A Journey with Joy : Recent Episodes
Chiara Marassi
Being in presence is something I invited into my life a couple of years ago when I was faced with anxiety. Ever since I started this journey of mindfulness my life has began to feel grounded, peaceful and overall joyful in ways I couldn't have previously imagined! I wanted to share my journey with hopes that we can all grow together. Of course, life is a journey faced with many ups and downs but consciousness continues to allow me to feel alive even in the lowest of moments. Here we will grow with achieving our true life's purpose. With that said, I hope this podcast will be a safe and happy space that both inspires you and makes you smile!
A longer episode today all about habits that help keep us happy and healthy. I talk about quite a lot about circadian rhythms, and some more personal habits that have allowed happiness to flourish quite naturally in my daily life. Hope you enjoy!!
There are so many doors to happiness. But if we become obsessed with one particular notion of happiness, we are closing every door but one. It's time to open all the doors. It takes a lot courage to release what we believe will bring us happiness in the future – a relationship, a job, a lifestyle, anything. But we must have the courage and openness to open all the doors to happiness. Once we let go of believing there is only one door to joy, all the doors to happiness will be open. Everything is happiness. Your breakup is an opportunity to come deeper into love, losing your job is a sign to start fresh, missing someone is an opportunity to breath deep for the both of you and to celebrate the joy of the present moment. Freedom and happiness can be felt everywhere, when all the doors are open. Every moment becomes an opening to show you that happiness is here now 🦋 .Now, you can sing with the birds in the early morning before the sun rises, you can smile at anyone and see the goodness in their heart, you can dance with mother earth when showers rain down on you. You are more than enough as I see you now. You are beautiful, and you can open all the doors to happiness. All the doors to your heart. So here is my episode for you today <3.For any updates, instagram : @ajourneywithjoypodcast
It's such an honour to deliver you this episode on meditation. Breathing is such a natural experience, it was our first individual connection to the earth. The moment we were born was the first time we began surviving on our own, by depending on our own breath instead of our mothers. This is why such a still and simple practice is a beautiful opportunity to reconnect with who we truly are.On days when i'm deeply connected to the present, I can bask in the energy of my own sunlight with every inhale being an acknowledgement of my inner joy and every exhale being an expansive source of gratitude. Then there are days that anxiety or sadness may be strong. On days like this I require the discipline of connecting with my inner warrior, to take the hand of my inner child, showing her that we can we can let go of the suffering to become free. That there is no need to be afraid, and that we can come deeper into love together. I have so much to say and so many teachers to thank both from the past and present. Yet, I feel that the freedom I describe can more easily be reached by being aware that we are breathing, more so than any words I can communicate. I hope this might inspire you to embark on your own meditation practice as an opportunity to come home to ourselves and our true freedom, who we really are in the stillness of the present. 🌞 Enjoy this extra episode this week. For updates, the podcast Instagram is: @ajourneywithjoypodcast
Taking care of a tired heart. It is something I previously struggled with by trying to resist the natural ways of life. But there is deep healing and transformation that can take place when we allow ourselves to exist at a slower pace. To allow our bodies and minds to recover with love and care. I wanted to share how I take care of myself when I feel i'm burnt out and existing at a lower energy. I hope you enjoy!
