Chasing Joy

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I Got Stabbed… While Chasing Joy!

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pic from google images

 But it didn’t hurt, and I paid for it, and there weren’t any actual knives involved. Ok so I didn’t really get stabbed but I did have about 9 really sharp needles inserted into my body. This past Saturday I had my first experience with acupuncture. My cousin had been before me and assured me that the needles did not hurt. I had heard good things about acupuncture and its benefits in controlling pain and anxiety. I had also heard it could be beneficial for weight loss. So of course I was intrigued.

I had to fill out some forms including what I hoped to treat with acupuncture. I listed Weight loss Anxiety/Stress, and my right ankle in that order. Before the stabbing, I mean treatment, began the acupuncturist went over my forms. We talked mostly about my diet and how acupuncture could assist me with losing weight if I had a healthy diet and exercised but could not make me lose weight by itself, duh… The acupuncturist drew a diagram of a plate with the biggest section made up of veggies, the smallest section being made of meat and fats and the middle sized portion representing whole grains. The lesson: everyone, holistic and western medicine, is on the same page when it comes to eating right.

After going over the forms and talking more about my diet, stress and how I hurt my ankle I was lead to the room where I’d be repeatedly stabbed with little tiny knives, I mean receive acupuncture therapy. It was very serene and spa like with cool green hues and the beds with the pillows placed just where you need them, under your knees and neck.

I laid on the bed, shoes and socks off, pants’ legs rolled up and arms exposed in my tank top for easy access to all of my pin cushiony parts. I tried to relax and deep breath but my palms keep sweating in preparation of the first needle.

Right smack in my forehead it went. No pain at all. I could only feel it when he moved it. It kind of felt like a hair being moved on my forehead, until he pushed it in a little more until I could feel pressure. About two minutes later I was a human pincushion with one needle in my forehead, one in each forearm, and three in each of my lower legs. Then I rested.

I laid with the needles in me for 20 minutes or so. I tried to relax but my mind wandered quite a bit. Then I started to really feel my body. I mean I could feel the actual weight of my bra on my chest. I have never noticed that before. It was quite heavy. I started to freak out and then realized sticking a bunch of needles in your skin could make you a little more self aware.

Before I knew it time was up. The needles were removed and it was time to pay. Afterward I did feel kind of sleepy. The therapist said he’d given me a treatment that would make me a little “loopy”. He also said he chose spots for the needles that would help me relax, boost my metabolism, and decrease my sugar cravings. Later that day, I forgot I was supposed to have less sugar cravings as I bought some candy. I guess I need a few more treatments. Lol

Over all I had a great experience with the acupuncture. I know that any result from the treatment happens over several treatments. I will be going back a few times to see how it works for me so stay tuned.

Have you ever done anything out of the norm, controversial, or even painful in an effort to have a more Joyful life in the long run? Or, am I the only one who is willing to get stabbed while Chasing Joy.

Weekend Guest Keazy: Changing Your Mindset to Accepting Joy

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A couple weeks ago I sent out an invitation for you to be my Weekend Guest by guest posting on Chasing Joy.  I am happy to welcome our first Weekend Guest, Keazy.  Keazy is an easy going guy that has an open mind and loves to learn.  That sounds like a perfect foundation for Chasing Joy.  Here is his post:

Changing Your Mindset to Accepting Joy

I am a firm believer that there is joy in almost everything we do. You can find Joy in things that most will not. Take for instances myself, I find joy in driving, making that special one feel special and helping others in need. I have learned to accept that warm feeling in my heart when Joy comes my way. That special feeling inside that you know you can’t shake and you know that it’s there.

Over the years, I have been changing my mindset to be more accepting of things, especially Joy. I can remember two of the worst days of my life when I really realized that life is short and accepting Joy can really change my life. The first time was about 6 years ago when my best friend committed suicide. I will never forget that day because I fell into a very deep depression, very dark place in my life. I shut myself off to the world and couldn’t find a way to snap out it. Months went by and I didn’t see any Joy coming my way.

The one thing that came out of this was that rest of my best friends and I have become closer. It was like an unspoken bond between us and I remember the year when we went to Virginia Beach for vacation one of my friends stated that “you know we are missing one”. All of us said at the same time, “I was just thinking the same thing”. Lots of things were said in that mall where we were popping tags like we were CEO’s. We all found Joy in the fact that we were all closer after his death even though we were still grieving. We changed our mindset to accept the Joy that was given to us even in sorrow. Opened up our hearts and feeling about what happen only to realize that we are now brothers for life. An unbelievable feeling.

