Last week while on my morning walk, I felt to pick these silver flowers for the design department I’m working with. While I was walking to the office, I felt joy and gratitude for having this job, but also for the life I live.

When I share with others that this is how I feel whether it’s Monday morning or Sunday, they are surprised. “You’re very lucky,” they say. But it’s not a matter of luck, it’s a choice, a choice to bring my all in every aspect of my life and not make work any different.

This means to care for and nurture myself before and after working so when I sit in front of my computer, everything I live is with me. At the end of the day when I finish off, I make sure the desk is tidy and clean, ready to receive me for the next day.

I’m not the owner of the company but the care I bring to my job position is the same as if I were the boss, making sure to be in my natural joy and vitality as a matter of responsibility because the end result of what I design is going to be touched by that.

Art and design are more than creating beautiful drawings. It’s feeling every angle of the design, connecting with the people involved in the project, my colleagues, the future clients and final consumers.

Every day should be joyful. We deserve to feel the joy of being content with ourselves. Why is this not the norm for every single human being on earth? We are as precious and delicate as the flowers I took that day – nothing more and nothing less. We need loving care and nourishment to bring what we are here to bring. Otherwise something really valuable in what we express and deliver is missing. It’s all about life and the way we live it.

Honouring my sensitivity, giving myself the space to know how to support myself during the day allows me to be in joy. It’s a feeling of warmth and rejoicing that comes along with me. Today and every day I’m coming back to me. When we are in love with ourselves everything gets enriched by our presence and we really make the difference this world is needing.

Joy resides within. It is not a fluffy emotional state. It doesn’t need something special to occur to be present. It’s a quality that comes from my inner-most. I came into this world in my natural joy as a child. This doesn’t mean that I was smiling all the time. I felt still, warm, sensitive to everything that was happening around. And yet, for so long I lost it, I forgot the treasure I was. I walked with my light off, but now I can feel it again. I don’t need to hold onto it like it’s going to be lost. It is with me all the time because it’s who I am. With this choice I free myself up from the need to search outside myself for something that makes me happy. I don’t need it, because something greater resides within me.

For some time now, I’ve been including more appreciation in my life. This means taking stock of the moments of connection I can experience. It has nothing to do with pampering myself for the ‘good things’ I can do. It’s more about confirming myself for who I am and the significant change I make just for being me. By being present, everything feels more at ease and complete. Remaining with me, in my body, brings me the clarity to know where I am in every given moment.

 So, what makes my life joyful today?

It’s me in my presence. Witnessing the tender care and sensitivity that comes through my body is what makes my day. No wonder when the working day is finished I feel complete, simply living in the joy and being ‘me’.

By Inma Lorente, Graphic Arts Designer, Student of English and German, Spain

Further Reading:
Being Still – With Joy
The state of the working world
Burnout in the Workplace: A Call for Connection