The Joy Diet – the Beginning!

Not another diet! No – I can assure you it is not, at least not in the more traditional sense of the word, which to me has meant doing without, avoiding foods I love to eat, having to eat in a certain way with portion control or calorie control or SOME kind of control.   No, this is about a way to connect with more joy in our lives, to EXPAND, not control. To bring more in our lives, not restrict. That sounds very good to me.

Jamie Ridler is leading another The Next Chapter experience (kind of a book bloggers group) and the book we will all be reading and sharing our experiences from is The Joy Diet – 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life by Martha Beck.  Jamie is the wonderful person who led the last group that I participated in (Wreck This Journal), and when she announced that the next book would be The Joy Diet, I thought I wouldn’t sign up for it.  I was disappointed at myself that I didn’t quite finish this last group, and wondered if I really could afford to take the time to do this.

However, after reading a little about Martha Beck and this book, I immediately “knew” that this was just perfect for my own personal journey.  After all, what is my artwork and creative journey all about, if not for discovering and experiencing joy in my life, and helping others to find theirs?  So, here I am – wondering what I will learn about and experience, and excited to share my journey with all of you and with the other members of the group!

The first week is about NOTHING.  Yes, that’s right!  Doing nothing for at least 15 minutes each and every day.  Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?  It’s not too late to join in – just get yourself a copy of the book from your bookstore or online, and sign up to be a part of the group.  At the very least, I will be posting here about my experiences every Friday, so stay tuned in.  Follow my blog over in the right hand column or subscribe to my blog’s feed (at the bottom of the page is the link), so you don’t miss out. 

One of the additional suggestions for us that I really relate to is to journal about the experience and to do a “vision card”, which is a visual representation of what we are learning each week.  I may do collage, or painting, or a combination of both which I will share here in my weekly post about it.

Don’t worry – I will be posting the rest of my artwork that I did for the 100 in 100 Challenge too on another day. I want to complete that goal that I set for myself too.  So, until next time -

Creatively Yours in Spirit

Arlene

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