Gridlock versus Joy

By Irene Segal

Time wasted, tempers flaring, tempus fugit. Traffic jam. Gridlock. We all know what that means... traffic has comes to a complete standstill. Frustrated drivers and passengers sit on the road in their vehicles, unable to move forward or backward. Sometimes they can see reason for the gridlock, often they cannot. Standstill. Imposed inertia. What does gridlock have to do with joy? Nothing and everything. Read on and find out.

Joy is deceptively simply to achieve, and at the same time incredibly difficult to sustain because it requires us to transform the way we think, to get rid of beliefs that no longer serve us, to move past gridlock. Joy is all about self imposed energy and positive movement. Emotional gridlock is all about self imposed inertia. Finding the joy in life is all about appreciating every moment with gusto and glee, it is about moving forward and making each moment better than the last. Gridlock is about being forced to stand still, to remain motionless, frustrated and held back.

While physical gridlock will pass, emotional gridlock is a silent killer. It is an invisible demon that slowly creeps crawls into our life and feeds off our joy. It starts when we lose touch with who we are and what we want, it grows when we spend our days and nights dancing to another man's drummer. At its best, emotional gridlock will sap our creativity and innovation. At its worst, it will suck up every ounce of joy we have, insidiously, invisibly, consistently until inertia touches every aspect of our lives.

Moving past gridlock means having the tenacity and clarity to see past the blocks in the road, the personal traffic jams that we all face. It means making a life decision to let go of all the negative emotions and limiting beliefs that block our creativity, our energy, and our joie de vivre. It means replacing road rage with faith, frustration with certainty, doubt with confidence and inertia with a passion to reclaim our dreams and our life.

Moving past our personal gridlock is a war, a battle that we each face every moment, every day, in every way. We can choose to be valiant warriors of joy and recognize that the greatest gridlock we face is not from other people, not from other cars, not from oncoming traffic, not from our work, our neighbors, our children, our colleagues, but from ourselves, from the fears that hold us back from being and doing all that we can. This week, get ready for battle, get ready to win. Make a list of the beliefs and thoughts that keep you in gridlock and start to throw them away with courage and with joy.