For updates: Instagram -> @ajourneywithjoypodcast
Hello my friends. Okay... let’s acknowledge that I've delayed posting episodes for a few weeks now (lol). This February it felt as though I experienced some huge highs and lows. Through this vulnerable period I treasured coming to the core teachings of presence to break free from my cocoon of discomfort. Through some deep compassion I really feel as though I have undergone some expansive metamorphosis. So now here I am, ready to offer you an episode on love. Love has developed at the core of my life in all the simple moments of: cooking yummy meals, meditating, studying, going on walks, and even brushing my hair. It has become a prominent energy at the centre of my work, relationships, and inner journey in the most incredible way. I attended a lecture recently with Brother Phap Huu on "the four minds of true love". With the wisdom of his teachings, I talk about how these four minds of love can be naturally integrated into our daily life. I'm thankful you're here and excited for us to open our hearts just a little more today. 🦋
For updates and ways to connect with me:
Instagram: @ajourneywithjoypodcast
Hey friends! I'm so passionate about this topic on the power of enjoying our educational experience within our hearts and how this can inspire friends/ community around us to flourish and feel light in their education too. Education tends to put us in a vulnerable place at times, and this is the beauty of it. This is what can allow us to grow and flourish. In this episode I talk about what energy I bring to my educational spaces, how to intentionally show up as a light energy to inspire those in the same space, and how to partake in activities such as jobs and associations in a way that aligns with our heart. I think this talk will also be super applicable to those in the work environment as I talk about working with presence and showing up positively for your work community quite a lot. I hope you enjoy. Sending all the love! ❤️
I'm so excited that my wonderful mum is joining me on this episode! Throughout my childhood my mum has been such a positive light with how she embraces joy and even finds peace in the face of adversity. She has been one of my biggest inspirations in discovering inner spaciousness and joy within myself. In this episode she discusses her journey with presence and specifically how the power of mindful movement allowed her to come into love within herself. I hope you enjoy.
for updates, podcast instagram: @ajourneywithjoypodcast
Compassion is consistently invited at the core of all of the mindful activities I practice : mindful meditations, mindful walking, yoga, and inner body awareness. Extending this compassion to myself and others during practice has allowed space for so much inner acceptance and growth to be present. Today, I walk you through a loving-kindness meditation to invite healing energy within you and within the lives of those around you. Please feel free to reach out to me @ajourneywithjoypodcast to share your experience if you feel this resonates! Or if you'd like reach out to me with any suggestions for how I can better comfort your needs in future meditations please feel open to do so. I love teaching meditation and always looking for ways to do better on my journey. Thank you so much for being you and remember that this practice can be here to support you at any time of the day. Sending so much love!!!
For updates:
instagram: @ajourneywithjoypodcast
Feeling at home has been a long but beautiful journey for me, and most definitely something I didn't feel in my early adolescence. I would always justify not belonging where I lived by believing narratives like: "I don't connect to anything here", "theres not enough nature", and my personal favourite at the time: "I just don't belong here". Through my journey I have discovered the beauty behind experiencing the life I am living in the moment. With that came letting go of inner resistance to embrace the world around me. I began to be surrounded by wonderfulness when I walked through the trees in a nearby park and my heart began to feel warm when I passed a stranger smiling at me. What a wonderful gift that because I feel at home within myself; everywhere is home. I hope you enjoy this short episode and maybe my journey to feeling home may help you feel home too. Wherever you are.:)
the podcast instagram: @ajourneywithjoypodcast
Today's episode I talk about becoming my own best friend. This continues to be a worthwhile journey of coming into joy and compassion. This talk came from the heart so I hope you enjoy:)
In this episode I discuss some really helpful tips I use to anchor me into the present moment so that I may be one with whatever I experience. Ironically, I have posted this episode when I need to hear it the most. This weekend has been a busy one with many tasks to get done. Despite that, I feel this sense of joy flowing into my work and a sense of gratitude behind each task at hand. I hope you enjoy!
I wanted to share this episode with you all. I feel that my joy while i'm working has heightened so much over the years, and my stress and anxiety has reduced immensely. I'm not going to say much more than that. I wanted to share my journey with you of how I began to fall in love with working, even amongst jobs I didn't resonate with! I really loved recording this, so I hope you enjoy.
It is also Canadian thanksgiving tomorrow so just wanted to mention... i'm grateful for you!
instagram: @ajourneywithpodcast
Today we discuss embracing change! Sometimes, the most uncomfortable abrupt changes are the ones we need to be the most grateful for. Life is always impermanent, so I think the best thing to do when something changes is to welcome it with open arms. I discuss my experience with a recent change and how I'm staying grounded through this phase of life. Thank you all for being here😊!
podcast instagram: @ajourneywithjoypodcast
Today I discuss the 7 pillars of mindfulness and how naturally inviting these pillars in has changed my life for the better! I don't believe that learning super throughly about them is necessary, because they truth is they can all be felt simultaneously by being in tune with the present moment😊. Listening back I found the episode very comforting/ reassuring. I hope you enjoy and find it empowering. You are all awesome and beautiful! Wishing you the best.