The other bad day in my life was this past July when my grandmother passed away. The glue to our family was gone just like that. It hurt so badly because it was two days after I celebrated my 33rd birthday. I remember attending a cook out during the evening in which I stayed at a friend’s house and I got the phone call at 5 in the morning from my father and he said I need to come home now. My parents told me the news and I was devastated. I couldn’t breathe; I just sat in the chair and took it all in.

I was more in shock than anything else. As I was having a good time at the cook out my grandmother was dying and when I found out the time she passed, I couldn’t believe it because she had crossed my mind that instant and I said I would call her in the morning. She was off and on sick and I told myself that I would take the drive down to South Carolina to see her but I never made it. I regret that decision to this day.

We left that morning to drive down to South Carolina and when I was behind the wheel, I just thought about every year, us taking this same trip down 95 south to South of the Border to get on to US 301/501 to Conway and US 701 to Georgetown. I can drive to my grandmas with my eyes closed I know these roads so well. Walking into her house for the first time and realizing that when I ring this doorbell, she will not be on the other end of the door to let me in just melted my heart away. I finally realized that this is real. My dad was very encouraging to me saying “son, you are not going through this alone; every one misses her just like you”. I wasn’t trying to hear that, I just wanted my grandma back.

The moment my cousins arrived we all just gave each other big hugs. My oldest cousin Eric proceeded to go to the back yard and just sit and we all joined him. We started telling funny stories about grandma beating us and the way she would always cook all this food for us to eat and how they were jealous of me and my brother because they thought she gave us special treatment because we come from Philadelphia and they saw her every day. Little did they know I felt jealous of them because they were able to spend time with her whenever they wanted. As we continued to drink Crown Royal and coke, we decided as cousins, that we would not let this death break up the family. We have all gotten closer as a unit and I could not be happier with my family. We all changed our mindset from sadness to the Joy that she brought to all of our lives. There is sunshine under every cloudy sky.

You can find Joy in almost anything in this world. You just have to change your mindset in order to accept it instead of running away from it. Listen to your heart, it tells you what your Joy is.

To read more of Keazy’s work visit his blog A New Beginning, friend him on Facebook, and follow him on Twitter

If you’d like to be a weekend guest email me your post at joychasing@yahoo.com and find additional information on guest posting qualifications here.

Dear Dad… I’m Chasing Joy

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Dear Dad,

I cannot believe in a few days it will be two years since you went to rest. Time does fly. I still miss you more than is possible to express. Obviously your passing is not a good memory for me and neither is your funeral. But they are not my worst memories. Your passing was peaceful. Your funeral was how I know you wanted it to be and I take pride in that. My worst memory is when the doctors made it clear to us that you were not going to recover. Trying to hold onto my faith and belief in miracles yet surrendering to the reality of what was happening. The sadness. The disappointment. The fear. The pain. The knowledge that I was going to have to be strong. The faith that the strength would come from somewhere… and it did.
I tell you about my feelings not to relive them. Just to acknowledge that this is how I felt. And also to let you know that while I do have this memory, worst then all others, it does not haunt me. It does not haunt me because there is nothing that I could have done differently. But most of all it does not haunt me because you would not want me to let it. And everyone knows I listen to my Dad 🙂
So, while I miss you terribly and have some painful memories of losing you I am not living in sadness, disappointment, fear, or pain. Instead I am living a life in pursuit of happiness. I am Chasing Joy. I remember you telling me “the party aint going to find you, you got to go out and find the party!!!” I have been looking for the party and writing about it. I know you would be proud of me; happy that I have taken up writing (I remember the Christmas story you wrote :-); and excited about the adventures Chasing Joy will give me.
I am doing well and improving all the time (I know you think I’m perfect but there is always room to improve). I still spend more money than you think I should but I also still save. I still have my “good job”. I’m still looking for the right guy. The one you’d secretly like but never admit it. Oh and I ran a 5k.  You would have loved that 🙂
Mom is doing good too. Retired and having fun, but not too much fun, at “The Game”. Things are as you would have predicted with the boys. The grandkids are happy and growing into awesome young people, confident, smart and attractive. And none of them seem short… LOL. The youngest grandson is athletic and loves to dance. I wonder where he got that from 🙂

I don’t see your siblings too much. That is still really painful to see them without you. But thanks to Facebook and Twitter, computer stuff that you wouldn’t really understand, I know they are well.

