the compulsion of love is joy.

the compulsion of love is joy.

if i try to renounce the pursuit of my own joy to love someone else, i ruin all chances of loving them.

follow your bliss.

over a week ago i bought a new ring that simply says "follow your bliss" and i immediately fell in love with it. however i didn't really understand what it meant, and maybe i still don't but i think now i at least have a better idea.

a lot times in life we run around saying yes to everything. we'll say yes to volunteering for our church when we're busy, we'll say yes to hanging out with an old friend even when we don't have the time, we'll say yes to dinners out when we don't have the money, to extra projects when we're overbooked, to plans when we wish we were doing something else, to failed relationships, to hurtful people, to desserts when we swore we wouldn't. truth is we say YES a lot of the time when what we really should/want to be saying is NO. and sometimes that's good for us. we need to push ourselves to get out of our daily routine and do something different and experience new things. but sometimes the right thing to do is to say no. but when you spend your life saying yes all the time, its hard to remember there's another answer.

i like to say yes. a lot. i'd rather say yes than anything else. and to avoid saying no, i'll offer up a maybe or an alternative idea. i find myself saying i dont care or doesn't matter to me rather than just saying no. i am a girl of yes and i don't really know any different. :) the thing that i ultimately realized though is that sometimes we need to say no. and even if we're too caught up in someone else's feelings or our own convictions, saying no can still be the right thing to do. and while it's easy for me to sit here and write this, i can't say that this is something i personally practice. so what i've learned is that sometimes God says no for me. how does that work? well sometimes there are things in my life that don't ultimately bring me happiness or are hurting me, even if i can't see it. and then all of a sudden it hits me. i realize why my prayers aren't being answered like i want, or why things don't work out or why it's just not making sense. God is saying no for me. but why?

well i think ultimately God wants us to follow our own bliss, but often times we ourselves are the only thing blocking us from it. so God says no to the hurtful things to our lives, and then waits for us to realize how much happier we can be. God has been saying no a lot for me lately, and while it has been frustrating i think i finally get it. if i honestly asked myself if any of the things he's taken from me were making me feel blissful or happy i'd have to say NO. and being consumed by them was not allowing me to follow my bliss. God has been saying no when i couldn't, just so i could find my own happiness, not someone else's. :)

so follow your bliss, and know that God wants that same bliss for you and will help you say no, even if you can't always see it.