Today I talk about how implementing mindfulness at the beginning and end of each day has changed life for the better! Inviting this in has allowed presence to flow much more naturally throughout my day, so that I can fully take in each moment as it comes!
You guys asked some big questions, so I wanted to take the space for that! Just here for you all today. ❤️
the podcast instagram: @ajourneywithjoypodcast
This underlying pressure to overachieve in daily life is something that seems to be prominent for many people in the 21st century. It's almost like... we want to validate ourselves and others through how much we're doing. What's up with that? In this episode I discuss how i'm transforming my desire to always want more, and instead be grateful for where I already am. Of course, that doesn't mean that I can't work towards things ever again (ahaha). But, I suppose that any sort of activity I do now I will do out of a place of loving the process in the present moment. Listening back I think it's a pretty funny take on humanity's feeling of "never having enough". I hope you find the episode up-lifting and transformative! Sending you a big hug. Thank you:)
To listen to updates on the podcast/ ask questions:
podcast instagram: @ajourneywithjoypodcast
Today I do a quick catch up by expressing some gratitude i've been feeling after my time away and I talk about 20 lessons i've learned in 20 years. The topic is for sure a little goofy, but I loved recording this, it was such a blast! I really hope that you enjoy and I hope I radiated some positive vibes your way. I ended the episode with a couple Q and A questions and some journal prompts. Follow the podcast if you'd like weekly updates. Thank you all so much!
the podcast Instagram: @ajourneywithjoypodcast
This episode I discuss how we can stay grounded amongst the changes we experience in our life. Since inviting more and more presence into my daily life I have noticed that the external things that happen around me haven't been disturbing my internal state as much over the years. I touch on a few recent personal stories of mine and the tools I use to bring me back to inner peace when I need it! I always mention gratitude in my episodes because I think even the more challenging moments in life have some beautiful silver linings. I finish off the episode with a couple Q and A questions and some journal prompts. I had such a wonderful time recording this, so I hope you enjoy 🌞 . What simple moment made you smile today?
podcast instagram: @ajourneywithjoypodcast
Today I recorded an episode with a friend I haven't seen in a long while. We spontaneously decided to record an episode together. She interviews me with a few questions and I snuck in a few questions for her as well. We touch on a few topics that involve some introspection. I hope you leave this episode feeling good and inspired! I finished off the episode with a Q and A session, so that we can cover everyones needs. Lots of love, Chiara.
This week I talk about pleasing yourself first. I read a book a couple months ago by Emma Reed Turrell called "Please Yourself First: Stop People Pleasing and Transform the Way You Live". I take some of the lessons I learned from this book, because I believe it's so important to be honest and true with ourselves. Unfortunately, we can't show up fully for others if we can't show up fully for ourselves first. I commend you on your awesome journey of being totally real with yourself! Lots of love.
Welcome back to the podcast! This week I talk about creativity. For me, inviting creativity in my day to day life comes in so many forms. One day it's skateboarding, and the next it's recording a podcast episode😂. I've noticed that the more I invite these creative activities into my everyday life the more I become in tune with my inner child and with my true purpose; the present moment.
Hello everyone! Today I talk about the art of not complaining. Complaining is a crazy cycle that really has the potential to take a heavy toll on your life. Here I talk about how I continue to shift complaints out of my life and allow gratitude to rush in. Imagine what positive abundance would rush into your life if we replaced judgements with beautiful lessons and perceptions of gratitude!
In this episode, I journey back over the joy I've felt in the past 2 months by reading you a journal entry I wrote earlier in the week from my gratitude journal. I hadn't intended to share it, but I really enjoyed reading and writing it! In my experience to continue to live peacefully with each little moment in front of us we need to view past experiences with gratitude, whether they were experiences that taught us something or made us smile.
