939 thoughts on “From the Seriousness of Life to Joie de Vivre”

1. Thank you Annelies, as you have shared life can have such a joy-full-ness and a way to living that exudes with joy as we connect to our essences and allow the appreciation of the divine essence we all come from and thus there is a cascading affect as we deepen our relationship with God and the heavens we become even more Joy-Full.

2. ‘So on reading this blog if you suspect that you feel there is a seriousness in life, or that you can’t find the joy in living and it doesn’t feel quite right, have a look inside yourself – what is bubbling inside of you?’ This sentence was a great reminder to look within again when things become too heated. I’m very good at being serious and I need that light heartedness and fun and it can only be from you and no one outside of yourself’s.

   I needed to read this blog again, great medicine for my livingness.

3. I can honesty say I have lived the ‘seriousness outside of me’ majority of the time and not fully tapped into connecting that ‘natural feeling of joy inside me’. Reading this blog and no doubt many others will be my training ground to bring more of the joy bubbling to get out.

   It feels whenever I am of service to humanity, then I feel this joy and it isn’t this joy that has anything attached to it, except a huge settlement within my body. A real marker of truth that says, yes it is within me and needs to be appreciated more and in that appreciation, more is given and offered to others – now that is joy full.

   1. It is true when we are of service, the body can feel this joy, it is hard to describe how it feels except the pull to do more and the energy that comes from within is just there. And when it is there, it is beautiful to feel and there is no resistance just a simple response to the call.

4. I love this ‘here is a vast spring of untapped joy just waiting to be felt and expressed. Live in your fullness, in your ‘Joie de Vivre’ to feel and show the world all of who you are. The choice is yours!’ And love that not only have you have truly connected to the Joie de Vivre you know but also are starting to express this to the world more ✨

5. I find the seriousness very heavy, it’s very cloying and like a dark cloud. What I have noticed is joy is unconditional, it doesn’t come from what is happening in life, in fact we can be talking about something quite disturbing like abuses in the world but expressing joy simply because it’s the truth of who we are. We don’t have to become part of the disharmony, and we can still care deeply without losing our joy when we examine what’s going on in the world.

   1. Melinda this seriousness is a dark and heavy cloud, and if we observe it, it is around many people. So the more we bring that ‘Joie de Vivre’, the more we rekindle it in others – this is how we affect others…

      1. Seriousness is around many people. I love people being playful and joyful.

6. Sometimes we could be deadly serious but isn’t that the moment we just want to burst out laughing and it feels hilarious?

7. So true Gill – children are a reflection and a reminder of the joy that bubbles within each of us and is ready to be expressed. And sometimes for some people this can be a painful reminder in that that joy has been capped for so long it feels hard and painful to let it out again!

8. It is a classic reaction when we feel our upbringing has not been that great and we want to bring up our own children differently, and yet all we do is give the same upbringing but with a slightly different flavour or twist to it. So many of us fall for this and it is not till we realise what we have been caught up in that we can begin to understand and unravel what we have created. Thankfully I too have been blessed to meet Serge Benhayon and his reflection of family and a truer way of bringing up our children, and though I am still working on so much to let go of, I am also understanding more and more about true parenting, true mothering and true fathering and this is the start of true change.

   1. Serge Benhayon exposes the lies we have all been caught and trapped within. By exposing the lies we then have a choice to change the way we live by not allowing the lies to impose any more or accepting the lies as a way of life until such time that we realise that what has been presented to the world is the truth and nothing but the truth – the choice is always ours to decide.

9. As sensitive children we do learn very quickly that certain ways of being will cause others to react and then as a result to avoid the reactions of others we learn to cap our true and full expression. But how unnatural is this? And how crazy is it that we choose to do this capping over and above our natural expression? Since when did it become more important to be controlled and reduce our true expression rather than let another react to what they see and feel in us but in the process perhaps be inspired to also express more from the natural connection within? We all do this and I can certainly relate to it completely – but I do think that it is rather crazy that we allow for this – it is certainly worth pondering on.

10. Who are we really kidding when we leave home and set up on our own and we think we can do anything when actually for most of us we just do what we have been shown by our parents, family and society; and I agree with you Annelies, it is a disappointment because we have just replaced one for another, there is little difference and so we tick the boxes and function in life just as our parents have. There is absolutely no fun in this way of living at all, I would say it’s existing. And for me it wasn’t until I met Serge Benhayon and attended the workshops and presentations that my life started to change, and I can say I now have a sense of purpose and joy in my life.

11. Thanks Annelies, I am surprised more is not written on this topic, maybe because seriousness is the norm we don’t question it, when actually Joy could be our normal. This line really highlights how much joy we do or don’t have in our lives “… and before long, living became something that I endured rather than enjoyed.” I’m sure many people feel this way, I know I do at times, a great marker for where we are at in terms of expressing our true selves and the joy inherent within.

    1. Seriousness has become the norm, we need lots of fun, playful and joyful people in our lives.

12. You sometimes hear a comment, put down, ‘Oh, you’re being so childish’ when that bubble of joyfulness irrepressibly comes to the surface of the mask of seriousness.

    1. Mary we should reimprint this with an appreciation… “You are being so child-like!”

13. This is really lovely to read Annelies and reminds that I too have this natural joy, as do we all; ‘I can see that the big bubble of joy I feel inside me has been there all along and has been patiently waiting to come out and to be expressed in full in every minute of every day.’

14. I’ve been very rigid and serious all my life. I thought by doing crazy things -which all involved putting my health at risk in some way- was me showing the world seriousness wasn’t it. But I was still as hurt and sad inside as ever. I was super irresponsible too – I thought being responsible meant being serious.

    Only recently I got a shock. I was still super rigid in how I live life. At first I wanted to point out all the crazy things I once did to prove otherwise but then I had to get honest and feel how conformist I was to whatever ideals I had running me. Bit of a process but I am feeling my way back to fun. There are many times when I do feel the bundle of joy that I am. It’s joyful being out and about.

    1. I have become serious as I have grown up, and yet I know I am naturally playful, yet struggle to let the playful me out to play.

15. Annelies definitely has that twinkle in her eyes, I’ve noticed it too, it’s invites everything to know we are much more than we think we are, and to open up to the joy within. The twinkle says “Let’s play!”

16. “…just as children are when they are living in their natural joy and playfulness.” When I read this line I realised how much joy and playfulness I live in, and that it does feel just like being a child, and that I can appreciate all the changes I have made that now allow this natural joy out.

17. “As a child I soon learned from others’ reactions when it was OK for me to smile and when it was OK to laugh.” This is so true, there is a lot of manipulation going on in parenting children (and in life after that) we are not yet fully aware of. For instance when we laugh from joy and nobody else does or everybody ignores us we ‘learn’ that that is not the thing to do in those moments.

18. Without the light, we have no measure for the darkness and we are lost.

    1. Pearls Liane. Thank you.

19. Have you noticed in being naturally joyful it inspires others and can cut those serious situations that can often pull you down. (if allowed too) Bring on the joy, its ability to heal is amazing.

    1. Yes Marion when we are ourselves and joyful because of this we offer space to let go and heal what is underneath this seriousness as long as we are not invested in someone to change.

20. I notice sometimes an old pattern creep back in of flip-flopping – saying one thing, and then when someone disagrees, saying the complete opposite to what I’d just said, to agree with them. Reading this blog has got me pondering on why I do this: it’s as if I’ve expressed ‘too much’ joy and when that gets met with disapproval – even in the most subtlest of ways, it can even be a question – I doubt myself. This happens less and less, as I build my connection to my body and what I can feel – but it shows that old patterns, like aligning to another’s truth and abandoning our own, hang around until we truly are prepared to renounce and let go of them.

