It a while since I have written a blog, but I felt compelled to write one after experiencing a really inspiring, uplifting week, and one that has left me wanting to share a message of hope that we really can choose JOY more than we sometimes realise!

My week started with Supper Club, which is always my happy place… an evening that never fails to lift the spirit, even on any dark winter night! However, this one will stay in my heart for a very long time. Our guest speaker was the very special Ana Frantz. Ana is a photographer plus!! She is on a mission to help people embrace their authentic selves. She is also passionate about spreading love and joy in the world, and it is truly infectious!

But what has really stuck with me the most was her message to ‘Not take ourselves too seriously.’ It is so important to learn how to smile at our stumbles, and to embrace our imperfections, and Ana showed us the way with her beautiful talk. She gently smiled at herself on the odd occasion when she stumbled on the wrong word, and her loving, joyful personality and her playful spirit shone through in every word.

She then took us all on a ‘journey’…  she began to play some uplifting music and invited us to imagine spreading our love and affection to a dear friend in the room. and then from this heart felt place we were invited to offer that same love and affection to ourselves… and in true Ana style, this was accompanied by ‘The greatest love of all’ by Witney Houston. Well, talk about joy! We all laughed and waved our arms in pure joy, and it is a moment I will never forget.

I often quote my heart math coach, who says, ‘it only takes a moment to feel different’ and this was the best example of that. So often people remark that they leave Supper Club in a very different place than when they arrive. Very often they leave feeling uplifted, inspired, connected, joyful, but the joy I felt that night was something very precious. I really can’t imagine ever feeling joy at supper club more than I felt it this February night. It is safe to say that I basked in Ana’s joyful energy for many days that followed.

‘Taking ourselves less seriously’ and focusing on joy is a powerful force, because As Ana reminded us all so beautifully ‘life is a gift.’

Life can be extremely busy, stressful, demanding, and challenging for people at times. However, we do have a much greater choice how we respond than we often realise. Focusing on joy and laughter can be incredibly powerful, and this is much easier to achieve when you come together with others.

I have witnessed the power of deep meaningful connections for shifting energy and perspective. I bring people together in groups through my Nurture Clubs. Creating a safe space for people to share their feelings is so incredibly powerful for shifting perspective and for helping people to come up with fresh solutions, and laughter and ‘not taking ourselves and life so seriously’ can be incredibly cathartic for people.

After one of my Nurture Clubs this week, one of the ladies said.

‘It was so lovely to see everyone laughing and having fun despite current challenges. We cannot control everything that we may encounter, just how we react to those things. I think it was important we got together today.’

I also started a new HeartMath group this week, and I invited them to share how they felt at the end. They shared powerful heart felt emotions such as ‘peace’, and ‘gratitude’, but they also agreed that this time together was a ‘gift.’

The aim of Heart Math is to help people to reduce or manage stress through self-regulate techniques, to invite people to practice re- experiencing positive regenerative feelings more often, and I am starting to realise just how powerful this is.

With a little practice, we really can learn to lean into joy more….

Life can be challenging of that there is no doubt, but we can learn to choose how we respond more than we think.

I really want to share Heart Math practices with as many people as I can this year, so please do reach out if you would like to learn more.

However, in the meantime I would love to invite you to consider how you might bring a little more joy into each day … however tiny that might be! A former colleague coined the phrase ‘pocket of joy’, which I have never forgotten, and like to share everywhere I go.

So, I’d love to invite you to consider what your little ‘pocket of joy’ might be today.

I hope you feel inspired by Ana’s energy. I certainly am, and I wholeheartedly agree with one of our Supper Club guests, who said so beautifully;

‘We really could all benefit from being a little bit more ‘Ana’

Thank you Ana Frantz. You are a gift to this world.

And thank you all for reading.

Please take good care of yourself, and I really hope to see you soon,

Harriet x