Today let’s talk about learning to feel joy.
Has it ever seemed like it’s hard to feel happiness or joy?
Easy to feel pain, but tough to feel excitement? I felt like that a lot, and discovered that when I was growing up in an alcoholic family, every time I felt excited and joyful about something I did, I got put down or hurt. Such as the time when I got second place in a speech contest, and my Dad angrily told me he didn’t want to hear any more about that blank blank speech. It took a long time to see how I would rob my ability to feel joy by responding like I learned as a child. When I began to disconnect those old messages, I could once again feel the excitement and optimism I experienced as a confident and happy 6 year old boy. What a freedom!
Has it ever been difficult for you to access joy?
Photo Credit
Photo by Lucy Boynton @ flickr.com – Creative Commons -Some rights reserved
Dan L. Hays offers encouragement for adult children of alcoholics.
The podcasts of these episodes can be found at: Minute to Freedom
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