21. Today in my walking I couldn’t stop smiling, for the contentment of being here, so alive and so beautiful. I’ve noticed how much I’ve calibrated these amazing feeling depending of the situtation I was and that this is actually my natural way of being, that is not exclusive to me but accesible for all. So the next time I see someone serious I will remind that the same sparkle is within everyone equally, no matter how far away we are from that.

22. We pick up what’s appropriate and what isn’t very quickly at the expense of our own vitality.

23. There are so many people who are miserable and depressed in the world, to express our joy is a reflection that may need to see and remember we all can connect to this quality once again no matter what age we are.

24. The moment we re-connect with ourselves the joy that is within us cannot help but bubble up.

25. If I ever feel I have lost my ‘joie de vivre’ I only have to spend some time hanging out with young children to be reminded that I can’t actually lose my joy, I can only bury under all the seriousness and struggle life often presents us with. I simply love watching the joy that naturally bubbles out of these children as they grab everything that life is offering them as they play with it, create with it and make it fun.

    1. How lovely, yes children have that beautiful freshness and openness in how they approach life, they are so joyful in their wonder of nature and all that is going on around them. I have to wonder if we adults have created an unwritten rule for ourselves that no one is to shine or share their joy, because the seriousness is such a pervasive epidemic.

       1. Yes I too can feel the damaging power of that ‘unwritten rule’. And it may be unwritten, but it pervades so much of our adult lives, and as a result we deprive ourselves of the joy that is naturally ours, a joy which bubbles away within us just waiting for the opportunity to burst out and wrap us, and those around us, in its effervescent bubbles. Here’s to dismantling that life-strangling rule and to shining brightly and joyfully once again!

    2. This is true, young children naturally are playful, fun, and joyful, a great inspiration for us adults.

26. When seriousness has entered it means we have chosen to identify ourselves with something we are not (hence the outside factor); thereby we are not victims of life or other people but we align to something that reduces the natural spark and lightness of our inner being, may it be to fit in, not stick out, avoid confrontation or jealousy, or being in sympathy with those who are ‘seriously’ in something that makes them feel joyless etc, but eventually we realize that it is our choice to be serious or not and hence we can choose reconnecting to the indwelling joyousness any time no matter what the circumstances.

    1. This is very true Alex. It has come to my awareness of late how much I walk through life with my hand on the ‘dimmer switch’ for exactly the reasons that you mention here.

    2. Thanks Alexander for your comment, I particularly noticed this line “or being in sympathy with those who are ‘seriously’ in something that makes them feel joyless”, I hadn’t quite looked at seriousness this way but it’s very true.

27. We are definitely not naturally serious, I really agree with your comment that there’s so much inside us waiting to come out … we just need to start tapping into it and then the small drizzle of joy soon begins to become a bottomless well.

28. We can be serious about life but that does not mean that we have to take life seriously!.

    1. Thanks Elizabeth, that’s so true!

    2. Great differentiation! Taking life incredibly seriously in all the opportunities and lessons it offers is so important but that never means we need to lose our joy de vivre!

    3. Spot on! The difference between living irresponsibly or responsibly.

29. I watched the adults around me when I was young be super serious and I didn’t really look forward to becoming an adult because of this. Once I was an adult I then chose a serious way of living as well and even more so when I became a parent. I see my sons watch me when I’m only being serious and hardened in that. Connecting more to my essence and innocence over the years has supported me to feel the joy, playfulness and lightness of being me.

30. Annelies this is so true
    “living became something that I endured rather than enjoyed.”
    For most of us life is to be endured and got through as best we can, and I see many older people who are very sad at the end of their life that they actually did not enjoy it.

31. As I was sitting in a café yesterday I was observing the people around me and noticed that so many seemed so serious, some looked decidedly unwell and others were simply buried in their mobile or laptop; ‘joie-de-vivre’ was definitely not in attendance in that moment in time. I then wondered if others would see me in the same serious light, or if the twinkle in my eyes when I looked at them would get them smiling too. Unfortunately no one looked up so I could smile at them, but that didn’t stop me from smiling; there is always something to smile about.

    1. There may be bright lights and music to excite us but it can never replace the joy from within. I was observing casino goers last night and no one looked like they were en-joying themselves instead it looked like the elusive carrot was being dangled and a desperation to grasp it. This leaves us driving forward instead of feeling within.

    2. That’s very beautiful to read Ingrid. And a reminder of no matter if anyone notice or not, our joy doesn’t stop to bubble and emanate from inside.

32. Much to share with the world even if no one seems to have any interest in what we are willing to share. It is up to us that the ‘much more’ does not contribute to the limited and limiting way.

33. What if we made a commitment to life, increase productivity, dedication to love and bucket loads of laughter and playfulness our way of being?

    1. Life would be absolutely overflowing with joy, we would be forever smiling and fueled by all the smiles and all the joy, I am very sure that our productivity would go through the roof. Now is one life that I am definitely signing up for!

34. I found that even when I realised that joie de vivre is my true nature and who I actually am I still have plenty of momentum for seriousness, in part because it gives me an individuality that joie de vivre doesn’t.

    1. Huh interesting and honest .. also exposing individuality for what it is #notlove

35. Beautiful Richard, it is about letting go of all the falseness, (only recently i felt how all the imposed rituals from the church were in the way to truly feel what it is to have my own rituals coming from inside) and surrender to what we know is true inside ourselves, ‘to reconnect to the depth of love and joy within.’

36. “As a child I soon learned from others’ reactions when it was OK for me to smile and when it was OK to laugh” – I had to read this line a few times for it to really sink in – that the impact we can have on a child can shape their whole life and how much joy they feel on a daily basis – it’s time for us to take much more responsibility for the way we live and understand that we are actually impacting everyone non-stop.

37. It is so true when we have to endure life or put up with things it sucks all the playfulness and enjoyment of life right out of us.

38. Absolutely, an unfathomable reservoir that is just waiting for us to access if simply take a step towards it.

39. Such a shame that Church too – supposedly the foundation of our relationship with God, turns out to be such a serious place as well. And this can be used to our advantage, knowing that God is full of joy and therefore exposing what is or is not held by his divine presence.

    1. I agree – it’s interesting that the church is such a solemn serious place. I remember getting told off as a child for laughing when in actual fact there is an abundance of joy in knowing God. Perhaps this is one of the first ways the church reveals itself as following it’s own path rather than being a true expression for divinity.

40. Kids are full of joy and don’t take life too seriously. This seems to infuriate most adults who had their childhood joy squashed out of them and now unconsciously don’t see why anyone else should be allowed to feel joyful if they aren’t. Life is such a pleasure when we keep it light and playful.

    1. Maybe that’s why we have made schools to be the horrible place where children have not a lot of space to move their bodies and express the joy that they are. We have made these systems to crush whatever is true in ourselves. Of course within the systems there are teachers that are gold and encouraging children to stay with themselves and express what is true.

41. It can be really eye-opening to consider how much we might be calibrating how we are, our expression, according to what we think will please those around us, rather than being true to who we are deep down..

42. I wonder if the seriousness of the church and temple is actually a bastardisation of stillness.

    1. Yes, that is a good point. We know on some level how important stillness is and the seriousness can distract us a long time from that natural state before we realise that stillness is the true part and seriousness is definitely not.

43. It is always inspiring to read how someone has turned their life around and reignited the spark that has always been within just hidden and held back from the world. No seriousness just playfullness and the knwoing we are here to learn and so will make mistakes but not bash ourselves when we do rather see them as an oops moment and move on.

44. Joy with a big dollop of playfulness is the recipe for the simplicity we can bring to life!

45. You only have to be in the presence of young children to feel their natural joy and exuberance for life, somewhere along the way we can leave this and get caught up in expectations, ideals and pictures of how we think we need to be. It is very empowering when we take steps to let go of all this and reconnect back to our natural joy and lightness.

46. When I sit in classrooms it is obvious what joy is and it is obvious that as adults we have lost touch with our natural joy.

