A sane and joyful life does not mean a life free from sorrow or mistakes, as we are human, and sorrow and errors are part of our path.
I focus on the word “joy” rather than happiness or success, as “joy” represents for me the ability to feel our emotions deeply and to be in touch with our true selves. Joy reflects the tender quality of being human, incorporating the sorrow and pain we inevitably encounter along with the happiness and bliss we occasionally feel.
Sanity, for me, means living a life which is congruent with one’s own values and true desires. If we are living our lives according to other people's values, whose life are we living? Often, when we feel "insane" it is because our behavior is not reflecting our core values.
Both sanity and joy require the ability to stay in the present. To stay in the present, we must be able to limit our compulsive thinking and worrying about the past and future, and to limit the compulsive behaviors that enable us to run from our feelings.
We live in a society that veers to the insane in terms of the stress we create for ourselves, the pace at which we live, and the relationships we neglect. So many of us are looking for another way.
Approximately fifteen years ago, I developed a personal mission statement:
To live a sane and joyful life, while helping others do the same.
This mission statement is an aspiration, and, as an aspiration, rings true for me today. This blog is part of how I would like to manifest this mission. In this blog, I hope to share simple tools with you for increasing sanity and joy in life.
I look forward to hearing from you about how I am doing, about which suggestions work for you, and about other ways you have for achieving sanity and joy in your own life!
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