Joy & Living My Higher Self by Lee Haponski, Spirit Writer 

Joy & Living My Higher Self by Lee Haponski, Spirit Writer 

Some mornings, I wake up smiling before my eyes even open. My life is a joy—I love everything about it. 

But most mornings it takes a few reminders. So, what can I say about joy and living my higher self?

It’s true—on so many levels. I live in a near-perfect state. Never hungry, never cold without means to get warm, not even hot without access to cooling air. And yet, I must remind myself to remember, to be grateful, to appreciate this life of joyful abundance. 

To pause. To notice. To honor the blessing of simply being here, now. 

To wake each day to a life devoted to expressing my inner light, to simply being, without worry for the basics of survival, but towards expressing a higher self. 

I can consider: 

How can I make the present task, or the moment before me, more joyful?

And, what can I begin doing that will bring more joy into my immediate life? 

I think of joy as a spiritual quality—something I want to amplify. 

But strangely, I don’t often build it into the plans I make. 

Perhaps just the idea of considering how to create joy in the process is the process. 

Maybe part of the confusion stems from what I think joy looks like in life. 

I, and many others, equate joy with momentous occasions: 

the birth of a healthy baby, 

graduation from a school, 

obtaining a new job, or retiring from an old job, 

crossing a threshold of accumulated wealth. 

But what if joy isn’t something I earn or stumble into? What if it’s a state of being I can choose—right now, in this breath? 

Can I remember to have a joyous heart, whether or not there’s an occasion? 

I want to access that joyous feeling during more of my conscious time. 

So yes, it seems that asking myself about how to see the joy in the task in front of me is a path towards experiencing joy in more times of my life. 

I can choose to live the moments of my life in joy. The choosing, the awakening to the opportunity to choose, is the kicker. 

I have many tools for living consciously, choosing how I view and respond to the moments in my life. 

I can remember, as I back out of my driveway on a weekday afternoon, to be joyful that I have a safe comfortable car to make the journey across the bridge along with hundreds and thousands of my fellow commuters. 

Driving slowly allows me the opportunity to listen to more music or an audiobook. 

I can choose to access the premium lane if I need to arrive earlier or use the toll-free lanes if I have extra time. What a joy! 

When I choose to allow my grandson to find his way through his homework, exercising patience, knowing he wants to be a successful student and holding a space for him to learn how, I gift him a lifetime of knowing he is capable. 

This creates joy that infuses both our lives. 

I can even take joy in the HEB when I go during a crowded time with my husband. 

Shifting from writing war stories to art crime mysteries has opened new joy in my storytelling. 

I feel lighter, more curious. Even playful. And when I return to my aviators, I’ll bring that joy with me—telling their stories not from duty, but as another way of living my higher self.