47. Totally agree Elizabeth it is a fine line as a parent to know you are to be responsible and bring a child up to be harmonious with others and natural laws but it is easy to slip into dictator and controller rather than loving inspiring absoluteness of adhering to life’s actual harmony. I am not surprised we fall far from this as most of us adults are rebelling the natural laws of energy in every moment.

48. Joie de vivre is in the way we move

49. I definitely can feel I am giggling more and feeling more playful, there is a way to go to really feel joy but I have tasted it and know it is within.

50. It is brilliant to go through life joyfully, and with an ability to take things lightly. This is not to say that full love, consideration and dedication is not there in our approach, as that too is a responsibility and part of true joy, but it is a lightning alignment to live this way, rather than a heavy, serious, dragging kind of alignment.

51. Allowing ourselves to feel joy instantly lightens up our steps through life.

52. The lightness of being – this is who we truly are!

    1. Yes Jenny, anything less is a lie in truth.

53. Joy is such a rarely used word nowadays, perhaps this indicates how much we lack it and how buried it is under the intensity and seriousness. The last time I saw the word joy it was on a Christmas card “Joy to the world” – that’s a confusing use of the word also! Joy is definitely very naturally there in children who are allowed to simply be themselves and express the joy we all innately have within. The lack of joy reflects the way human beings do not allow themselves to be who they naturally are.

54. Annelies, it is amazing that you kept your smile and laughter. I did no such thing and I didn’t enjoy it as a child.

55. Annelies beautiful to read about your return to joy, and how life whilst full of challenges, doesn’t need to be so serious.

56. Seriousness is a great indicator that we might not be accepting everything the world is offering us right now. Evolution, our learning and others learning is a serious matter but it also feels amazing and comes with the understanding that while we make mistakes we’re here to learn and grow and step forwards – and that is a super joyful process.

    1. “Seriousness is a great indicator that we might not be accepting everything the world is offering us right now.” – Well, this sentence felt like a huge key for me Meg, as I have come across this blog today while feeling oh so serious and not willing to go there when it comes to being joyful. So after reading your comment it became evident to me just how much I have not been accepting some things that have come to the surface recently in my life to move into. Namely, accepting myself fully without self-judgement or critique and what I have to offer the world, because I know deep down how truly joyful and playful I can be as I was living proof of that just yesterday! This just shows how much it really is a choice to be joyful or not, as Annelies has written above.

57. Thank you Annelies, It is a joy to share your joy in feeling the love you naturally are.

    1. Yes, it feels great!

58. Love that you feel a bubbling joy! How many people can say that? Very few and even less if we take it to pure joy. I remember having a laughing fit at church once and how much trouble I got into for laughing. Suppressing the natural effervescence of a child is not religion!

59. To live joyfully is a very serious matter

60. Giving ourselves the permission to be openly joyful is an important part of evolution in life.

61. True Elizabeth and I love how joy can be contagious, even with serious people they won’t not always admit but when you look in their eyes there can be a spark for just a moment as joy is innate in us all.

62. “He was very playful and a perfect match for the joy I felt on the inside” Definitely, knowing you both intimately I know how gorgeous and playful you both are.

63. I used to think these joyous moments were fleeting moments of happiness I could only experience in random cases in my life. Now I know it is a simple way of living from a connection with my body that brings this into my everyday.

64. I love joie de vivre! This afternoon a young man at the service station helped me fill up my tyres with air. We had such a lovely joyful, lively conversation, and when I thanked him for stopping and helping me with my tyres at such a busy time ( 2 days to Christmas) he said, ‘Oh no worries at all, we should never be too busy to stop and help each other no matter how busy it gets’.

65. The world needs more people who are prepared to show how joyful it is to connect with our essence and live from there.

66. Oh dear I am laughing again! Every time I read the title of this blog I start laughing for some reason. I came across this blog once before and the same thing happened and I probably wrote the same comment – maybe this will be a new habit for me 🙂

67. To expose what is underneath the seriousness is to allow the innate joy to shine from the inside out.

68. ” Perhaps, like me, there is a vast spring of untapped joy just waiting to be felt and expressed. Live in your fullness, in your ‘Joie de Vivre’ to feel and show the world all of who you are. The choice is yours! ”
    This is beautiful Annelies and its so wonderful you have made the re-connection.

69. What an awesome blog. If we wait for others to be joyful before we can, we will have almost no chance. So best to be the one who starts the trend of joy.

70. When we become serious and intense about something it means that we have disconnected from the one thing that can actually help, which is our soul.

71. “Looking back on my life now as a 54 year old woman I can see that the big bubble of joy I feel inside me has been there all along and has been patiently waiting to come out and to be expressed in full in every minute of every day.” This is the beauty, that joy is inherently ours, we just have come to believe that it is only happening in certain moments if at al, all the while it is a natural way of our beingness.

72. Even in the most serious situations our joy can be present and in fact the more it is present the less we will get bogged down in the situation.

73. I am learning that it is all there inside me and it is simply about giving myself permission to let the joy out. This is a huge revelation as we can feel joy at any moment in any situation!

74. So true it looks like we socialise the joy of simply being, out of us. Fortunate it is a simple return to choose to connect to the quality of love and joy within.

75. ‘Live in your fullness, in your ‘Joie de Vivre’ to feel and show the world all of who you are. The choice is yours!’ What a beautiful reminder, to not get caught in whatever is happening around me, to not go in overwhelm but to stay connected to what I know to be true within myself. Whatever I have chosen in the past, or even yesterday is no longer there, everyday is a new opportunity to embrace life in full and share the joy that is in me and you!

76. When I was younger, I always felt like needed permission to shine. I allowed myself to feel a control over me from many around me. This impacted how I viewed myself growing up. I have since learned to truly connect to myself and people and let them in. This enables a very naturally joyful way of being, which I find encourages others to join me in my joy.

77. Go for it Annelies, our world certainly needs joy, ‘I can say that I am ready, more than ever before, to show the world my joy – my Joie de Vivre! This joy is there to reflect to everyone in the world,’ and by this reflection remind others that they too can choose to be joyful.

78. Yes lets show the world our joy, ‘This joy is there to reflect to everyone in the world, to offer the serious people in this world an opportunity to connect with what is living inside them.’

79. Thank you Annelies, I enjoyed reading your blog again and could relate to this line “I started to live my life with this same intensity and seriousness.” Just walking down the street I can feel the intensity and seriousness everyone lives in, it’s very much the norm, and it’s almost like a rite of passage to adulthood that we cut the joy, silliness, and playfulness to earn the title of adult. I have read that there is now a trend for kindergartens to remove play based learning for a more structured academic style environment. This shows how we value a rigid, controlled, knowledge based learning environment, not just in education but throughout all of life.

    1. Yes, I have heard about this trend too and it only shows we value the intelligence of the brain more than the intelligence that is innately in our body and thus learn to override our feelings from a very young age.

80. It’s hard work trying to be something you are not, hence the seriousness we get bogged down in when we are not living true to who we are. Ever seen a small healthy child be serious for long? It is not in their nature as they are too busy just being themselves and joy is a big part of this as it is an innate quality of who we are and is one of the 5 qualities of our Soul along with Truth, Stillness, Harmony and Love. What this means is that this bubble of true joy we have each felt, albeit fleetingly at times, can never pop, it simply gets buried beneath a mountain of seriousness that we pile on top of it when we do not live in connection with our true self – our Soul.

81. “Everyone seemed to lack any ‘Joie de Vivre’ for life!” spot on thats how I felt as a kid, I wonder however as I grew up why I then fell into that same lack of Joie de Vivre and what reflection I provided kids growing up. Today I am re-connecting to my Joie de Vivre and am super inspired by kids including my daughter.

