I noticed last week that I have a tendency sometimes to limit my joy. Sometimes things are going great and I get a little niggle, a small voice that whispers, ‘but when will it go wrong?’
I noticed that I was actually not fully leaning in to things or experiences that made me happy, because a little part of me wanted to protect myself for when the pain would inevitably come [limiting belief]. This isn’t new, but it does pop up from time to time.
I don’t want to live like that, and thankfully, I get to choose how I feel.
My work as a counsellor and coach is to help you become more aware of what’s going on for you – why you do the things you do, feel the way you feel and think the way you think. I have no judgements on what you do or why, but if you are aware of what’s going on, you get to make conscious choices about how you live your life.
Withholding joy from myself as a way to protect myself doesn’t feel good for me. It doesn’t feel like it serves me right now. Now that I have caught myself [again], I can be gentle with myself and lean in to joy and happiness, checking what my body needs to feel safe throughout the process. I don’t need to fight with myself or force anything, but just gently lean in, and see what happens.
I’m curious, do you block or restrict your own happiness sometimes? How does it help you feel safe, and what might it feel like to let yourself lean into joy a little more? Where can you open up to more love?
Blocking happiness