We are all doing well because you prepared us.
Thank you,

Love me.

PS…  Pinto is getting old but she is still greedy.  Peanut is still bad (you may have been right about that crack cat thing).  I still have Hurt.  He is doing really good for old guy. Mom takes him for walks and everthing now 🙂

The Joy of Pets

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Recently someone told me he never had/would have a pet because they are “pointless and a waste of money”. Well he certainly could not say that if he saw this face.

LOOK AT ME!!!!

My cat’s Peanut and Pinto and dog Hurt bring a little Joy to my life every day. Do you have pets? Does their presence bring Joy to your life?

Summer of Joy

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Summer Summer Summer time!!!

We all know the idle mind is the Devil’s workshop. Well the Devil’s workshop is is closed for the summer. No idle minds around here. There are plenty of Joy Chasing activities to keep idleness at bay. Here are the top 50 activities I’ll be doing this summer. In no particular order:

1. Go to NJ Beach
2. Go to Rehoboth Beach
3. Go to a water Park
4. Go to Jamaica
5. Go to the Movies
6. Enjoy ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery
7. Read the red tent (thanks to a review by Hannah Wept, Sarah Laughed)
8. Visit my brother
9. Go to the Art Museum
10. Enjoy this season of True blood
11. Train for my next attempt to Run for Joy
12. Register for Be Blogalicious in DC
13. Take Hurt for walks by the river
14. Go to happy hour alone
15. Go to church
16. Read Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
17. Read The Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin
18. Read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
19. Attend a BBQ
20 Host a BBQ
21. Have a Rita’s Water Ice
22. Go to the zoo
23. Go to an outdoor concert
24. Have real funnel cake
25. Go to the race track
26. Go to the spa for facial
27 Get a pedicure
28 Go to book club
29 Go to an aquarium
30. Have an I am worth the cheese dip night
31. Have mimosas
32. Swim in a pool
33. Cook pineapple on the grill
34. Cook dinner outside
35. Go to the Franklin Institute
36. Go see fireworks
37. Watch the next season of the Closer
38 Read the Murderer’s Daughters
39. Do my first give away on Chasing Joy
40. Play in the ocean
41. Go on a date
42. Buy a new swim suit
43. Go to Happy Hour with friends
44. Clean my car inside and out
45. Get some plumbing work taken care of
46. Get my roof maintenance done
47. By a new phone
48. Take a golf lesson
49. Spend an entire day in bed
50. Go to an open house

What Joyful activities will you be filling your time with this summer?

This post will be linked to Mamakat’s writing prompt.

6 Words About Chasing Joy

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Chasing Joy LIFE CAN HURT, CHASING JOY HEALS

This post is in response to a writing prompt from MamaKat.

Running Towards Joy…. Slowly :-(

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I hate running!!! It is hard and It hurts 🙁 But, I am still doing it. Last year I Walked Toward Joy with my friend and we decided this year we’d run our 5k instead of walking it. We started actively training to run/jog the 5K back in February. I got new sneakers for better support as I Ran Toward Joy in March. Now it is the end of April and I feel like this is still so hard.

I guess overall I am disapointed that this running thing does not feel any easier. Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic??? I really felt that by now I’d be very close to jogging 3 miles non-stop. However, that is not the case. I can still not even jog 1 mile without having to stop. I have yet to reach a runner’s high. I have yet to lose myself in the run. Every step from the first to the last is a struggle.

The physical struggle is starting to become a bit of a mental struggle as well. Initially I was able to tell myself to fight through the heavy legs, shortness of breath, and apporaching nausea because soon this would all be easy. Well it feels as though soon has come and gone and physically it is not much easier than the first day and it is getting harder and harder to convince myself to keep going.

Right now my motivation is the 32nd Annual Philadelphia Bar Association 5k Run/Walk to support Child Advocates coming up on May 15th. Friends are running with me and I won’t let them down by quitting. Other friends have been encouraging me as I report on my workouts and because of them I won’t be a quiter. Part of me definately wishes I could gracefully bow out. But overall that would be such a dissapointment to myself. Much more of a disapointment than doing the race and not running the entire thing. I know I will feel so proud of myself for having got out there and pressed toward my goal. So I remind myslef of the motivation from my online trainer friend on PNP, the girl in last place is the one on the couch. I am still Running Towards Joy just a bit slower than I thought.

If you are a runner at what point in your initial training did it stop being so hard? Did it ever get easy?