82. When we are connected we can’t but help be in the joy of life – it is our natural expression.

83. Your blog made me smile Annelies thank you…

84. I can relate with what you share in that I too had become serious in life and had to behave myself, ‘In this environment I learned how to ‘do’ things, how to get recognised for my achievements; it was all very serious and controlled.’ I can feel and know I am naturally playful and joyful, but still can be serious, thank you for reminding me it is as simple as connecting to the natural joy inside of us.

85. This blog is so relatable to me. For much of my life I have measured how much joy I will be off the reactions of other. In this I have viewed the world as hard and built my body up just as hard in order to protect me from the harshness. Which to me now seems crazy, it’s like when we tell kids not to hit back for it never solves anything. The same goes for hardening ones self against a perceived hard world. We never solve it, we only enjoin.

86. Annelies, your writing ignites the one and same joy within me. Joy is a confirmation of the energy we have expressed returning back to us. When this energy is true love, the joy that is felt is two sparks of light in full ignition. And yes – the world is hungry for this because it is our innate expression and we have withheld it for too long.

    There are some great quotes and audio on Joy here: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/unimedpedia-joy.html

87. JS OH
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

88. One has to ask and wonder why we have accepted and allowed it to be normal to be serious when when you are serious all you feel is a tension of wanting to be light and joyful because seriousness is not actually a very plesant or natural feeling to feel. Perhaps the power and wisdom of this untapped joy would naturally expose how so many pleasure in the many unnecessary complexities and dramas of life?

    1. Some people enjoy being serious, some people love misery and heaviness – these can all give a feeling of importance and identification. There is a big difference between being serious and being sincere or committed. Equally joy is not about happiness – we have bastardised the meaning of words and very often lost connection to our awesome essence!

89. Thank you Annelies for expressing so beautifully the bubble of joy that we all have within us. For me the skin of my bubble is so thick it needs constant pricking, as it still not fully burst.

90. Like a magnet being pulled back to the north, when we feel vital and great, it’s like there’s an opposite force that comes in to drag us the other way. No matter how sweet we are, it seems it’s only a matter of time till we get pulled down. It seems so hard to be joyful and light. But isn’t that the greatest trick Annelies? For the truth is we are all being pulled up every moment of every day to live in a loving way.

    1. True Joseph, we are all being pulled up constantly but when we are caught in the illusion of what life seems to be and not look beyond and find our true purpose as in making life about light, a joyful energy we can choose 24/7, it seems hard (and sometimes even impossible for a lot of people).

91. I like the reminder that the joy we are seeking is not far away. It’s bubbling up inside just waiting to be connected to. Thank you Annelies for sharing how you went from serious to joyful.

92. I simply love being in nature and always find that this gorgeous sense of wonderment and joy just encompasses me and reminds me of when I was a little girl playing in the garden picking flowers and talking to the fairies and gnomes in the back of my garden. The joy and vitality of our younger years is always there it just takes one simple choice to stop and enjoy the world around us with an open heart and the innocence of a child.

93. A pertinent read for me today as I have felt a bit too serious lately and joy has been lacking! Thank you.

94. Recently I was pondering on just how light and joyful I was as a child and how much ease I felt in my body. This was great to feel and I really get what you are saying here about joy naturally being inside of us and seriousness is outside of us and not who we are but we can choose to take it on.

95. We are naturally joy-full – to not experience and express our joy is a disease and a very serious dis-ease at that.

    1. Yes, and the sooner that is generally acknowledged then the sooner it will be taken seriously (with joy).

96. Oh yes, life can be far too serious, as we get caught up in making a living and surviving or getting by. This describes how I used to live and be – being serious was the face I adopted. I am much more aware of this but still this shadow of being serious can so easily creep over me again when I drop my awareness. It is a constant choice to stay present in my body.

97. I am very joyful, I naturally enjoy connecting and appreciating and this has grown the more that I been observing life and not reacting to everything I thought was not right. There is so much support, sweetness and playfulness in everyday life if we open up to it.

98. In the search for recognition and achievements, we compromise the very thing that can fulfill everything we could ever want- that being the essence of who we truly are.

99. I used to get annoyed when people around be were being playful or silly. Such was my need to keep everything within me capped and to be serious. These days I am feeling the tension of serious much more and how releasing and freeing it is to be playful, joyful and silly. Reading this blog has me appreciating what those moments bring and how much they break up the dull, miserable seriousness so effortlessly.

100. This is beautiful Annelies ! So uplifting and something I will take on board today!

101. Thank you Annelies for you unfettered expression of the joy that is innate in you and in us all equally – a very beautiful sharing that reminds us all that we have a choice.

102. I do not think as adults that we consider just how deeply young children observe the world. There is the mistaken belief that they are lacking in intelligence, and if you abide by the precept that intelligence is based on the accumulation of knowledge, then you would be correct. But even science has shown that our greatest capacity for learning, or intelligently discerning life, is actually when we are young. It is, of course, when we are also most impressionable to life’s experiences. The point is, part of the mistake we make in raising children is that we treat them as children rather than as discerning human beings.

     1. Very truth Adam I used to get so frustrated with adults when they treated me like people treat a puppy. There was times as a child ,when I used to look at adult and think whats happened to them.

        1. I still look at adults and wonder what’s happened to them sometimes! But on a more serious note (joke intended) it feels to me that adults talk to children in that ‘puppy voice’ or patronising way as a form of control or to give themselves a false sense of superiority. Perhaps adults who have become all too serious from playing the game of trying to be right and look for external recognition and confirmation of themselves feel threatened in a way by a wise young child who reflects to them all the joy and freedom to be themselves that they have left behind long ago?

103. “While I imagined my life as an adventure, in reality it was such a serious matter, and before long, living became something that I endured rather than enjoyed.” Umm this is something I can recognise I did too Annelies, I thought I was having fun because I was independent and free and single with money to spend but there was an emptiness I felt that would not go away and I can see now I was filling my life by seeking things to fulfil me rather than just enjoying me and all that I am. Nowadays there are no highs and lows just an enjoyment of life in everything I do.

104. It is indeed a very serious matter that so many of us choose to hide our joy.

105. Annelies, this is beautiful to read and reminds me not to be too serious. I have a very joyful and playful son who reflects to me not be too serious, he shows me that in any task or situation there can be joy, connection and fun; from washing up and going to the supermarket to walking down the street.

106. Indeed Annelies the choice is always ours. I love the simplicity and truth of what you have expressed here, thank you;
     “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me”.

107. ‘So on reading this blog if you suspect that you feel there is a seriousness in life, or that you can’t find the joy in living and it doesn’t feel quite right, have a look inside yourself – what is bubbling inside of you?’ What a great question. What is bubbling inside you?

108. I used to call my self a serious person, but lately I am seeing my seriousness was a choice and with any choice, you always have the option to change it.

109. I know all too well the seriousness you speak of – I can be very serious! But what’s lovely is that in recent years, inspired by Serge Benhayon, I have begun to let out the natural joy within me. I can still get caught up in being serious, but less and less the more I choose to just be myself.

110. “I had to be serious in life and behave myself” brings back memories of being told to sit still, behave and be quiet! (basically stop shining!) which feels so rigid in the body. An experience that brings about so much tension and suppressing of a very natural outpouring of Joy that naturally emanates out to all.

     1. True Marion, we are asked to stop shining from a very young age and I still sometimes feel how my posture can be one of an apology to take in space, when I notice this it is just choosing again what I know is true, to shine and feel the joy of being here.

111. I have always experienced joie de vivre and my great trouble has been in suppressing it to make others comfortable and not overwhelmed. I did go through a stage of wanting to be ‘cool’ in my twenties but that soon passed as I realise that I could not master cool and that joy kept on popping up its head. Now I am learning to deepen this joy so that it is a true emanation of the divine.

     1. How much do we suppress to fit in and to be nice so other won’t have something to complain about us. I love what you say here Lyndy how you tried to be ‘cool’ and how joy said ‘hello there’ every time to remind you about your divine nature.