I dedicate this episode to Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and one of my wonderful listeners that recommended his workshop to me. Anxiety, is something we all experience and it is an emotion that is commonly avoided or left unacknowledged. During this workshop and throughout my spiritual journey I continue to learn that to transform suffering, we have to be the awareness behind it and let our selves be anxious if we need to. As much as distraction sounds appealing, it can actually take us further away from ourselves in the healing process. I hope this inspires you to show yourself loving compassion!
I've heard people use the phrase "I live for my weekends" many times, so I thought it was time to make this episode. Working is most definitely something most people experience in day to day life, but I think is a topic that is commonly avoided. Understandably, not everyone likes to think about their job after a long day of work. In this episode I talk about how I managed to fall in love with my life whether or not it's a work day or a day off. I used to be extremely anxious to go to school and work everyday. Here, I take you through my educational journey and how I broke the barrier of anxiety to experience something inspirational.
Welcome back to the podcast! Today, I talk about how I use gratitude I fall in love with my life everyday. In all honesty, it is pretty typical that many days could be fairly repetitive for most people (including me aha). Here, I break the scary narrative that everyday is the same and that we have to wait for the bigger moments to make us happy. Inviting presence into my life teaches me that everyday life can be beautiful if I just have a little more intention to tune into the world around me. I honestly feel that viewing life through this lens makes every single day feel like a spontaneous new adventure. I hope this inspires you:)
Welcome back to the podcast! This week's episode I talk about the joy of being alone. The idea of "being alone" can sometimes sound unwelcoming and fearful. Some people have mentioned to me that it can feel like they are choosing to leave themselves in abandonment. I have noticed that when I began to acknowledge my fear of being alone, I also began to let go of the scary narrative behind it (which is heavily misinterpreted!). This leaves me to surrender both peacefully and happily in my own solitude, so that I can show up fully in each moment both for myself and others.
This episode I talk about the importance of not judging yourself and the path you are on. There are periods of life that we may feel alive, grateful and in love with the world. Other moments seem a little more challenging or uncomfortable to experience. Sometimes when those challenging periods arise we might have the tendency to want to move out them to experience something happier. Here I discuss how it might actually benefit us to be present through those difficult waves so that we can be reborn. But to do this we need to let go of resistance and surrender to the beauty that has the ability to exist around us everyday.
Hello everyone! This episode is on forgiveness. Forgiveness is an essential practice that allows me to show compassion to myself and all beings by acknowledging the goodness and the light behind all people. I believe that forgiveness is a beautiful way of generating love within ourselves and has also helped me to leave behind painful narratives in the past, and move on to happier moments. Wishing you an incredible week.
I kept this episode short and sweet! Manifestation is quite a powerful thing. Much of the thoughts that we may think of on a daily basis have the potential to manifest as the reality we experience. I acknowledge that when I feel gratitude for all the experiences that life offers me, I receive a lot of goodness in return. Beautiful experiences began to flourish into my life by being present and accepting of what ever I am faced with, whether it be a blessing or a challenge.
Welcome Back! Thus far I have discussed my journey with spirituality and how it has evolved my life to become more joyful. In this episode I go into some specific self-care practices that have helped me in feeling some additional grounding in my life. Inviting presence in my life is most definitely not something I need to make time for, it's just a wonderful lens of viewing the world around me. I do find that these additional practices of presence are also wonderful and I hope that they can inspire you too! If not, take whatca like and leave the rest behind:)
Welcome back to the second episode of A Journey with Joy! In this episode I talk about how gratitude shapes my life to feel joyful and how it allows each day to feel like a new adventure. I used to believe that the brightest most exciting days were always ahead of me, but feeling gratitude has showed me that happiness can be felt instantaneously from appreciating the beauty around me. It allows me to feel that I'm exactly where i'm meant to be and I'm already living the dream!
Welcome to the first episode of A Journey with Joy! In this episode I give a brief introduction about how daily awareness transcended the way I view the world. Of course joy is a journey and not a destination, but if anything I have realized how little moments of appreciation and gratitude make me feel alive and in control.