I’ve spent a lot of New-Age-hokey-true-wisdom-searching-efforting trying to figure out what joy really is. Is it our true nature, our original essence, the stuff of our Soul? If joy is our true nature, then why do so many hardcore buddhists seem so f-cking serious all the time? If enlightenment is about becoming desireless, then do I have to let go of all my desires to tap into joy? Questions, questions.

I’ve talked to rabbis, and priests, and monks, and people who I consider to be high esoteric practitioners. I’ve figured out a few things about joy… and I’ve woven them into this week’s episode of LIGHT WORK: “The service of joy, especially in these times”. Listen in for:

• Should you leave your soul-dulling job and follow your joy to France? (Maybe.) I’ve got some ideas on HOW to buck fear and obligation.
• The difference between happiness and joy, and a story from my divorce about the first time that I really understood the truth about joy.
• Are you addicted to longing? Waking up to the corruption and addiction in our own psyches, community, and society. Starting to make more holistic choices.
• Moving towards joy: Two questions to help you remove the debris and create more space for light to move in.
• The three kinds of “happy lives”, Sensitive New Age Guys, Flow Boys…
• And finally: Living in joy without feeling like you’re betraying your (or anyone else’s) pain. Shedding the achievement, possessing, having, striving ways to be “happy” and focusing on one way to be joyful—to serve.

My people, you are heartbreakingly (in a good way) beautiful. Here’s to the Light Work.

.  .  .  .  . 

How you listen is how you live

(A poem for being of service)

You may hear this as an order, an invitation, or as the opportunity of lifetimes.

How you listen is how you live.
Can you hear the women crying?
Can you hear the soil gasping for clean air?
And did you hear that?
That’s the sound of a good man asking, How can I serve?

Only with all of you. Mostly by being informed. Entirely with your longing.

Root your life so deeply into your Soul that comparisons, and materialism, and status quo idealism, and the lie called media realism cannot possibly sway your Truth.

You won’t be a sucker for motivation. You will be a devotee of inspiration.

You want to serve? (Please say yes.) Then do what ambition tells you not to do. Forget your goals and your regimens. Be very still and lean in to listen to the pain of the world. And then it will be very clear what to do when you know the Truth. You will let your heart blaze. And your solutions will be fierce with Love, fast with delivery, and sustaining.

You will walk into any room and you will bring joy to bear on the situation.
And it will sound like this:

I am listening.
I know who I am.
And I am here to serve.

Listen to the rest of LIGHT WORK, Ep. #3 HERE.

Danielle LaPorte is an invited member of Oprah’s SuperSoul 100, a group who, in Oprah Winfrey’s words, “is uniquely connecting the world together with a spiritual energy that matters.” She is author of White Hot Truth: Clarity for keeping it real on your spiritual path—from one seeker to another. The Fire Starter Sessions, and The Desire Map: A Guide To Creating Goals With Soul—the book that has been translated into 8 languages, evolved into a yearly day planner system, a top 10 iTunes app, and an international workshop program with licensed facilitators in 15 countries.

Named one of the “Top 100 Websites for Women” by Forbes, millions of visitors go to DanielleLaPorte.com every month for her daily #Truthbombs and what’s been called “the best place online for kickass spirituality.” A speaker, a poet, a painter, and a former business strategist and Washington-DC think tank exec, Entrepreneur Magazine calls Danielle, “equal parts poet and entrepreneurial badass…edgy, contrarian…loving and inspired.” Her charities of choice are Eve Ensler’s VDay: a global movement to end violence against women and girls, and charity: water, setting out to bring safe drinking water to everyone in the world. She lives in Vancouver, BC with her favourite philosopher, her son. You can find her @daniellelaporte and just about everywhere on social media.