Ahh the infinite wisdom that is Mr Deepak Chopra! I am doing this exercise today, to decide what to do next with my script. See if it helps you too. And if interested, check out Chopra’s 5 week online programme called The Quest (it’s not cheap though).

Try this simple, 10-minute process for harnessing the power of joy to overcome any obstacle:

1. Pick one desire. Take a minute to think about one thing you’ve been striving to make happen in your life. It could be a new job you’re after, a shift in your relationship or a health goal.  Whatever it is, write it down.
2. Make friends with your fear. Next, write down all the reasons this goal feels hard to reach and what would happen if you never did. Ask yourself how that would feel… and then accept that feeling. Strip your fear of its power by going all the way to the place of acceptance that the worst has already happened.
3. Find the joy and follow it. Now do the opposite. Instead of dwelling on HOW you’re going to reach that goal and why it’s going to be so HARD to accomplish. Concentrate on the part of your goal that brings a spark of joy and delight to you — the part that makes you feel energized and alive! Let yourself experience how exhilarated you will feel when you’ve reached it.

   Now, close your eyes and identify the next most doable step that takes you more deeply into that joy. (Not a massive, treacherous leap to the other side of your problem.) Just one feel-good, energizing step in the direction of your heart’s joy.

4. Repeat. Then do it again. (And again.) Don’t listen to the voice that says you have to conquer that problem to MAKE your dreams happen… just follow the joy.

See, most of us think it’s when we’ve overcome the obstacles and come out the other side that THEN (and only then) will we feel happy.

But what if the opposite is true? (It is.)  And it’s actually from our most relaxed, joyful, creative space that answers to our toughest problems will come to us with ease and everything we want in life can be ours effortlessly.

Mastering the art of harnessing joy to overcome obstacles is just one important step to living a life of effortless success and ease.