I’ve noticed many of us are in a hurry. In a hurry to be living some different circumstance. In a hurry to achieve some goal or reach some milestone. In a hurry to be somewhere other than where we are right now.
- Maybe you are at university and are in a hurry to get your degree and get started with your next chapter.
- Maybe you are stuck at home with your kids and are in a hurry to get them back to school.
- Maybe you are single and are in a hurry to find a significant other or you are dating and in a hurry to get engaged and then in a hurry to get married.
- Maybe you are standing where you are right now in your life and you are in a hurry to have a different size body, more money in the bank, or a better job.
In a hurry. In a hurry. In a hurry.
Before my obsession with all things Law of Attraction, I was always in a hurry to reach some goal off in the distance. I was always in a hurry to get “over there” where I perceived things were better.
It was a classic case of I’ll be happy when… When I reach this milestone, when I get over there, when I achieve that, I’ll be happy.
Can you relate to the hurry to be somewhere you aren’t? The hurry to reach a destination and forget that joy is in the journey?
“What’s the big hurry? You’re not ever going to get it done, so what are you racing toward? Every single activity that you’re involved in is for one purpose only, and that is to give you a moment of joy. That’s why it all exists. Lighten up. Laugh more. Appreciate more. All is well.” —Abraham
Let’s imagine you are on vacation in some fabulous place, having a fabulous time. You can easily apply Abraham’s wisdom, right? On that vacation, you can embrace every single activity you’re involved in is for one purpose only—to give you a moment of joy.
But what about the rest of the time and in the rest of your life?
Are you in a hurry to get where you aren’t?
Are you racing toward something and missing right here, right now? Are you so focused on the future, on your goal, on some desired destination that you are missing the joy available in the journey?
“People say, ‘The joy is in the journey,’ but they rarely understand what they are saying. You are in this focused time/space reality with goals and objectives that call you because as you identify a desire it literally summons life through you. Life summoning through you is what it’s all about—it’s not the completion of anything.” —Abraham
Let’s let this really sink in because it is so fantastically juicy.
You have goals and desires not because the goals and desires are actually important or the point. The point is not to reach the goal.
Now, you might bristle at that, but stay with me.
You have the desire—whatever it is, getting the promotion or the degree, the relationship or the money—you have the desire because your desire summons life through you.
You feel alive with the idea of what you want. You feel alive with the goals and objectives that call you.
Life summoning through you is the point.
That is the goal. It’s not really the money or the job. It is life summoning through you.
Let’s think about what is happening if you are so fixated on the destination that you slog your way to your goal, if you struggle your way to what you want, if you mistake arriving at your desire as the payoff when all along it was the journey.
When you get—I mean really “get”—that life summoning through you is the point and the payoff, then there is no hurry. You still have the goal, the desire, but you understand the journey to it is the point.
You enjoy the journey. You find joy in the journey because that’s what it’s all about.
I want to share three things that commonly get in the way of truly living “the joy is in the journey”.
The first one has to do with struggle. This one will seem really obvious, but I want to mention it because it’s so common.
Are you struggling your way to joy? Here’s what I mean by that:
- Are you feeling lousy while on a journey you hope has a happy ending?
- Are you experiencing a bunch of resistance on your way to what you want?
“You cannot struggle to joy. Struggle and joy are not on the same channel. You joy your way to joy. You laugh your way to success. It is through your joy that good things come.” —Abraham
Will you embrace that it is through your joy that good things come to you? Are you willing to drop the struggle on your way to joy?
Too many of us are not joying our way to joy. We are not laughing our way to success.
Instead, we are slogging and efforting. We are trying hard, pushing and forcing our way to what we want.
But Abraham says struggle and joy are not on the same channel. They are not the same vibration—at all. You can feel that, right? Of course you can!
Imagine how much sweeter it will be arriving at your desired destination, achieving your goal, when you joy your way to it? When you feel good all the way there? Imagine how sweet the journey and how truly wonderful your success will feel?
Next up, here’s a second thing that commonly gets in the way of truly living “the joy is in the journey”. This one has to do with success.
- What is your definition of success?
- What makes you feel successful?
- What type of success are you trying to achieve?
“The standard of success in life isn’t the things. It isn’t the money or the stuff—it is absolutely the amount of joy you feel.” —Abraham
Let’s percolate on that for a minute. Is your standard of success the amount of joy you feel? Is that what you are living? Is that what you were taught? Is that what you see modeled around you in our culture?
I think it is so incredibly important to define success for yourself. To decide for yourself what you think success is rather than simply accepting and mirroring what you see in the media or in your workplace or school, in your community or even in your own family.
Personally, I love Abraham’s definition of success—that it is the amount of joy I feel.
I am so appreciative to have been raised in a family where happiness was valued and encouraged. But like so many I certainly grew up in a culture—from my time at university through to a career in the corporate world—where success was not about joy, but rather about money and hustle, about accumulation and ownership, about climbing ladders, achieving more, and getting ahead.
Now hear this loud and clear: I’m certainly not saying money or wanting to be the boss is bad. There is absolutely nothing wrong with achieving and having career goals—or any type of goal for that matter.
I am simply encouraging you to define success for yourself—and to consider what role joy has in your definition.
You want everything you want because of how it will make you feel. Why not cut out the middleman, so to speak, and feel good—feel joy—on the way to all the things you want?
What would be different for you if joy took center stage in how you define success for yourself?
I mentioned achieving goals a moment ago in relation to success. This bring me to the third and last thing I want to share that often gets in the way of truly living “the joy is in the journey”.
Many of us are very goal oriented and how we feel is based on where we are in relation to achieving our goals. We place more emphasis and importance on achieving the goal than on the journey there.
In other words, too many of us are willing to sacrifice joy on the way to our goals. That can be true whether your goal is about your fitness or your work, about money or your relationship.
“Let go of goal orientation and focus on joy orientation.” —Abraham
I used to be someone who was always, always, always working toward a goal. Some external achievement I could point to: Look at me, I got the promotion. I worked out 3 times a week. Look at me: I lost ten pounds. I made this much money.
Again, there’s nothing wrong with the goal of a promotion or working out or making money.
But I was willing to postpone all my joy until I got the job or saw the number on the scale. I was willing to postpone joy all along the journey of my goal and settle for the joy of goal achievement—for the feeling of joy when I reached the destination of my goal.
That is not living “the joy is in the journey”.
To say that’s not me any more is an understatement. I don’t really have goals these days. My goal is alignment, plain and simple.
If I do have a goal, you can bet I’m only willing to move toward that goal if it’s a joyous journey on the way there.
“I like knowing that my job is joy, and that when I find joy in each and every moment, I also find freedom and abundance, because joy and freedom and abundance are all the same vibration.” —Abraham
Who doesn’t want joy and freedom and abundance? Are you living your life as if your job is joy? Do you need to shift from goal orientation to joy orientation?
“Most rarely align with their true power because it seems illogical to them that there is power in relaxation, in letting go, or in love or joy or bliss. We want you to breathe rather than try, to relax rather than offer effort, to smile rather than struggle, to be rather than do.” —Abraham
Will you embrace it is through your joy that good things come to you?
- Are you willing to drop the struggle on your way to joy?
- Are you willing to make joy central to your definition of success?
- Are you willing to embed joy in the journey to your goals?
I want you to align with joy. My wish for you is that joy is part of your everyday journey, not a just a moment in time when you achieve a desired goal or reach a desired milestone.