112. Intensity kills everything. It’s possible to take life seriously while having fun. Being intense weighs us down.

113. Seriousness enters me when I start analysing instead of allowing myself simply to live life.

114. How about seriously joyful…I take life more seriously than I ever have, I feel that serious, although it can be connected to something heavy as can the word responsibility, for me, seriousness is about an earnestness and a commitment, and yet I am more playful, light and joyful than I have ever been. Taking life more seriously has meant for me more responsibility and a whole lot more appreciation. I love what you say about the joy of life, no more heavy, but light on our feet!

     1. I love what you have said here Samantha. You have voiced exactly what has been welling up in me about this subject of ‘seriously joyful!’

115. It is interesting how you share that you felt your choices in parenting were simply variations on a theme. And I love your end paragraph is a delightful reminder of where to look for a perspective that is true!

116. Thank you Annelies, I can really relate to the observation of seriousness in adults as a child, as opposed to my natural lightness and joy. I also joined the seriousness brigade for some periods as I grew and became an adult but it did not feel natural to me, it felt quite heavy and suppressive. I have also noticed being serious seems to be related to being an adult and is almost a requirement. When I look back I see that joy was my natural essence as a child, and as I learn to reconnect to that essence within me joy is a natural part of my day to day life again.

117. When we change our choices and feel the joy from within ourselves, and express from that love and joy we feel, we are able to equally share that joy with everyone.

118. Joy, as well as love and harmony is our natural expression. We have to spend a lot of energy to put a lid on these. No wonder so many of us are exhausted most of the time.

     1. Exactly Golnaz for our exhaustion is fed by us fighting our potential.

119. Annelies – thank you for this wonderful reminder to have fun and not be so serious! I have been allowing too much seriousness to creep in lately…it is time to allow our natural fun and joy to come out and express itself, for this breaks up so much heaviness that can creep in. After all if there is any seriousness and heaviness, then it cannot be from the Soul, for our natural way of being is light and caring with much laughter together.

120. It’s so easy to choose something like seriousness to avoid being the innate playful person you are. It’s like any ‘type’ of personality we buy into, it’s all a distraction, an opportunity to ignore our essence and be vulnerable.

121. One of the many wonderful things I have learnt through the joyful and loving reflection of Serge Benhayon is not to dim my joy and light because of the reactions of others or because I think it might upset them. We often bring ourselves down when others are miserable thinking how can I be so joyful when they are so miserable? But the most loving thing we can do is to be and express all the love, joy and truth that we are in full without making it less and inspire others as that is who we all are in essence.

     1. This is so true Nicola, the moment we dim or dull our light and lightfulness, then we are playing into the game of seriousness and allowing another’s way of being to dictate how we ‘should’ be. I have experienced that so many times where another is very angry or serious or upset and as a result I dim myself down so as not to make them more upset – in effectI have ‘enjoined’ them in their anger or misery! If we do this, then it is at the detriment of ourselves and them too! We cannot dim our light just because another is upset. This is of course with all due respect to whatever the person is going through (experiencing the death of a loved one, a family feud etc) – but it is about holding ourselves and this in turn can be very ‘infectious’ and support the other person out of their misery or heaviness. There is no need to compromise our light at any point.

        1. Thank you, our joy is indeed from our soul and to express that is to return to our oneness, to not express that joy (or any quality of the soul) is to be less than who we truly are, we then stand out separate to the oneness and are both identified in that expression and individual.

     2. Misery loves company… I have been around many a person who has not only fought to hang onto their own misery but also acted in a way that said they expected others to join them and become miserable also. Why would we choose for misery for self and prefer it in others when joy is on offer?

        1. We love misery because we love identification. Joy is not about self but all.

122. Lovely Annelies. Joie de vivre = time to get seriously playful.

123. Yes Annelise – ‘…there is a vast spring of untapped joy just waiting to be felt and expressed.’ And this joy is ever-present and possible to live through our choice to live in connection to our love that naturally resides within us all.

124. Joy is infectious in our world as there is little of it! Making this part of our way of living not only brings us closer to what we know life can truly be but also a great reflection for all that we met along the way!

125. Annelies this is a beautiful example of choice and how we can change our lives by making a choice to move from our joyful inner expression or to move from an age old belief or image that we have held for a long time and may no longer allow us to be all of who we are? When we explore our movements even if its just a small adjustment to our walk or even how we pick up a glass, we can completely alter the flow and quality of our bodies and that brings the joie de vivre to the forefront of our daily living.

126. ‘I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.’ And I am experiencing when I change my movements, so how I sit, stand or walk either supports the choice to let my natural expression of joy out or to supports to stay in the seriousness.

     1. So true Annelies, sometimes I observe how my body has become almost rigid as I have not moved it when I was impulsed to move it, and instead choosing to stay longer on the computer for example and over-riding my body at the same time…. Bringing awareness to my posture and making any refinements however small truly supports to bring me back to myself if I am ‘out’.

127. It is a very powerful moment when one realizes just how much ‘control’ we have in our lives, and the affect that this has on our bodies, nervous systems, our relationships and each other.

     1. Thank you Cjames2012, there is a lot to reflect on in your comment, control indeed has a powerful effect on our health etc as you say. Joy would be a much better choice with equally powerful effects!

128. It is deeply empowering and life changing to come to a place where you truly know and can embrace the fact that each moment is a choice to either connect to the joy within, or give our power to and be controlled by the seriousness outside of ourselves.

129. I can so relate to living in seriousness rather than joy, and I can see many people around me doing the same having learnt to put a lid on expressing the joy we are at a young age – then looking for some ‘out’ time to let off the steam a little and call that fun. It’s a very much a work in progress for me to reconnect back to who I am in truth and let joy be a natural expression of mine again.

130. I love your beautiful blog Annelies. This line is a showstopper “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.” What a simple and gorgeous reminder that joy is a choice.

131. “Looking back on my life now as a 54 year old woman I can see that the big bubble of joy I feel inside me has been there all along and has been patiently waiting to come out and to be expressed in full in every minute of every day.” Beautiful Annelies. it is so easy to get boggde down in the seriousness of adult life, yet witnessing the natural ease and playfulness of children reminds us we are all born like this and it is still there just waiting to be un-buried!

132. All of us serious adults can be inspired and lifted when we open ourselves to the ‘Joie de Vivre’ that children express so lovingly and with such fullness and enthusiasm.

133. It is interesting how you speak about no joy in church. It was often for me as a child a total kill joy. You were not allowed to laugh, talk, enjoy yourself. You had to walk in a certain way, move in a certain way and interact in a certain way. There was never anything that brought true connection. I can remember being about 8 years old and watching a 3 year old in church. She was so cute and just wanted to connect with everyone but everyone quietly hushed her. I used to love that she didn’t stop and still kept smiling or trying to talk to them. She was reflecting heaven yet many were to busy looking at the cross to see.

134. Thankyou Annelies, your joy is utterly contagious and deeply felt – just as it should be for we are fashioned from such beauty but so it is for now that we have allowed ourselves to become bogged down in a way of living that is not living at all but merely existing. With this hum-drudgery comes an aching misery that is simply the suppression of our essence – the love, truth, harmony, stillness and joy that forever lives within us but is not always expressed out. Re-connecting with this magnificence is akin to rekindling a flame after spending years out in the dark and the cold. This flame is our undying love, lighting the world with the warmth of its glow.

135. When I am serious it is a sure sign I am way off track of being and living who I truly am which is very playful and silly.

     1. For me too Caroline, when I get too serious and too intense then I know there is something for me to look at. We can have responsibility in life but it can still be playful and fun. The seriousness is usually when I want to get something right or it has to be perfect….always a tell tail sign that there is an un-necessary intensity there.

