Mercree - Joyful living: 101 ways to transform your spirit & revitalize your life

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Joyful Living: 101 Ways to Transform Your Spirit and Revitalize Your Life 2016 by Amy Leigh Mercree.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

As the purchaser of this e-book, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. The text may not be otherwise reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or recorded on any other storage device in any form or by any means.

Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the authors copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition 2016

E-book ISBN: 9780738750903

Book design by Donna Burch-Brown

Cover art by iStockphoto.com/57357878/baramee2554;
iStockphoto.com/25219161/Peter Zelei

Cover design by Ellen Lawson

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mercree, Amy Leigh, author.

Title: Joyful living : 101 ways to transform your spirit & revitalize your

life / by Amy Leigh Mercree.

Description: First Edition. | Woodbury : Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016023384 (print) | LCCN 2016026871 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780738746593 | ISBN 9780738750903

Subjects: LCSH: Spiritual life. | JoyReligious aspects.

Classification: LCC BL624 .M455 2016 (print) | LCC BL624 (ebook) |
DDC 204/.4dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016023384

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

13. Golden Tickets to the
Life You Desire

18. Happiness Is a State
of Independence

43. Angels All around
for Peaceful Sleep

48. Balancing the Masculine
and Feminine Sides

53. Drink from the Well
of Self-Love

58. Honoring Your
Heart Connections

95. You Only Live Once:
Dare to Live to the Fullest

For my husband, family, and close friends, who laugh with me and make life sweeter every day.

Introduction

Bliss. What a delicious word. When you hear it, dont you just immediately crave it? Bliss is defined as perfect happiness. There are so many potential ingredients to perfect happiness, and they are not the same for each person. Finding your bliss is indeed a very individual process.

In Joyful Living: 101 Ways to Transform Your Spirit and Revitalize Your Life , I want to give you a full kitchen in which you can create a glorious meal of lifetime bliss. Ill provide ingredients and tools from all the major food groups: daily bliss, inner joy, heart opening, spiritual ecstasy, appreciating beauty, attitudes of gratitude, happy heart, creative inspiration, loving yourself, whispers from eternity, and feeling amazing. You can combine these ingredients in infinite ways to consciously choose to live a life of bliss and happiness. Ultimately, bliss is all about youabout how much you love yourself, how much you open your heart, and how much you consciously choose joy.

My Story

I was born different, and I always felt that way. When I was a young child, that was okay. I had an inner bliss and well of happiness and joy that came from authenticity. In grade school, I was diagnosed with learning disabilities. My handwriting was completely illegible, and I honestly could not physically help it. The way I perceived the world was different from most, perhaps because my mind was wired a little bit differently from others.

Being belittled, shamed, and made to feel like an outsider because of my learning disabilities was something I faced through many of my elementary years. My inner joy and happy heart were drastically dimmed. I didnt understand why I was so different, and I felt that somehow I was inherently bad. I felt ashamed to not be like most of the other kids.

Over time, I learned to cope. I found a teacher who valued differences, and that helped. In high school, I eventually fit in okay. But it took until college to really make a change. Freshman year, I flunked out. The same learning disabilities that had won me ridicule in grade school were stopping me from achieving my goals.

I had to make a change. I found a book about ADHD called Driven to Distraction, and it changed my life. I learned that I had to embrace my gifts and what made me different and harness them to succeed. I educated myself and conquered my challenges. I went back to college, made high honors, and had a successful teaching career for years, in which I related to the kids with love and kindness. I was able to heal the wounds from childhood. By being what I needed back then, a force of acceptance and love, I learned to love myself and celebrate my differences. I found my bliss and true happiness through self-acceptance, self-love, and finding the gifts in my own uniqueness.

During college I also apprenticed for years with a spiritual counselor. After college, I began my work teaching kindergarten on weekdays and working as a medical intuitive on weekends and in the evening.

I was ready for a new challenge and discovered that all of my unique gifts translated into a high aptitude for heart-based entrepreneurship. My differences paved the path for my success today. For me, everything comes from living from the heart, living joy, being kind, and choosing to love unconditionally as much as I am able. I am driven to share these truths with others ; that is why I write books and speak to groups, to share that living from the heart with joy is a true source of happiness and unending bliss.

I know that life can be challenging. I know we all struggle. We all experience great highs and major lows. Many of us feel like outsiders or that we arent good enough, successful enough, or attractive enough. Most of us have been through loss, trauma, pain, rejection, and fear. Ultimately, we keep going and striving to be happy and find fulfillment. Joyful Living is my love note to everyone who wants to live a life that feels good. And as the saying goes, happiness is an inside job. I want to share what I learned in my life and from over fifteen years as a medical intuitive and wellness and relationship coach. Together we will uplift ourselves and the world from the inside out.