The Secret to a Life of Joy

• President Nelson’s insight on joy:
• How to reflect on where you’re giving your time, energy, and focus in life.
• The importance of caring for both your body and spirit.
• Practical tips on maintaining a healthy body and nourishing your spirit.
• How supporting and uplifting others can enhance your own joy.
• A touching story about witnessing women empowering each other during childbirth, and its deeper message about community.

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TRANSCRIPT

This is The Joyful You Podcast, episode 106, The Secret to a Life of Joy.

Welcome to The Joyful You Podcast.

On this show, I talk all about the tools you need to cultivate a healthy relationship with food, your mind, and your life.

I’m your host, Rachael Collins.

As an eating psychology practitioner, a certified life coach, and a weight loss expert, it is my mission to show you how to work with your body, manage your mind, process your emotions, and create supportive habits so you can live well, feel well, and become your strongest, healthiest, happiest, most amazing self, a joyful you.

Hey there, it has been the most exciting week here in the Collins family.

Our oldest daughter had a baby boy last week, our first grandbaby.

And to say that we’re smitten is probably an understatement.

We all just can’t get enough of him.

He is perfect.

I was so privileged to be at his birth, and oh my gosh, it was one of the most sacred and amazing experiences I have ever been a part of.

And I have been thinking a lot about it the past week.

I’ve also been thinking about a line from President Nelson’s most recent general conference talk where he said, this is the secret to a life of joy.

And you all know that joy is my thing.

I perk up whenever I hear the word joy.

So, this phrase intrigued me, and I have been thinking about it ever since.

What is the secret to a life of joy?

Because I think that’s what we all want, right?

We all want a life of joy.

Well, President Nelson said that the secret is to come unto Christ and offer your whole soul unto him.

He also, along those same lines, told us that the most crucial question that we must answer is, to whom or to what will I give my life?

So, as I was thinking about this, all of these things this last week or so, I was pondering, okay, what is my soul, and how do I offer it to Christ?

I know that in the movies, they talk about people losing their souls, and then there’s the Disney movie Soul, which is so cute, by the way.

I had not seen it until my coach was like, go watch the movie Soul.

This was a few weeks ago, and I watched it, and I was like, how have I not watched this movie?

It is so good.

The movie is about a guy who spends the majority of the movie time trying to help someone find their spark, which they think is their one purpose in life.

And not to give the ending away, but he realizes that there’s not one spark, but a lot of sparks.

That’s what lights us up.

That’s what makes life enjoyable.

So I was thinking about that.

Then I remembered that one scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants, I think it’s in section 88, that talks about how the spirit and the body are the soul.

So when it comes to the soul, we are talking about both our body and our spirit.

And then when we factor in the question, the most crucial question we can ask ourselves, okay, how am I using my body?

How am I using my spirit?

To whom or to what?

Am I focusing and giving my life to?

How am I spending my time?

How am I using this gift of my body that we know was bought with the price?

Am I taking care of it?

Am I taking care of my spirit?

Am I using this one and only life, this one and only body that I get wisely?

And do I like what I’m doing?

Do I like who I’m being?

Do I like where I’m choosing to place my focus?

So many things that I have been thinking about lately, because, admitted or not, all of these things do affect our joy.

Think about it.

If we don’t take care of our body, what happens?

We feel like crap.

If we don’t take care of our mind, we also feel like crap.

If we let our heart be angry, or we stay in this victim state, we feel like crap.

And I don’t know about you, but when I feel like crap, it’s hard to fill joy.

And sometimes it’s even hard to enjoy my life as fully as I would like to.

So then I started thinking about what does a healthy body look and feel like to me?

And how do I keep it healthy?

How do I keep it where I want it to be?

And for me, okay, that’s just me.

You come up with your own answers.

But for me, this looks like having energy.

It feels like having longevity, being able to get around well, being able to walk and to travel and to get up and down and to navigate the stairs well.

It looks like eating well and nourishing my body with the nutrients and the vitamins and the minerals that it needs.

It looks like having clear and healthy skin.

It looks like moving my body, but it also looks like resting my body.

And for me, it also looks like making sure my body is well hydrated and not overfeeding it.

So then I did the same thing with my spirit.

And I asked myself, okay, Rach, what does a healthy spirit look like, and what does that mean to me?

And to me, again, this is just me.

Come up with your own answers.

But to me, it looks like doing my best to have good mental help.

It looks like connecting with God daily multiple times a day, getting out into the sun, getting out into nature, getting fresh air.

It looks like knowing how to cope healthily with not things that are gonna cause a negative consequence.

It looks like being kind to myself and serving others.

And it also looks like making sure that the things that I consume, okay, so like the media and the music and the TV shows and the books and all of that stuff that I am consuming into my body, through my five senses, are uplifting and they make me feel good, not bad.

So I just started making a list.

And then I moved on to, okay, what am I already doing really well at?

What habits, what patterns do I already implement that are creating this for me, that are bringing me closer to this goal of having a healthy body and healthy spirit, a healthy soul?

And then I made a list of all the things that I was already doing and being that I wanted to continue with.

Then I went to, okay, what do I want to improve?

Or what other habits do I want to create?

And one of the things that is heavily on my mind, especially after witnessing the birth of my grandbaby, is that I want to be better at building, lifting, encouraging, persuading, and inspiring others.

I did a post on Instagram, so maybe you’ve already heard this.

If you have, this will just be a repeat.

But when my daughter was nearing the end of her labor, and it was time for her to start pushing, in walks three female nurses, and they gather around her bed, and they just start championing her.

They just start cheering her on, telling her what a good job she’s doing, that she was doing it, that she was so close, and just a little bit more.

And I really had to hold back the tears, as I was watching all of this, because it was just so beautiful, and just overwhelming to me.

And I thought, oh my gosh, imagine if we as women did this for each other all the time.

Not just when we’re giving birth, but when we are having a hard day, when we’re struggling, when we’re maybe not showing up as our best self.

What if we did this for each other?

Imagine if we were builders, building each other up.

Imagine if we were more encouraging, or if we paused to help and lift others.

This is what Jesus did.

All of this is what Jesus did.

He took care of himself.

He took care of his body.

He took care of his spirit.

And then he went forth and served.

And I wonder if this isn’t the secret to a life of joy.

I kind of think it is.

Tell me what you think.

All right, guys.

That’s all that’s on my mind today.

I will see you next week.

Have a great one.

Bye-bye.

Thank you for listening to The Joyful You Podcast.

If you’d like additional support, click the link in the show notes, and let’s chat about how we can work together to get you to your goal.

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If you want to hang out on social media, you can find me on Instagram at A Joyful You or on my website, A Joyful you.com.

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