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JOY FORWARD · The Joy Jolt Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey there,
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: this is Susan Patrick,
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: and I'm so excited to read this article to you called Joy Forward.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Stop looking backwards for joy.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Just open yourself to all the joy that is ahead.
• 0:13
  Today in dance class,
• 0:14
  the teacher asked us to dance as if we were seven years old
• 0:16
  again.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone around me seemed to naturally move into this playful,
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: childlike energy,
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: but something unexpected happened to me today.
• 0:25
  Instead of imagining myself younger,
• 0:27
  I suddenly imagined myself older,
• 0:29
  much,
• 0:30
  much older.
• 0:31
  I experienced myself as an 80-year-old woman dancing,
• 0:35
  and honestly it felt so beautiful.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: I could feel that as an 80-year-old woman,
• 0:42
  I was even more profoundly tapping into the deep sense of
• 0:45
  wonder and gratitude
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: moving through my body.
• 0:49
  Gratitude for my body and that I was moving my body at 80,
• 0:54
  enjoying my body at 80.
• 0:57
  Gratitude for the warmth of the sun on my aged skin and the
• 1:00
  feeling of the wind
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: moving across my wrinkled arms.
• 1:04
  There was this awareness of time,
• 1:06
  aging and life itself,
• 1:08
  but it didn't feel sad.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: It felt rich, full, deep, sacred.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: It felt alive.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: I realized that the future version of me was not looking backward,
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: wishing for or pining for youth again.
• 1:24
  I was fully inside the moment that she was living in and I was
• 1:29
  deeply enjoying.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: It made me think about how often we connect joy to the past.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: We look backwards as if that was as good as life is gonna get.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: We revisit memories,
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: trying to reconnect to feelings that we once had,
• 1:45
  almost treating joy like something that already happened
• 1:49
  instead of something that
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: still exists ahead of us.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: But standing there dancing, I realized I want to give what is forward
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Just as much permission to be joyful as what is behind me.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: I do not want to spend my life grieving, aging while I'm still living.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: I want to envision myself as a joyful older woman,
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: as a joyful old woman,
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: wise,
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: experienced,
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: mature,
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  SPEAKER_00: still curious,
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  SPEAKER_00: still alive,
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  SPEAKER_00: still capable of feeling wonder,
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: still able to deeply enjoy being here.
• 2:31
  I think there's something powerful about allowing ourselves to
• 2:35
  look ahead with love
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: instead of fear.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Aging is not the opposite of living, it is living.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: It is the continuation of all the moments we have already experienced.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: I've been growing up my entire life,
• 2:50
  but now I feel like I'm entering a season where I can truly
• 2:54
  appreciate what it
• 2:55
  means to be fully alive in the moment while also honoring the
• 3:00
  depth of time.
• 3:02
  I want to keep celebrating this moment and the next one and the
• 3:06
  next one after that.
• 3:07
  I want to look back one day and know I actually allowed myself
• 3:12
  to enjoy my entire
• 3:15
  life instead of constantly waiting for some future moment to
• 3:19
  finally feel good
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: enough or safe enough or complete enough to relax into joy.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: When I was really young,
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  SPEAKER_00: I remember hearing this deep feeling inside of me that said,
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: this life,
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Susan,
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  SPEAKER_00: is going to feel good.
• 3:38
  I don't know what happened before I got here and I don't know
• 3:41
  what's going to
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  happen when I leave but I remember feeling very certain that I
• 3:46
  was here to
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: experience life fully,
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: to feel it,
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  SPEAKER_00: to enjoy it,
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  SPEAKER_00: to really be present for all of it.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that is what joy forward means.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Not only appreciating where you've been,
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: but staying open to the possibility that some of the most meaningful,
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: joyful,
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: connected moments of your life may still be ahead of you.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Joy.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Just open yourself.
• 4:18
  Thank you for listening and if you enjoyed this please
• 4:21
  subscribe and please share
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: this with a friend you would like to give a joy jolt to.
• 4:27
  My name is Susan Patrick and thank you for sharing a bit of
• 4:30
  your life with me.