136. From an early age I can remember stifling my joy as a child, as no one seemed to be feeling what I was feeling. If I look back I could feel I was super sensitive and felt hurt by this, expecting others to feel as I did. Rather than staying true to me I took on what other people were feeling and held back from being me. This became a pattern that I took into my life and I could very much relate to the seriousness of being good rather than being joyful

     1. I too can relate very much to the seriousness of being good. Being good is a very clever trick to hide the natural qualities of playfulness and joy within and as I allow these natural qualities to come forth and be expressed the less room there is for the seriousness behaviour to be a part of my life.

137. Hi Annelies, as I was reading this blog your comment about ‘seriousness’ being fostered by the catholic church really struck a cord with me. Going to church, actually just stepping inside a church was all about ‘respect’ which was to be demonstrated through being quiet or silent, no smiling and definitely no laughter or joking and the movements must be slow and quiet – wow, it was all about being serious and proving your worth. This blog has exposed much of which is hidden behind ‘being good’. Joy is such a natural way and sharing it makes us all glow. This blog has inspired me to express my joy more freely – to be more of who I am and as you have shared ‘the choice is ours”.

138. I have been a ‘super serious sally’ for most of my teenage years and adulthood and still go into it at times. Reading this reminded me of the fact that I am starting to let out this joy for life, I have had moments of it but there is a sense of sadness for keeping those moments to just that – moments, and not an everyday experience. I know it’s within me so I am curious, what am I still allowing to keep this joy locked away? and often those types of questioned get answered when I just step out and express my love and joy for life. So the answer need not be in words but answered by letting my joy out and shine.

139. Thank you Annelies for this powerful reminder of the responsibility we all have of reflecting the light of who we are, through the lives we live. Embracing this responsibility is a joy, as we are simply surrendering to living the joy of who we are in essence. We are all role models in our own right and through living in connection to who we are, we naturally reflect that there is a way that we can live with joy in our lives every day, simply by being ourselves.

140. When things start to get a little serious I know I have dropped my connection to the endless joy within. But it is simply a choice to surrender and let the glory back out again. When we get hung up on being serious and over analyse it, we have lost sight of the magic of our bodies and feeling each and every expression of love that is ready and waiting right there inside us.

141. The natural joy of a child is so delightfully engaging and uplifting it is a sad refection on where we have gotten to as a humanity when this is something that is not fostered and revered by all. While some do take delight in it at times or with the very young, it is definitely not something that is valued as an inherent trait. Great to read blogs like this and bring back the expression of joy and playfulness in grown-ups.

142. Thank you for the reminder of the joy that is bubbling inside of us waiting to come out and be expressed. It’s so easy to get caught in the seriousness of life. I too had suppressed my joy for many years, but now I have started to connect to it and how amazing it feels.

143. It was great to highlight the difference between joy and fun. Joy fills me with a feeling of wonder and sparkling vitality. Whereas most of the things we call fun in life, the partying, eating treats etc leaves you feeling far worse off than when you started. If fun was our true way of being, surely it wouldn’t harm our body or leave us feeling like this.

144. Why do we make religion so serious and joyless? Do we imagine God to be this way, to lack joy and playfulness, too busy judging mere mortals and worrying about the ills of the world? When I am connected to myself and with God, there is an irrepressible sense of joy which can only be felt as divine. I know this is completely natural and a part of who we are.

145. Joy is a choice and lately I have been feeling how much energy, force it costs to be serious. It gives a pressure, a tension in my body which makes me and my whole system anxious. The moment I was stopped by something that happened as a result of all this, I came back to the connection with myself and felt the horrible consequences of what I have left behind that day (and my body needed to recover). It is not about laughing and smiling all day but about being connected with God and appreciating the light I am and bring to the world, a joy to feel within me.

146. That inner-hearty laugh that comes when being joyful is like music to our ears – a true blessing to hear.

147. I can feel how I took on the belief that being ‘grown-up’ meant being serious and I bought into this big time. I am now recognising the amount of dis-ease this has caused me and am loving taking the medicine of ever increasing doses of joy.

148. I love the reminder to re-connect to the joy that is constantly bubbling away inside me and can feel how much energy I have expended over the years putting on a serious face to fit in when so often tapping into the well of joy and being playful would have lightened whatever situation it was for everyone concerned.

149. “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.” Such a great line, as it fosters responsibility and for us to look at our choices, be aware of them and know we can live that job at any time we feel to.

150. There is much joy naturally inside and I too have observed the ‘seriousness’ that I have allowed to take over my life – it is as though one has to be serious to be taken seriously – what the world needs is more joy and it is time to live our innate joy free from any expectations or approval now.

151. “what I truly wanted was to shine and to show the world the natural joy living inside of me” True parenting is to allow all children to shine and feel the joy of knowing who they truly are and it is never too late to rediscover our inner child and our innate joyfulness.

152. Thanks for this reminder Annelies, sometimes I can take things a bit too seriously and get caught in what should be done and why. Living like this doesn’t feel true though. What feels natural for me is living lightly, with playfulness in Joy. Living in Joy feels like an way of living that is full and expanding at the same time.

153. Giving ourselves permission to be joyful is something everyone should have. Thank goodness for the ageless wisdom offering that understanding.

154. “While I imagined my life as an adventure, in reality it was such a serious matter, and before long, living became something that I endured rather than enjoyed.” This feels so achingly familiar to me. There is another way, another choice and you have described it here Annelies.

155. The joy felt on the inside is like a body smile, but when I’m serious Annalies you have made the point that it’s on the outside and yes it overwhelms our joy. I know this feeling and sometimes it’s difficult the break that seriousness when you have gone into it, but now I clearly have the choice to connect …. And ponder what took me away from that joy, that Joie de Vivre 😀

156. “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.” l didn’t see it like this but it makes sense that the seriousness is on the outside.

157. A pleasure to read, can feel the joy within

158. This morning I woke up a bit later than usual and was a little grumpy as I didn’t have much time to get my things done, you could say I was in serious mode, your blog couldn’t have been more fitting, thank you for lightning me up and reminding me of the importance of joy.

159. Thank you Annelies. This is a truly gorgeous and powerful blog. How incredible it is to be reminded that joy is a choice.

160. Joy is forever living within us and is living and expressed from the inside out. No matter what is going on around us or what circumstances we are physically in there is a sense of inner joy available to us when our livingness supports us to connect and feel and understand the truth of what life presents to us.

161. Adulthood is presented to us as a serious business. I can relate to having a very serious hat on for most of my adult life, but thanks to my playful husband and many other role models around me, I have learnt that we can be responsible and playful. They are not mutually exclusive.

162. Very recently I realised I had been sold a picture that adult life was serious. I had taken on that joy was something that was okay in snippets but there was a place for it. In general you were a responsible adult if you were serious. I shattered this picture last week and I realised that joy can be in everything we do. It is in fact our natural way and as you have shared Annelies we are all bursting with joy.

163. When we make the choice to let our natural joy out, sparkling eyes are everywhere and will meet each other inspiring others to feel what is living deep inside and to let it out.

164. This is such a beautiful blog Annelies. You have given a brilliant description of how there is a force, a way of life, that tries to dampen and quell our natural and abundant joy, making life into a very serious business indeed. We can feel the anguish of living that way and yet we choose it to fit in, to please others, to get approval and look like we are living like everyone else. And then, as you so astutely record here, we know this is not a true way of living so we choose another flavour of the same substance to try to change our life. Your God -given awareness has brought you to this wonderful point where the whole game can be seen. Thank you for sharing.

165. When reading your words what comes to me is that the word seriousness or that what we have made it to be is in truth not what it is. It seems like we have made seriousness a state of being that is strict and stiff and does not allow any room for being playful, lighthearted and in a flow. But what if seriousness is not a heavy burden but simply the awareness that we have a huge responsibility in life and that there is lots to be done? Then seriousness becomes spacious and allows room for expression.

