Read about how caffeine has been a perfect and surprising teacher to lead me to the cultivation of the natural high of joy within myself.
In my last two posts I’ve been writing about the emergence of joy in my experience — the perfect third aspect to the creation of a life in alignment — Peace. Love. Joy.
And today I’m continuing this theme with my story of a surprising teacher in joy: caffeine.
It’s 17 years since I stopped drinking caffeine drinks. I was pregnant with my first baby and I wanted to do all the ‘right’ things for his wellbeing and healthy development. This — plus the fact tea made me feel sick in my first few months — meant I dropped caffeine from my diet.
After navigating pregnancy and work without caffeine I thought I’d continue without it and see how I got on. Of course there were tired days. And yes I reached for sugar alot instead of caffeine…but I thought, huh! This is cool. I can manage a newborn without caffeine.
I think it was also around this time that I saw an article saying when you drink caffeine regularly you’re not giving yourself a boost, you’re just bringing yourself back up to normal from the crash. So it continued to not make sense to drink it.
Then second baby, so no caffeine for her either…and with two little kids, and back to work after 9 months, I figured ‘if I can do this without caffeine I can do anything!’. So I just didn’t have it anymore.
So what’s this got to do with joy?
Well, sometimes baristas accidentally give me caffeine instead of decaf. I drink my lattes pretty quick so I’ve usually almost finished it when I feel the buzz kick in. Oh no! Caffeine! And then…oooo but it feels sooooo gooooood! The loving feelings swell up inside me. I feel light and capable of anything! Everyone and everything is loved. I am full of JOY!
But…20 minutes later, and the crash begins. And urgh that feels so horrible. I get a dull ache in my stomach, a bit like a hangover. I feel sick and there’s nothing I can do, eat or drink that resolves it. This is SO not worth the high.
So what instead?
Recently I joined a course which was teaching about the cultivation of good feelings and joy. They were sharing the ‘normal’ things that tend to help this experience along — like going for walks in nature, having a luxurious bath, lighting a candle, snuggling with a book…basically anything that you associate with feeling good.
But, given everything I’ve deeply explored for the last 5 years, I thought:
‘I don’t think we need an outside thing to make us feel good.’
And we don’t!
Since this course I started experimenting and I’ve discovered that I can cultivate good feelings of joy within myself, whenever I want. Magic!
And the even better part — there is no crash!
Because it’s all natural. Created from within.
So I get to create inner joy, for myself, whenever I want.
This got me thinking
Could I help others do this too?
And so, a new idea was born…
I’m going to host a Cultivating Joy Call where we play and experiment with cultivating joy. I’ll share what I’ve been doing to support this in me. And I’ll share other tips and tricks that I’ve picked up from others too. And we’ll see what happens and what we all learn!
As you can tell, if you want to join this, you’re going to want to come with open-ness and experimental vibes in your heart. I reckon we’ll have some fun together!
Do you want in?
It’s going to be free, for max 15 people so we can all connect and talk. And — if you get a delightful dash of joy as a result — you can choose whether you want to send me a thank you payment afterwards. (No obligation.)
How do I get involved?
Get in touch, telling me you want in. And I’ll set up a good date and time.