As we leave 2020 behind and step into whatever 2021 has in store for us I’ve been thinking about happiness.

In fact, the word that I have chosen to guide me through this next year is joy. 2020 was hard. There were many losses, some of them tragic, for so many folks. The sense of restriction and frustration around our daily lives has been overwhelming at times.

But even with all of those difficult realities, there has been beauty and growth and incredible changes afoot. I have witnessed deeper healings and more powerful soul transformations in the people around me this past year than at just about any other time in my long career as a healer and guide. I know that joy and happiness is possible even during the most challenging of outer circumstances. And that the pathway to that joy is most often dependent on clearing away whatever ancient inner psychological debris is blocking our access to our hearts desires.

Of course, the biggest thing we need to let go of at ANY time is our self doubt and belief that we’re simply not enough. We spend so much valuable time judging who we are. Or finding fault with what we want. We question what we like and doubt what we need. We don’t trust what would make us happy. And dismiss as not worthwhile what comes easily and effortlessly to us. Forgetting that all those things are major clues about who we are intended to be in this life.

I had a woman come to me for a creative soul coaching session and she was the bemoaning the fact that she didn’t know who she was. She couldn’t even begin to figure out how to discover herself. So I asked her what she liked. She said she liked making art. And she liked being outside in nature. And she liked learning about things. And when I asked her if she allowed herself to spend as much time as possible doing the things she liked, she said, “Oh no. Of course not.” Because she didn’t think these things were important enough or valuable enough to build a life on.

She felt like she needed to prove how good and worthy she was. So she did a lot of things that did not make her happy, like being on committees to further someone else’s agenda. Or spending all of her time keeping her house neat and clean. But once she surrendered to giving herself what she liked, the question about not knowing who she was became a non-issue. It wasn’t something she thought about anymore. She was just herself, following her natural impulses and desires.

So my wish for you in 2021 is that you stop searching for yourself. Your soul is right there in front of you, wildly waving its arms trying to get your attention and flinging your brightly colored creative desires into a gorgeous heap of treasures at your feet. All you need to do is acknowledge that they are there and open your heart to claiming them.