166. You present a valuable point here: That joy can only be found or come from inside but never from outside. That means it is living inside of us, is part of us and wants to be lived and expressed to be experienced. Also, it would mean that it is independent of any circumstances, even with the worst things going on around us we can have a sense of joy or even a living and vibrant joy in the face of horror. This notion may appear absurd or out of touch with reality, but what if it was true? What if, joy does not belong to this earthly and emotional realm of existence and hence is untouchable? And especially in a world void of joy but overwhelmed by misery wouldn´t divine joy be the much-needed answer to breaking the paralysis?

     1. I love what you are saying here Alex, it makes absolute sense and I agree with you that joy can break the ‘spell’ that only lets us see the realm of life as human beings and opens us up to see that there is more to this earthly life.

     2. I love what you have said here about joy Alex. I utterly love it, and know it.

167. Seriousness is definitely a big one in keeping ourselves focused on the difficulty of life, while when we choose the Joy that is inside us all we are living the simplicity. As it is our true way.

168. Thank you Annelies for a great blog, I was brought up similar to you with the seriousness of life.It seemed that if you weren’t serious you weren’t thought of as responsible, a definite joy killer, this experience had also tainted the word responsible for me. “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.” This is the joy of being responsible, connecting to that joy.

169. We all hold this deep joy within us as children and then we learn in various ways to keep it under the radar, to stiffle it, to fit into society which does have such a seriousness indeed. And Annelies, I love how you have exposed that we attempt to adopt variations of the seriousness and think that we have succeeded in beating it, but really it is the same seriousness just another way of expressing it. And the false fun too that can be disguised as the drinking and partying (is this really that fun?)…What about our connection with people, our relationships with family and friends, and close ones…could this be what truly brings us joy, after we have felt the joy within ourselves and can freely share it with another…
     This is a great topic to ponder on, and for me a great reminder to just allow the natural joy to come out, to not fight it and to not resist it. Thank you!

170. You only have to watch these videos that go viral of when someone starts singing on the train and then people start smiling and singing or someone starts dancing the street and people start smiling and dancing…it shows me that the joy is all there, bubbling away, wanting to come out and play but so often our seriousness gets in the way. Let the joy out….as you say we have a choice to connect to our natural feeling of joy inside of us or the seriousness we take on.

171. “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me” I love what you write here Annelies, the intensity of the world can make us feel very solum and serious yet you remind us it is but a choice and we can always choose joy and love which is in fact our natural way of being.

172. ‘I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me’. When you put it like this Annelies it makes me wonder why we complicate our days and choose anything less.

173. I can relate so much to what you say Annelies. It’s only recently that I’ve begun to reclaim the joy that I am. All my life I’ve calibrated to the seriousness of others thinking that if I was light and playful I would be perceived as being flakey and wouldn’t be taken, well, seriously! That concerns me much less these days particularly now that I understand people need that joyful reflection.

     1. This is a great point deborahmckay – true joy is essential as it cuts through everything we invest in that is not true and it is actually our natural way of being. The more joy is reflected to others the more people have an opportunity to choose it for themselves.

174. I have watched my mother and so many of her generation resign themselves even deeper to the lives they have built and the choices that they have made. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. It inspires me so deeply to watch the elder member of the student community as they work with immense courage and commitment to heal their hurts and start to build a new way of living. The greatest ingredient in inspiring them to do this is the knowing of re-incarnation. Thus what we are founding in this life will be there for the next – so it is ALWAYS worth choosing to evolve.

     1. Beautiful Otto, it doesn’t matter where we are, how old, or what we do, there is always simply this chance to live with Joy and to truly be you. The sticky slime of seriousness is like a toxic sludge, a glue that gets in the way and stops us from playing in our life, with fun and light heartedness as a young child would naturally do. So today, we know its just a choice.

        1. “The sticky slime of seriousness” – that is a gorgeous alliteration and also a brilliant title for a kids book! I’m gonna take that with me through today – which, rather surely, could be a pretty intense day – so great to have that with me. Thanks!

175. On the sliding scale of joy and seriousness, they are on polar opposite ends of this scale. Funny how we are naturally joyful being as seen in childhood phase, and somehow, life, expectations, beliefs creep in and slide one down to the end of seriousness. There is a way though of reclaiming and maintaining that sense of joy in- amongst the adult life, discovered through the modalities of Chakra-Puncture, and esoteric Yoga offered through Universal Medicine… and this deeply beautiful connection from within lived everyday is like a walking mini universe within this body, the connection to this is true joy!

176. You say how everything was so serious and controlled – that’s the thing with Joy you can’t control it, can’t control it and can’t kill it because it is who we are at essence.

177. When I started work for the first time at age 19, I was quite playful, but could not understand when in meetings why everyone else was so serious. I learned later in life that work for many is not something to be enjoyed, but rather tolerated as a necessity of life, and no more than that.

178. Why should we withhold shining our light to the world? I can not find any acceptable reason but we are not doing it all the time. So something is stopping us from living that vibrant life that lives in all of us equally. Could it be that the holding in of that what so naturally lives in all of us takes a lot of energy to keep it suppressed and that because of this we are all so exhausted and not able to shine, even if we want to? Could it be that we have chosen a way of life that we are not because when we start to shine we have no control on where our lives will go? Have we fallen for a life in security and protection, where we think that we are in control of it and can give it a direction to images we hold, void of any connection with the true origin of our being? To me being playful and living from the impulses that come up, brings back that joy in life and sometimes feels a bit uncomfortable in people I am with. But when I can see that I do not have any responsibility in how people feel about me but only have a responsibility to live my life to the impulses that come from my inner heart, I can be playful and with respect to everybody I am with and shine my light in full, wherever I go.

179. I just re read my own blogs and some of the comments and I feel how connected we all are and how beautiful to share our joy with everyone. To make a consistent choice to feel the joy that lives in us asks my to be aware of my thoughts as they can make life heavy and hard. And I know this is not true, it’s an attempt to get me back in the struggle of human life but I can say no and feel my being and with that the joy enters my life time after time.

180. I can feel for the first time; ‘ there is a vast spring of untapped joy just waiting to be felt and expressed’, and all I have to do is give myself permission to connect to it and share it with everyone.

181. A great blog thanks Annelies, I recall a time in my life when I became rather serious and boring and I spent time with a friend of mine who is naturally joyful and playful. It was very healing being with my friend who expressed in this way and his reflection reminded me I was also joyful and playful I just needed to make the simple choice to also express in this way.

182. “and before long, living became something that I endured rather than enjoyed”…said the majority of the world. So many of us see life as this way but as you so beauty-full write, there is a natural joy in us that knows no bounds and can actually be part of our lives. You only have to watch people interact with videos of cute dogs or people laughing on a train or interacting with a young child and joy bursts out of your body – it is all here – just waiting. And it is up to us what and how we choose to live.

183. I have come to see and know that it is possible to be serious about things in a light and fun way. I used to think that to be taken seriously I have to be solemn and look a certain way. This could not be further from the truth.

184. Thank you- a timely reminder this morning as I had become a bit too serious and a bit too invested in things. A reminder to stay connected to something much bigger and feel the joy again.

185. We can use so much energy holding back our natural expression and calibrating to what we think best pleases other people!

186. Thank you Annelies. When connecting with our natural joy, life is never boring or dull and the simplest things, the everyday tasks that we do become a lot of fun. Living life in our head, or only being happy at certain times, like when we are in our bedroom shades all of the other aspects of our life. There is so much joy to recognise in reality.

187. This is gorgeous Annelies and thank you for helping me to confirm that the joy is always inside me whereas seriousness is something I take on and is not who I am.

188. Life but can be truly simple and joyful if we but allow it.

189. What I have noticed in schools is that we take away the joy and playfulness in kids, often trying to controlling them or shut them down. Could this be because it hurts too much, that they reflect our true light, playfullness and joy, something that we chose to walk away from.

