Summer Archives - Signy Wilson: Get Inspired, Get Real

10 Reasons to Take the Week Off

I’ve been spending a lot of time in time-off mode lately. And I’ve got to let you in on a little secret… it’s pretty freaking fantastic! Not only do I get to lounge about in my PJ’s all day if I want to, I am finally able to do some much needed thinking, reflecting and rejuvenating. So, here are 10 reasons why you should take a week off, soon!

September is just around the corner and we all know how crazy that can get. This is the last week of summer; you might as well enjoy it!
Spend some time in nature. Enjoy the beauty that Mother Nature has created before the dark months of winter creep in.
Take time to get together with dear friends. We all know once the school year sets in again, friends are going to be far too busy taxiing kids from here to there.
Savour romantic time with your partner.
Bask in a bit of self-care. Get a massage, go for a swim, or make the kind of dinner that makes you happy (not everybody else).
It’s the exhale. We can’t just stay in busy mode all the time. (That would be hyperventilating…) We need to have a balance between the inhales and the exhales.
Explore that new restaurant/café/ shop/neighbourhood/beach that has been on your list for ages but you’ve still never made it to.
Get creative. Take on some DIY, drop in to the pottery studio or sit alone colouring. Important thing is to get those juices flowing!
Sleep. I can guarantee you probably need it.
You work hard all year long. Stop guilting yourself out of time off. Take it and just enjoy it!

Our gas tanks need a chance to refuel. Allow your mind, body and spirit that chance.

Rest and rejuvenation will look different for different people so some of this is an exercise in figuring out what it looks like for you. Once you’ve done that, it’s so much easier to start to create rituals around it that will last the whole year.

Okay over to you:

When’s the last time you took a week off? What are some of your favourite relaxation activities? I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below.

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What is Joy? (And How to BE More Joyful)

Joy is such a precious gift. And to me summertime is just filled with joy. Everyone is out, having fun and really enjoying themselves and the beautiful sunshine. I introduced the idea of fun leading into joy with my new word – foy. But we still need to do some more investigating…what is joy, really?

For me, joy can be seen in that childlike sense of wonder and curiosity, the delight we see on a child’s face (on their good days), and their overflowing enthusiasm when they get excited about something. A happy child is joy incarnate. Children are filled to the brim with it. It is their default position.

Think about it, we don’t wait patiently, coaxing out a baby’s frown. No, we are waiting for their smile and their laugh, because that is what comes first. Not just to some babies, but to all babies, and not just to some human beings, but all human beings. Joy is our birthright, our natural state.

Joy is like an exaltation—an interesting combination of gratitude, awe and happiness. But it’s beyond happiness.

Happiness says, “Wow, I have so many of the things I want. Life is good.”

Joy says, “Life is spectacular!”

Joy is about revelling in the absolute assuredness and certainty that everything is exactly the way it’s meant to be (even when something is a bit off, it is about finding the rightness in it – more on that next week).

The experience of joy is unique to each of us—from what brings us joy, to what qualities it encompasses to how we recognize it in ourselves or others. Yet there seem to be some common elements:

Feeling engaged in life
Being in the flow
Having a sense of connection, to our hearts, our communities, something bigger than ourselves, or to the whole
Being aware, being tuned in to ourselves and our environment
A sense of awe and wonder at life
A buzz, an excitement, an anticipation
It is self-referencing: we feel it inside ourselves and have to be tuned into ourselves in order to know we are in that place.
We are engaged in activities that fill us up, that strengthen us, and have us feel very much alive.

But over time we seem to migrate away from joy. Why?!? There seems to be a bit of a myth in society that we have to work hard. Therefore, if something comes to us easily, it must not have value. More and more I’m realizing that when we are in our natural state (of JOY!), life is easier.

There’s a cost to not living from a place of joy. The cost is that we get ourselves stuck in a non-flow place. We’re actually slowed down in our lives. It’s just like putting an obstacle in front of an oak tree that is trying to grow. It will most likely still be able to grow, but it’s going to be slower as it negotiates its way around the object.

Joy is about being fully yourself and fully expressed. Don’t let life drown out the joy. Find ways this summer to bring joy back into your life.

Okay over to you:

What does joy feel like for you? What are you doing to keep joy in your life? I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below.

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Fun + Joy = Foy!

Last week was my birthday. As you probably gathered from my last post I LOVE to celebrate my birthday! So much so that I don’t just to a birth-day. I do a minimum of a birth-week or a birth-month and ideally the fun will continue on for the whole summer!

Why? Well, fun is one of the easiest paths to joy. It is slightly tricky to put my finger on a precise definition of joy (although I took a crack at in my forthcoming book – Participation is Mandatory). But fun is different. Fun is the way you get to joy. Doing fun things gets you to that joyful place.

Fun is the vehicle that gets us to the north star of joy.

In fact, I use these two words, fun and joy, together so often that I invented my own word: Foy!

Fun + Joy = Foy!

Even during this hard time, this first birthday without my dad, I still have a choice to choose be connected to my friends and what’s fun for me.

As a result, my birthday itself was fantastic! I loved being surrounded by good friends, having amazing conversations, getting to be the center of a attention (yes, its true that’s what I love), having room for spontaneity, and maintaining a deep connection to my core self. All bringing me so much foy!

As we continue through Leo season, take time this summer to experience some foy for yourself!

Okay over to you:

What are some things that bring you foy? What are you doing to ensure you experience fun this summer? I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below.

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Let the Living BE Easy

Summertime,
An’ the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
An’ the cotton is high.

Lazy afternoons with a book, digging your toes into lush grass or gritty sand, sitting beside cool waters lapping at the shore, eating an abundance of fresh fruits, crisp salads and delicious barbecue (yes, my mouth is watering as well)… It’s July and summer is in full swing!

But in amongst all of those summer activities, how many of us actually take advantage of this time and truly let the living BE easy? I know the old tune reminds us to, but with the constant pressures to take on and achieve more, it has become increasingly difficult to really just let go and let things be easy. And I’m telling you, I’m a BIG fan of easy!

Ease is about choosing the path of least resistance. It’s about doing the thing that you are going to be best at, most comfortable with and the happiest while doing. It’s about stepping away from the overwhelm of taking on more and more. The saying “Do less, and accomplish more” is perhaps the simplest way of summing up easy. Sometimes, easy can mean saying no to certain tasks, other times it can mean branching out in a different direction. Ultimately though, ease comes down to maximizing who we naturally are. Read More >>>

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What do I feel like doing next?

This is a magic question. What do I feel like doing next? As is “what do I feel like saying next?”. The power is in the not knowing what will come from it. I can’t plan it, the outcome, or control it. It is beyond me. Bigger than me. When I get into the zone of this, this question then wait for the answer, then do what I am feeling called to do (or say), then a higher intelligence kicks in. I can trust that. Well theoretically I can trust that. But boy do I fight it. Instead of allowing this magic, I struggle, I force what I think I ought to be doing, I fulfill the obligation that I committed to 3 weeks ago. Three weeks ago when I had no idea what I would, or even might, be feeling in this moment.

And each moment it fresh. It changes constantly, and new information changes the old information, and changes the changes. It is very fluid. Very feminine in fact. And requires both trust, as I have already mentioned, but also surrender.
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