She didn’t waste a lot of time talking about it, she didn’t try and explain anything to me, she showed me what to do by doing it herself, joyously, and she only took first step with me. She didn’t take whole monkey on her back. I have momentum now, with my garden. I see what to do and how to do it, and it’s ready for next step. I so much appreciated Aunt Bettie didn’t just tell me that my garden was a mess, or that I should go weed it, or that I didn’t have right tools, or that I ought to be ashamed my garden looked like that!

The best part is how much lighter I feel. Like any “toleration,” walking past that garden every day was something dragging at me that I was only vaguely aware of. Now that it’s something I can be proud, something that I (with Aunt Bettie’s help) did something about, I can feel self-esteem and own it, which is, in EQ terms, Personal Power.

Yesterday I went and bought a small fountain. It was only $79 at HomeDepot, and has a pump to recycle tiny bit of water it uses – maybe one quart. I sent a photo of it to my sister, who wrote back she was sorry she couldn’t have a fountain in her (beautiful) garden in her home in San Diego. “We don’t have enough water,” she said.

“It’s recycled water,” I began … and so Aunt Bettie’s gift goes on, and we extend learning. My sister now has a fountain, something she “never thought she could have.”

Coaching is very much like that. We simply work together to get results!

Joy, like love and truth, is a gift of Spirit. Joy, love and truth enter your being when your heart is open. Joy is feeling of exuberance and oneness that envelopes you once you have opened to feeling your pain, learning from it, and moving through it. Joy cannot enter your heart when you are protected against your pain. When you protect against your pain, you close your heart to avoid pain, and joy cannot enter a closed heart. Thus, joy is result of doing your inner work to learn to keep your heart open.

Sometimes I am amazed by this feeling of joy. I used to think that my joy would come from good things happening outside of myself. I certainly love for good things to happen, but often I find myself feeling great joy even when nothing is happening!

I feel joy when my Inner Child feels loved by me, important to me, cherished by me, seen by me, valued by me. I feel joy when I attend to my wants and needs, saying "no" to others when I mean no, and "yes" to others when I mean yes. I feel joy when my Inner Child feels safe inside, knowing that I am taking care of her, knowing that I am connecting with my spiritual Guidance each moment so that we are not alone.

Joy is your birthright. It's what makes life worth living. Once you taste it, you will want more and more of it. Yet too many people stay stuck in their safety zone, thinking that protecting against pain and trying to get love is what will make them safe and happy. But do you really feel safe inside? Are your protections really working to create safety within? If you are willing to be honest with yourself and see that your protections aren't working, then maybe you will open your heart and embrace your pain, with a deep desire to learn what you may be doing that is causing it, so that you can feel joy of Spirit.