A Journey Into Joy
Step 10 — Week 1: The Return
Step 10 The Return With the “reward” in hand (step 9), it’s time to head home. But the journey isn’t over yet. It’s at this stage where we deal with the consequences of everything that has lead us to this point. The ordeal may have given us some version of success, but things have changed now. Perhaps some long-hidden, deeply repressed limiting beliefs or fears are sensing that we’re getting too close for comfort and they may put some added obstacles in our way. Whatever those are, we must face them before our journey is complete.
For me, I plan to continue with the areas covered in the weeks of Step 1 (health, home, The Mandala Lady, and my purpose).
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 step 10–week 1: Health
Continuing with the Internal Family System (IFS) from last month, I have found that using my dream state helps me better connect with the “parts” that are willing and/or able to come forward. Since the subconscious is mainly their realm, using dreams as a way to communicate seems like a win-win solution.
So far it seems to be working. I set an intention to ask a particular part to come forward and usually the last dream of my sleep, tends to be when they show up. For now the only step I’m taking is to write down the dream and note if it makes sense. I know I need to dig further by having a conversation with that part based on the dream. I also know doing a coloring of it using doodling would also help…there’s some resistance though that seems to be coming from some other stronger part of me…which is interesting.
This past week I had a dream where two girls around 12yo were not getting along. The gist of it is that if I wanted to get to the truth of what’s really going on with them, I needed to (must) talk to each one individually because together they would either lie, fight some more, or worse hold back from sharing anything of importance.
So who is this one part that resists my attempts at going deeper? I have plenty of “tools” in my toolbox for how to work through these issues (return home) and yet there’s a bigger, invisible (for now) to me part that’s hanging out in the shadows.
The visual I have for that reminds me of a stretch of road heading to Mt. Shasta. “I can see the road, the trees along both sides of the street, and the mountain up ahead. Atop and around the back of the mountain, the sky is covered with clouds. I have this sense that there’s a giant dragon standing behind the mountain and at least 2-3 times bigger than the mountain and just behind the clouds. Visually, I can’t see it, but I know that with one gust of wind, the clouds would move away and reveal the dragon who looks like it’s ready to attack…it’s in full anger mode.”
It’s this part that needs my full attention right now…because it seems to hold the key for all of the other parts. I also sense that even though it “looks” like a ginormous monster, the reality may be that it’s a little girl hiding in a dark corner somewhere, terrified.
In other “news”…I’m continuing to listen to the MBRX meditations and focusing on doing IFS exercises.
That’s it for now,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
🌟 bringing sanity to an insane world through 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 