This is actually the size of my heart right now after leading my Nova Yoga Retreat in Cuba at Mhai Yoga last week.
I was such a mess the week before I left, dealing with the stress and demands of entrepreneur life. But within 24hrs of arriving in Cuba I experienced such joy and energy and positivity that I felt like I was vibrating, like I was lit up; I realized I was walking around a lot of the time with my hand on chest, as though I was trying to contain the swelling of my heart. I puffed on a cigar, swam in the ocean at night, danced up a storm, smiled til my face hurt, laughed til my belly hurt, & felt joy that I hadn’t felt in a very long time.
And it got me thinking about my joy quota (I saw a stand-up comedy special by Pete Holmes last year and in a life lesson moment he tells the audience to fill what he calls your joy quota: “That’s why you’re here, to cash happy cheques, to live your life”). It wasn’t until I experienced such joy in Cuba that I realized this kind of fun has been absent in my life as of late. It was also a beautiful reminder that this kind of excitement is still possible; I feel like as we get older we can harden and become jaded, perhaps the laughs don’t flow like they used to. But this magical week was a reminder that at 36 I can still find little-kid-xmas-morning-level-excitement while bobbing in the ocean waves or dancing to Latin American pop music in a parking lot.
Before I left to return home I made a vow to cash more happy cheques and to bring more joy into my life. And I’m trying to keep that intention at the top of my list as I return to routine and real life, but it’s challenging, for sure, not to just get swept up in the daily grind. I’m curious: how do you fill your joy quota?
THANK YOU Coco, Kika, Eduardo, Alpi, Micha, Alejandro, Ernesto, MariaCarla, Elie, Carly, & Harry for making our retreat week so blissful; and thank you Cuba, my new happy place.
-mel-
xo