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There are many life-paths you can choose, just as there are many ways you can serve on a planetary level. There is a path of will, a path of struggle, and a path of joy and compassion.

Joy is an inner note
that you sound
as you move through
the day.

What brings joy into your life? Do you know? Are you aware of that which makes you happy? Are you so busy fulfilling your daily obligations that you put off to some future time those things that make you feel good?

The path of joy deals with present and not future time. Are you holding an image of what life will be like one day when you are happy, but not feeling that sense of well-being right now, today?

Many of you fill your time with activities that are not soul-directed but with activities of the personality. People may have taught you that self-worth comes from being busy. There are two kinds of busyness, however. Personality-directed activities are often based on “shoulds” and do not express your higher purpose. Soul-directed activity is always an expression of your higher purpose.

Inner Freedom = Being in Alignment with Your Inner Being

Your great challenge is to not be distracted by that which happens in front of you, or is pulling on you or calling to you, but instead to find your center and magnetize to yourself all those things that are in alignment with your inner being.

Are you setting it up so that people are pulling on you, so that your time is full, but you are not filling it with the things you want? You have the power to change that drama. It comes from your compassion for who you are and from your sense of inner freedom.

Many of you have set up lives for yourselves that are not joyful because you believe that you are obligated to others or you are entrapped by your own need for other people to need your help.

The challenge of the path of joy
is to create freedom.

If you have created a job, a relationship, or anything that is not bringing you joy, look inward and ask why you feel you must be in a relationship with anything or anyone that does not bring you joy. Often it is because you do not believe you deserve to have what you want.

Obligation to Whom?

As you are on the phone during the day, speaking to your friends, do you let them talk on long past when you would like the conversation to be finished? Do you listen to their stories, even when those stories bring down your energy? Do you make appointments to see people, even though you do not truly have the time, or when there is no higher purpose in being with them?

To find the path of joy you will want to ask why you feel obligated to people or to the forms you have created.

The path of compassion does not obligate you to love people regardless of how they act or who they are. It is a path of seeing the truth of who people are, acknowledging all their parts, their humanness as well as their divinity. It is the path of looking at people and asking, “Is there anything I can do to heal, assist, or bring them in touch with their higher vision?” If there is not, then you are pulling down your own energy by spending time with them.

Are You Helping Others or Enabling Them?

Some of you help people over and over, feeling frustrated. You may feel obligated, as if there were no way out except to listen to their tales of woe, wishing that they would get on with their lives and change their circumstances. If you are helping people and they are not growing, then you had better look again to see if you are indeed helping them or if they are capable of receiving the help you are giving.

The path of joy involves
valuing yourself and monitoring
where you put your time.

It is important to spend time in ways that promote your highest good. If something is not for your highest good, I can guarantee that it is not for the highest good of the planet or other people either. If people spent time only where they accomplished the greatest good for themselves and the people they were with, the world would change in a day.

What am I here to do that will bring me joy?

You may ask, “What am I here to do that will bring me joy?” Each one of you has things that you love to do. There is not one person alive who does not have something he or she loves to do.

What you love is a sign from
your higher self of what
you are to do.

You may say, “I love to read and meditate; certainly that cannot be my path and bring me money.” However, if you allowed yourself to sit, read, and meditate, a path would unfold. So often you resist what you most want to do.

In everyone’s mind there is a whisper of the next step. It may be simple, such as making a phone call or reading a book. It may be a very concrete, mundane step to take that may not even seem connected with your higher vision.

Know that you are always being shown the next step; it is always something that comes to your mind as an obvious, simple, and joyful thing to do. You all know what would bring you joy tomorrow or someday in the future. When you wake up, ask yourself what you could do today that would bring you joy and delight.

You will have joy only when
you focus on having it and
settle for nothing less.

Picture how you will feel as you allow yourself to experience joy throughout the day in everything you do and with all the people you encounter. Sense how your joyful energy lifts everyone around you.

Your joy is a gift to the world; your joy brings joy to others. Imagine how you will feel at the end of the day or week as you allow yourself to live more joyfully.

Reprinted with permission of the publisher,
New World Library, Novato, CA. ©2011.
www.newworldlibrary.com.

Article Source

Living with Joy: Keys to Personal Power and Spiritual Transformation
(25th anniversary edition)
by Sanaya Roman.

With the guidance of this bestselling classic, you can see immediate results in your life when you learn to:* Love and appreciate yourself * Open to receive * Experience more self-confidence and self-esteem * Live in higher purpose * Take a quantum leap in any area * Change negatives into positives * Gain clarity in your relationships * Increase your sense of aliveness and well-being

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About the Author

Sanaya Roman has been channeling Orin, a wise and gentle spirit teacher, for over 25 years. Although she no longer gives private appointments, most of the advice Orin gives to people is contained in six books: Living with Joy, Personal Power through Awareness, Spiritual Growth, Opening to Channel, Creating Money, and Soul Love. All of Orin's work assists people in unfolding their potential, finding their inner wisdom, and in growing spiritually. She has also produced an extensive line of audio guided meditations by Orin to assist you in transforming your life, contacting your soul and Spirit, learning to channel, and creating the reality you want. To learn more visit www.orindaben.com. Sanaya is also teaching seminars and producing new audio meditations and a line of meditation music.