A Joyous Welcome!

Welcome To Joyous Resilience! May this space serve as a warm, welcoming & inspiring resource for all things related to Healing, Joy & Resilience.  

​At the Heart Of It:
Resilience matters. Joy matters. In the increasingly difficult times we live in--our Thriving matters. Now MORE Than Ever.

​Resilience 101:
​Here's how I like to think of Resilience: it is the inoculation against stress and trauma that allows joy to emerge so we can thrive. 

Where trauma is a grievous breakdown in safety and connection that erodes our ability to feel joy and thrive. Resilience is the ability to withstand, stand back up from and transform the effects of life’s stressors and traumas into greater strength, compassion and wisdom. 

The JUICY CORE of Resilience--You Are Just a "Hunk Of Burning Love" ; ):
At its core is a sound inner relationship—one where we are able to ally with, protect and nurture ourselves in a world full of factors outside of our control.  

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​The Unavoidable Hard Truth
Learning how to be resilient is increasingly necessary in our current socio-political climate, where the daily pressures of work, family, health and finances, are rising alongside environmental, economic, political and human rights disasters. Access to resilience-building is also not equally available to everyone, nor is our world set up to support everyone thriving. The impacts of trauma, stress & oppression are disproportionately born by people of color, women, Muslim, black, brown, immigrant, differently abled and LGTBQ populations.

Why Me?
As a Pakistani-American woman, raised in Pakistan, now working in the US as a clinician serving these communities, I find myself at the nexus of those most affected & committed to my own thriving and being part of the efforts to create a world where everyone thrives. For over 15 years, and 30000 plus hours I have had the extraordinary privilege of doing my own healing work, and sitting with folks committed to their own transformation & resilience-building, and each of us asking the question: How Do We Feel More Joy? Is Joy Even Possible In A World Often Designed To Undercut Our Thriving? 

​My Good Hard Truth?
Joy did not just fall into my lap after years of doing healing work. Certainly more happiness was a byproduct of having deeper, more harmonious relationships (the most important being the one with the voice in my own head), getting to do the work I loved and be abundant in it, and being of service in the world--yet as each year goes on, and life shows up as a  jewel bag of mixed splendor—I realized that this joy I wanted, this joy that we yearn for inside, truly needed my attention to thrive. If I wanted it to come beyond the high days & holy days--the special occasions & celebrations--then I had to make it a practice. I had to CHOOSE Joy At The Center Of My Life.

​The Ground Floor--5 Joy Principles:

1. Allow ALL the Feelings. Not Just The Happy Ones. There are great gifts in grief, anger and fear too.     
2. Kind Inside Voice. Really Kind. Really Respectful. It's hard to be joyful with a mean inner gremlin : )
3. Firm Boundary Voice. Kind and Firm. It's hard to be joyful when we feel unprotected & overwhelmed. 
4. Learning To Be. Just Be. And Making Friends with pausing, resting, stopping, slowing down & pacing.
5. On this one wild unique ride of your life-really, truly, really letting it be about the experience. 

Bonus Practice:
Don't Wait for Joy to Find You. That ride we are on, we gotta pack the snacks we like, look out at the view a lot, make friends on the train, make meaning out of what we find, let our hearts serve, let our souls create, and find out what delights us and what we have inside us that can be let out to delight the world. In other words, for it to be fun and meaningful you must plan for, create, cultivate and nurture that Joy Ride. 
 
​The Wondrous Surprise? 
Whether it catches you off guard, or rises in one of those moments you stopped and noticed, or when you finally drop into the sensations in this glory of a body, is that (as the cliché goes) Joy is inside us after all. It is that unquenchable flowing stream running through our very veins, and through every atom and mote of creation, through inspired action and through acts of love. It is the light inside that, as the sages say, does not die. And it has tremendous power--in fact, it has the very power we need to CHANGE our lives and our world. Where else can we source strength to face the challenges of our daily lives and to find love in us to share with others? Where else can we find the inspiration to create innovative solutions and to stay alive and resourced to be active citizens? Where else then the wellspring of Joy? 

​INCREDIBLE YOU: 
​I think folks who do the work of healing their hearts and reclaiming their joy are true love warriors: doing the heroic task of turning and facing the pain within, and carving out of hurt hearts, a loving being & an agent of personal and social change. To be a part of your journey, is an absolute privilege and a deep joy. Thank you for being you, best as you can, in our world <3

​Creating A Joyous World:                                                                     
Doing this work of resilience frees us and future generations. And that is truly revolutionary, because as we wake up to the unhealthy roles we have been playing repeatedly, something amazing becomes possible: one person shifting out of dysfunction can catalyze others to shift out of roles and behaviors. One person, connected to their joy and thriving, can be the catalyst for reshaping the very conditions that create misery and suffering for millions. One person who carries a renewing source of joy at their center—resilience—can be lead the way towards a brand new society that is centered around everyone thriving. We have all seen how people like Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai and Martin Luther King, Jr. have changed the world through their own resilience despite coming from backgrounds steeped in oppression. Their very lives are proof that the more resilient we become, the more resilient we inspire others to become. Resilience is therefore not a task; it’s the responsibility of our lives and these times. 

​Let us learn to thrive together!

Much Love,
​Anjuli