Chapter 73 - Threads of Joy - Strength for the Journey

In this essay, I shall introduce the basic procedure for entering the lifestyle of Joy & Intuition, in contrast to the more commonplace 'rationally' worrisome approach.  How exactly does Joy propel us through Time & Space, if we are to release ourselves from the pinball reactions of security & safety-focused decision-making?  How do we chase or find our Joy that we may begin following Her in earnest?  What do others even mean when they implore us to 'Follow Your Joy'?  Is it all so much of a greeting card phrase, or is there yet substance to this encouragement?

By way of demonstration, I ask you to consider how you came to be reading this specific essay, right now.  Surely a serendipitous series of life circumstances & events brought you, my dear reader, into the presence of this modestly arranged bit of verbiage.  Take a moment to reflect on that process.  Decisions (perhaps mistakes) were made, consciously or otherwise.  On an energetic level, you 'attracted' this essay into the orbit of your life's sphere, most likely for some growth-related purpose.  Agreement and/or disagreement are irrelevant as factors.  We don't always attract what we like/dislike or want/hate, but we do get what we 'need', or trick ourselves into 'needing' along lines of personal growth.  This may be a tough pill to swallow, but frankly the earlier accomplished, the smoother things will progress.

So I have stated that Growth is involved in the attraction/manifestation process.  This seems to compete with Joy leading attraction, the whole basis of this essay's assertions.  This appearance of contrast between Growth and Joy is due to our preexisting mental & emotional orientation towards (that is, against) Growth.  Succinctly, we dread Growth.  However, our True Joy is found exactly through following the 'threads' of Growth.

Threads... let's introduce & discuss this term and phenomenon briefly.  At times, we have a faint, yet strong, and very specific inclination to go somewhere, talk to someone, research/investigate something, etc.  One could be walking down the street and suddenly feel a strong urge to take a hard left into some random alleyway.  These sorts of feelings are at home as the introduction to some grand adventure story (or horror story, depending upon your perspective).  Your life IS a grand adventure story, and coming to see that is quite instructive & educational.  Fear, 'certainty' or uncertainty, and the thought of "why would I do that? Makes no sense, people will think I'm crazy", etc.  "You never know" is a far better maxim to live by.  You never know who you may strike up a conversation with.  You never know the opportunities you may be shown.  You never know the Joys in store for you.  Fear tells us we'll surely be mugged in that alley, that the stranger we are afraid to talk to is in all probability the world's next great serial killer, etc.  More accurately, that stranger is your future lover, perhaps your ticket to a better life, adventures... again, "you never know".

Growth often involves the appearance of Risk.  We must be open to spectacular failure(s), else we barricade all gates to our own success & Joy.  Think back to those tiny little 'hints', 'sparks', 'wonderings' or 'inclinations' of recent memory.  Therein lies your inventory of Joyful Threads.  Go start pulling a few of them.  Satisfy your curiosity.  You never know.