How have you motivated yourself to do something that is really really hard?

Tell me how you are Running Toward Joy, even if you are running slowly.

Feel Good Friday – Dog Philosophy

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Happy Happy Feel Good FRIDAY!!!

So this week I am really feeling good because things are looking up for my dog. In my post The Joy of Hurt I asked you all to pray for him. Thank you all for doing so. While it turns out that he does have cancer, I think it will be removing and his overall prognosis is for a good outcome. So in honor of Hurt I’m posting this great post from http://www.dogwork.com/. I received it as a forward from a great friend who has been Chasing Joy with me from day 1 (Shout out to Bethann). We can learn a lot about Chasing Joy from dogs.

“If you live by these dog rules, you will be a happier person!
There’s a lot we humans can learn from dogs. If you live your life by the same philosophy that dogs do, you will be much better off in life. In the wild, animals fight only for two things, not a fancy car, not clothes or jewelry, they just fight for food or a mate, everything else they get after that is just pure happiness.

Dog Philosophy:

1. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride.
2. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
3. When loved ones come home, always run and greet them.
4. When it’s in your best interest, always practice obedience.
5. Let others know when they’ve invaded your territory.
6.Take naps and always stretch before rising.
7. Run, romp and play daily.
8. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.
9. Be loyal.
10. Never pretend to be something you’re not.
11. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
12. When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.
13. Delight in the simple joys of a long walk.
14. Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
15. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
16. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
17. When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
18. No matter how often you are criticized, don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout. Run right back and make friends.”

My favorite dog Philosophies are:
12. When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently
18. No matter how often you are criticized, don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout. Run right back and make friends.

What is your favorite philosophy?

Feel Good Friday – Still At It

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Happy Feel Good Friday!!!

Today I am happy simply because I’m still at it. Life has thrown some curve balls my way but I’m getting much better at ducking or catching them. And even when I get hit with one I am recovering faster because I am getting stronger. Despite these inconvenient, annoying, troublesome, and often painful curve balls I am still at it. I am still Chasing Joy. I am still focusing on the positive, developing stronger faith in God, and counting my blessings.

So today I am feeling good because:

  • I did not have to go to work

  • I am making progress redecorating my house and developing my personal style

  • My cat, peanut, got a clean bill of health at the vet (we are still determining the best way to take care of my dog Hurt, so continue to pray for him)

  • I got my hair done today

  • My boss was easy to work with this week

  • I am reconnecting with some old friends

  • I raised $205 for Diabetes as part of my competing to be Miss Curve 2011

  • My working out has paid off and I have lost about 4 inches so far

  • I made it to Thursday Zumba and we did a routine to MJ’s Thriller

  • My friend got a promotion

  • I feel good because I’m realizing it’s little things like this that bring me closer and closer to Joy.

  • Most importantly I feel good because I’m still at it, I am still Chasing Joy.

The Joy of Forgiveness

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I was checking out some of my fellow bloggers’ posts and saw a great quote on Contemporary Coach Deidre L. Knight’s page about forgiveness. I felt the need to comment on her post and obviously felt the need to copy my response on my here. I wanted to share my thoughts on forgiveness with you. Here is the definition of forgiveness from the Merriam Webster Dictionary – to give up resentment of or claim to requital for , to grant relief from payment of , to cease to feel resentment against (an offender) : pardon I think refusing to forgive others and even ourselves is blocking us from capturing lots and lots of Joy.

Here is my comment on Contemporary Coach Deidre L. Knight’s post:
I like “A healed memory is not a deleted memory”. I agree that forgiveness does not mean you forget. Once you have been wronged by someone or even yourself you cannot pretend it did not happen. But you can decide not to punish yourself or the other person. You can decide to be kind to the guilty party despite the wrong doing especially if the guilty party is yourself. You can accept the fact that you have been hurt and that it may take a while to heal but you can decide to focus on yourself, your own happiness, your own Joy, instead of any feelings of anger or revenge. This is what forgiveness is. Accepting that you have been hurt and deciding not to react with revenge or dwell on negative feelings toward the person who hurt you but to instead treat that person with kindness and respect. Forgiveness is not a feeling. It is a decision to respond positively even if it takes a while for your feelings to catch up with your actions. Don’t let negativity, anger, revenge stand in the way of your Joy. Learn to forgive, especially when the person needing forgiveness is yourself.

 

 

Do you feel Forgiveness is essential to Joy? If so, how have you been able to forgive?
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