The Joy Diet: Connection

Well, it looks like with everyone feasting for Thanksgiving, timing isn't great for wrapping up this Joy Journey with a teleconference celebration! Inspired by so many of you saying that you'd like to hear each other's voices, I had an idea!

The Joy Line! (214) 615-6505 ext 4830

Remember how Martha left us an inspiring treat? Why don't we do that for one another? I've set up a Joy Line that will be active until 8:00 AM EST on Thursday November 26th. You are invited to call in and share some or all of the following:

• What you would bring to the Feast for us all to share.
• A favourite part of The Joy Diet journey.
• A wish you would like to make for each of us.

Long distance charges will still apply but you can make the message as short and sweet as you like. Be sure to share your name and blog name, so we know whose voice we're hearing. I will compile all of the audios together for next Friday. Listening to everyone's beautiful messages can be part of our closing Feast! What do you say?

The Joy Diet: Laughter

I hope your week was full of laughter and joy. In the spirit of the laughter ingredient, I'm sharing this video - it's the last few moments that are really key. It's a joy to share some giggles with you!

The Joy Diet: Play

Can you believe that we're in the last month of this journey? In just 3 weeks, we'll be wrapping up with feasting! Now, it's become a bit of a Next Chapter tradition to wind up with a celebratory call, a time we can get together and share, voice-to-voice, what the experience has been like. This time, I'm imagining us each bringing our own uniquely flavoured dish to The Joy Buffet!

Celebrate Feasting at The Joy Buffet

Date: Friday, November 27th
Time: 2:00 EST
Where: Conference Call - I'll be sending out an invitation with the details over the coming weeks. The conference call will be an American number.

I will also record the call for those of you who can't make it. If you've never attended a conference call and are curious what it would be like, you can listen in to The Wrecking Ball Call from the last session of The Joy Diet here.

Enjoy filling your week with Laughter!

The Joy Diet: Treats

Treats put me in the mood for sharing, so here are some more treats for you today:

• Martha shares the extraordinary line from the delicious Mary Oliver poem, Wild Geese: "You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves." The only thing even better is the whole poem and the heartfelt lead up to that line. Enjoy it here.
• 28 seconds of outrageous cuteness here.
• If you missed the treat of Martha's message for us, you can hear it here.
• I hope this song sparks a smile for you as it always does for me. The video absolutely reminds me of all of us joy journeyers. Watch it here.
  
• And for being such awesome journeyers and already making it this far, I'd like to offer you the treat of a $10-discount on the inspiration e-pack Your Creative Spark. This treat is good until next Thursday at midnight, when we move onto Play. All you have to do is add the item to your cart and then add the discount coupon "treat" and you will receive the discount.

Enjoy!

A Treat for You!

What a wonderful way to start Treat week. Here's a message just for The Next Chapter from Martha Beck herself!

The Joy Diet: Risk

I'm afraid I've continued to have some technical difficulties, so this week I'm sharing with you an audio instead of a video.

Several people have been mentioning that they feel they'd like to take longer with each ingredient but they don't want to miss out on connecting with the group. One thing you might consider is forming a subgroup, exploring each ingredient for 2 weeks and keeping each other company along the way. That would take you to January 1st.

My eye will have to stay on the weekly participants and I will wrap up on November 27th as planned (in fact, I'll likely hold a Joy Call that day to celebrate the end of the journey and to enjoy Feasting together!), but if the bi-weekly pace feels right to you, please, identify yourselves to one another in the comments and form an EP (extended play) group. You can still post Treats on the Treat post. You'll just know to look out for each other at the 2 week mark. You could even add (EP) to your link so that you can identify one another other easily.

Whatever pace you choose for the journey, I hope this next little bit brings you a taste of joy.

PS Because last week's video was hard to hear, I've provided transcripts here.

Reactions...

I've been reading your posts and many reactions to this chapter are intense! Thank you for so honestly and vividly sharing the struggles, anger, breakthroughs and frustrations you're having. First and foremost, remember that this whole process is meant to be helpful. Martha doesn't have the one right road to joy. You have your own special designed-by-and-for-you road and if these exercises and explorations help you along the way - amazing. If not, tweak them, change them, create new ones or simply say no and know that you have gotten clear on what you are not willing to do, and that's great information. This is your journey.

How about we have a fresh take on creativity?

Brilliant, creative beauties, how can creativity serve you and your dreams?

If you're still struggling to connect to your desires, how can creativity help you uncover what they are? Is it time to make a vision board? Or maybe to do some writing? How about finishing the sentence "What I really want is..." 25 times - no censoring, just letting the pen fly. What about taking photos of moments that evoke your desire? Let creativity help you discover your desire. Getting to know your self and your heart is a beautiful process. Take your time.

And if you know what your desire or desires are, how can creativity bring you closer? What if you brainstormed 50 ideas for making that dream come true? What if you spent a day acting as if it were already true? What if you created a treasure map of the imagined route to your desires? What if you imagined yourself a journalist and asked everyone you talked to, "Hey, if you wanted to be a writer, what's the first thing you would do?"

I know we're working on Risk this week, but I absolutely invite you to try a new exercise, one you adore or that sounds intriguing, and post again for Creativity. We have room :) And if Risk offers the same struggles and reactions, feel free to simply answer the question:

What risk, big or small, will I take this week in support of my desires?

That's it. This is the joy of working through a book this way; we can step off the page and make it our own. I hope this is helpful. If anyone has any questions or wants to talk to me directly about their reactions, please drop me a line at jamie(at)openthedoor(dot)ca.