big things like holidays to give them anticipated joy. Nothing wrong with that. Except there’s a lot riding on that experience and sometimes the anticipation is the best bit. So I’ve learnt to milk that bit, that’s the part where everything goes right! Imagination is like a dress rehearsal in our minds as we approach the date. And what’s even better is that imagining how brilliantly something is going to go can actually help that to materialise! So win/win. Either way you can enjoy the experience OR the anticipation. Perhaps both!?!
“Dance like no one’s watching”. How often have we heard that phrase or seen it on a wall plaque. It’s easy to become anaesthetised to something when it’s familiar but try to remember when you first read it. Did it resonate? Do you dance differently in your bedroom compared to on the dancefloor? Which do you enjoy the most?? It IS possible to just be in our own little world when dancing to something we love and block out the rest of the world. Let them stare. They are probably not thinking what we think they are thinking!
What I am hinting at is DON’T CARE WHAT ANYONE ELSE THINKS! In general. But back to that dancefloor, as I am a very literal person, I can tell you that when we’re doing our ‘dad or mum/uncool’ dancing and people are staring, they are probably thinking ‘I wish I could do that and not care how ridiculous I look’ closely followed by ‘they look like they are having a great time, they look so happy, I wish I could be like that’. Ever found yourself thinking that?
Am I right here? Happy to stand corrected! Seriously though, as long as we’re not doing anyone any harm (other than lowering the tone/degrees of cool!) what the hell does it matter? We really can go through life being so concerned about other’s opinion of us that we just live a half life. A life of apology and walking on eggshells. And that is just pointless. We’re here to experience stuff. All sorts of stuff.
And it really helps to experience that stuff with others, at some level. Whether virtually or in person. So it might be a nice thing to ‘find our tribe’ and seek out like minded people and make an effort to connect and risk rejection, because in doing that we might find there’s some people with similar issues and pain and pleasures and we can have a more meaningful honest connection and experience of our life if we reach out.