Ignite Your Joy

a four-week journey to ignite your joy and light up your life

Interview with Julia Ostara

This week’s interview is with the delightful Julia Ostara, author of The Girl Who Dances With Delight.

I love how Julia reframed her “non-negotiable” spiritual practices as her “most of the time things.” She isn’t rigid with her daily spiritual practices. She offers herself grace and this enables her to look at her daily sprititual practices as blessings rather than as obligations.

Julia shared with us the acronym, D.A.N.C.E., which guides her through her daily spiritual practices:

D - Dance. Whether that be five minutes of yoga or five minutes of salsa dancing. As long as she moves her body in some way during the day, that’s the main point.

A - Affirmations or awareness of tuning into what the soundtrack is in her head.

N - Notes or journaling.

C - Celebration and gratitude. She looks around and sees the beauty and blessings around her and breathes that in.

E - Embrace. She gives herself a “self-love hug” and says “I love my whole self and I let life love me.”

What are some things that you might consider making part of your daily spiritual practice?

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

meditation
visualization
yoga
walking in nature
affirmations
journaling
prayer
writing a gratitude list
breathing exercises

There is a page in this week’s workbook where you can make a list of your own daily spiritual practices, either ones you are currently doing and/or ones you would like to begin doing.

Here are some links to connect more with Julia:

~ Author of The Girl Who Dances With Delight Book

~ Creator of the Heart of Life & Soul Songs Inspiration Card Decks

~ Artist, Presenter, and Hostess of Creative Courses at: ThriveTrue.com

~ Keep in Touch with Julia: Instagram, Facebook, and Heart to Heart newsletters

Today's invitation is to lean into and embrace what delights your heart: this is what brings you joy. Let's ponder this point for a bit today.

Get some pen and paper out or use your Ultimate Guide to Joy, notebook, or your device to spend a few minutes marinating in the wonderful things that bring you joy.

I'm sharing a passage from my book "On a Path of Joy", Vol. One, Day 13 and may it bless your heart with so much love.

"We all have certain things which make us happy. These things you will get up early to do, or stay up late doing, just for the sheer pleasure of it. The key is to follow your joy.

Savor the items which “light you up” and do those more often. Allow yourself to schedule in some “me time,” even if it is only for a short period of time. The results will be so amazing, not only for you, but for all those with whom you have contact.

When you are happier, freer, lighter, and more joy-filled, you not only increase your vibration, but also lift up others around you.

A good question for today is “What delights my heart?” Perhaps you’d like to make a list of five items that bring you joy. The next step is to actually do some of those things and regularly incorporate them into your schedule.

Perhaps there is an item on your to-do list that can be postponed or cancelled and instead you can make a date with yourself to go out and have some fun. Savor it all, dear one. You will be glad you did. Your loved ones will be glad you did. And I’ll be glad you did.

May you savor that which delights your heart."

Blessings of love, joy and peace,