A Journey Into Joy
Step 1 of Week 1: You Are Here
This step is about taking an honest assessment—just the facts, without judgment—of where we are right now in the different areas of our life (health, personal life, work life, retirement, home, leisure, play, education, family, community, and so on). In order to move forward, we must know our starting point.
To join in on the journey, visit the MandalaoftheMonth.com to download the mandala and learn more about this step.
Here’s my journal entry for this week: Health
I’m starting with my health. I’m 70, 5’1”, 162lbs. Up until I injured my left foot in late November (xray revealed no broken bones), I walked 2 miles a day, 4-6 times a week. According to my doctor, I need to lose some weight, my cholesterol and my blood pressure are high. During my annual physical last week, he also found (to my surprise) a basal cell carcinoma (bcc) by my left ear. Other than that I’m doing well.
At the moment I’m taking some supplements, but I’m not on any medication. I abhor taking drugs. Why? I tend to be hypersensitive to them and I don’t want to deal with the side effects. Even taking aspirin makes my heart race.
But if I’m being honest about it, I’ve known people who were on tons of medications and I saw them as being controlled by the drugs. And if I’m being even more honest, I don’t trust the pharmaceutical industry and the doctors who seem to push pills to treat the symptoms and not the causes. Thankfully my doctor is not a pill pusher although he’s encouraging me to be on some meds for the blood “stuff”.
Intellectually I know that most of the medications I’ve been on over the years have been helpful and in one or two cases, saved my life. Honestly? Now that I think about it, at its core, this is more than likely a control issue for me.
With regard to my weight, in 2016 I reached my goal weight (dropped 30+ lbs) and held it for about 8 months. Since then, gradually and then especially during 2023, I put all the weight back on that I had lost. I stopped eating sugar two years ago. I’ve been gluten-free for at least 10 years. And except for eggs and ghee, I’ve stopped doing dairy. So why the weight gain? It’s so frustrating.
Where Do I Go From Here
WEIGHT: A couple of weeks ago, on the advice of my chiropractor, I started intermittent fasting (8-10 hour eating window per day) and reduced my carb and red meat intact. I have since dropped 2.8lbs. I’m going to continue with it along with doing some EFT (tapping).
BCC: Tomorrow I’m calling to make an appointment with my doctor this week to have it removed. (today is new year’s day…otherwise I would call today)
BLOOD “STUFF”: …interesting side note. When I saw my chiropractor last month, he looked it up in Louise Hay’s book, “You Can Heal Your Life”, and the affirmations professed that I need more joy in my life—ain’t that the truth! Hence this year’s theme: A Journey Into Joy.
So about the blood “stuff”: I realize I need to change my mindset about the meds. It occurs to me that I can do some EFT on it. And then I’ll meet with my doctor.
FOOT: I see my chiropractor this week. Hopefully he can resolve it. I’m keeping it elevated as much as possible. Of late, it has been feeling better. Yesterday I went for a 20-minute walk with only a little discomfort. In Hay’s book, foot issues relate to our fear of moving forward. I can think of a couple of areas where this is true. Need to dig deeper.
That’s it for now,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
inspiring and encouraging creativity, curiosity, and play through the art of mandalas
ABOUT “A JOURNEY INTO JOY”
With all the anxiety and stress in the world right now, focusing on joy may seem a bit counterintuitive. Mais contraire mes amis. We actually need more joy in our lives…now more than ever. And it starts within each of us. It’s been my experience that when in that higher vibrational state of joy, it helps raise the vibration of those around us as well.
Brené Brown defines joy as “an intense feeling of deep spiritual connection, pleasure, and appreciation”. Of late, I mostly experience only moments of happiness and on a rare occasion, joy…thus my desire to journey into joy.
My quest throughout this year is to explore, experience, and express this state in a variety of ways, including following a variation of the hero’s journey, as professed by Jospeh Campbell.
Care to join me? Here’s how…
MandalaoftheMonth.com: On the first of the month, I’ll create and post a mandala for coloring. Each month we’ll take another step along the “journey into joy” by following a modified version Joseph Campbell’s a hero’s journey. Included in each step will be a description of the step and prompts for coloring and/or journaling for the month. You’re welcome to color them as well…they’re free to download.
MandalaoftheWeek.com: Each Monday I’ll be posting my coloring of that month’s Mandala of the Month, which will produce 4-5 colorings of that design. With each one, I intend to dig deeper into the message of that month’s mandala. You’re welcome to color along as well.
Mandala of the Week 