190. I know for myself I bring down my huge joy, playfulness and light to not let other people feel how miserable they are. But this doesn’t help anyone, I feel miserable not being myself and then other people don’t get to feel our very natural and truly joyful, playfulness and lightness of being that we can all easily live everyday.

191. ‘living became something that I endured rather than enjoyed’ I can relate to this, when I get tired and exhausted my natural joy and huge playfulness for life gets forgotten about. I tend to believe the stuff I take on, but my joy and playfulness is always inside of me, it never goes anywhere, ever :-). It’s actually saddening and hurt us, when we choose to walk away from ourselves or hide who we are.

192. My whole body hardens and I feel stressed when I’m overly serious and I view life in that way. It all becomes about right and wrong and control is there as well. When I stop and feel a lightness in joy inside I have much more of an understanding of what is going on.

193. Dear Annelies, thank you for the gorgeous reminder to take note when life becomes a little heavy and serious and to look within for the lightness and joy which is always there.

194. What you highlight here Annelies is the fact to be serious and to be joyfull are all based on a single choice we make in each moment. Hence all those moments we spent in serious heaviness are all based on a choice of how we choose to live and what source of life we choose to connect to.

195. Thank you for sharing your joy Annelies. This is a beautiful and timely reminder for me to lighten up and enjoy life more.

196. For me, joy and playfulness is something that has been lost in the process of living. Strangely, it truly is part of living. How I lost it and how do I regain it is a great subject to be exposed. I think the clue Annelies, is when you mentioned the “gentle breath meditation”. This is something that bridged me back to me. From this connection, I have allowed my life to flow from what is true in me. Not the imposed upon roles of me. This is where I left my long lost friends – Joy and Playfulness.

     1. Beautifully expressed Concetta. They do feel like long lost friends for me also. Time to reconnect with them.

197. If I am being overly serious I know I am not myself. What a great indicator!

198. For me joy has nothing to do with being happy, looking forward to something exciting or having this event. For me it has to do with connection and with people. Joy is our natural state of being and does not need anything from outside. It is something to share with others and it keeps life light and simple.

199. It is so true, seriousness shrouds such a big part of who we truly are, the joy that comes from the soul, knowing life in every facet. No need to be serious.

200. A refreshing read Annelies and a great reminder to remember the joy we hold naturally within and to not let the seeming seriousness of life snuff that out. It reminds me of my mother, sister and I sitting in church – with the tension in the building all we’d have to do is glance at one another and we’d be in a fit of giggles which was the perfect antidote to the heaviness of that oppressive energy.

201. Amazing in re-reading this again today (thank you Annelies) I’ve realised big time since Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine came into my life I no longer ‘endure life’ I’m living life in a completely different mind set and living from my body is now what is helping with the return of true joy – it had not left me just a little overcast/overshadowed with too much ‘illusion’ of what I thought life was ideally about. JOY rocks 🙂

202. That seriousness often feels like a hardness, denseness and contraction in my body, whereas joy feels light and spacious. That lightness and joy naturally wants to come out because when we hide it or shut it down the body starts to de-form, as children we live naturally expressing and sharing this joy and it shows in their seemingly endless vitality. The same I have seen from Serge Benhayon and many others from Universal Medicine and growing amongst the student body. Thank you Annalies.

203. You’re right, Annalies – it is a choice as to whether we show the world the joy that is clearly bubbling away inside us. When one of us starts, our reflection of it can be contagious for others and we’ve all had moments when that has been the case, although sadly mostly short-lived. Your blog reminds me just how insidious our religious and educational institutions are in the way they boundary our expression through doctrine and belief systems but we have that magic ingredient, free will, which always gives us the choice to bubble over and express our true nature.

     1. I love that Cathy, …..we have that magic ingredient, free will, which always gives us the choice to bubble over and express our true nature.

204. We need to call out seriousness and lack of true joy as a disease, an illness and a condition that is not truly normal or healthy in anyway. To be truly well as a species, joy should be out norm not a rarity.

205. “While I imagined my life as an adventure, in reality it was such a serious matter, and before long, living became something I endured rather than enjoyed”. I recollect this being very true for myself UNTIL I came across Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. That ‘adventure’ is starting to be lived in a much more upbeat, inspired appreciative way not being ‘endured’ but lived and enjoyed. The ‘sparkle’ of joy is returning once more.

206. When Life gets too serious and arduous it means we have lost true connection … and without that essential quality we are no longer able to truly support anyone, including ourselves. So it is worth stopping and reconnecting before another step is taken, and thenceforth the steps forward in connection and stillness will allow the truth to reveal itself once more.

207. Our Soul is everything and knows everything but will never be serious, our Soul is wise, playful and joyful and so much more.

208. in my Soul, everything is Joy. Life can indeed be serious but one can walk through everything knowing it is all far greater than it appears, and all that is needed is a little magic! ta daa

     1. “In my soul, everything is joy” Love this Harry. When I limit this natural joy inside it does feel uncomfortable and quite ‘unnatural’.

209. Im beginning to see how important it is to be the one who brings the extra flavour to life, to be extraordinary and yet ordinary. We can bring our Soul in so many ways, and being silly and having fun with life is what you can do. The Soul is so intelligent, it can look at every facet of human life and go “I know that”

     1. Yes to be the one who brings the extra flavour to life, too long I have been waiting for others to bring this extra flavour and felt disappointed when they did not. Now I know it is up to me whether I choose to be me with everything that I am or to stay in the serious mode.

210. Thank you Annelies. I am so inspired by your blog! Who says that because life is serious and we have to do things that we cant do them with all our joy! Who is the one bringing the fire?

     1. Yes Harry and I am becoming aware how we are used to behave in a certain way in different situations, for example how we are in the waiting room of our GP, or at our work. And why? It is great to bring light and joy where people tend to be very serious.

211. We are born joyful, yet as you show Annelies life does not always reflect that joy back to us, so we learn to dull down our joy to fit in with the world. I was like that too Annelies I started to take things too seriously and lost the joy and playfulness that I once had. I remember in my late 20’s actually noticing this, because I had taken on the pressure from my work and home life.

212. In reflective mode this morning I was looking at some of my past experiences of having ‘pockets’ of joy running throughout my life, asking myself why was this, as either side of those pockets of joy I was either sad, serious, unhappy, lonely or just so busy and gave very little attention to truthfully ‘feel’ anything other than exhausted/tired, focused on getting jobs/work completed. Joy never stood a chance. JOY is amazing, it allows space to flow and grow whether working, playing and communicating energetically as we do, so naturally. With or without words another can feel this joy emanating from within. It does feel divine. It’s like an invitation to ‘just be’ all that we are – in-joy.

213. I so enjoyed reading all of your blog Annelies but really love this part “So on reading this blog if you suspect that you feel there is a seriousness in life, or that you can’t find the joy in living and it doesn’t feel quite right, have a look inside yourself – what is bubbling inside of you?” Bubbles of joy!

     1. We all have them Tamara those bubbles of joy and we can express accordingly. No reason to keep it all inside, to share joy is very enjoyable.

214. I second that Marion – “when I am with me I can en-joy being me.” is simply gorgeous.

215. “When I am with me I can en-joy being me” Love this comment Jill. One for my mirror.

216. I loved reading your blog Anneliese, and I can relate to the seriousness of the catholic up bringing. To be serious was equated with being a responsible person. I am now in my seventies and at last I am allowing myself to feel the joy that lives inside of me, I can be silly and have fun sharing me with others, instead of always being on guard monitoring what to say and not to say, when I am with me I can en-joy being me.

     1. Awesome to read Jill, it is never too late to feel the joy that lives inside, always being on guard is truly exhausting, being the joy that you are makes you never tired and always truly alive.

217. If I had to live in a world that was serious all the time I would be beside myself. I have to be very grateful to my family for being the playful, funny people they are and expressing that. Joy is part of us all and an important expression. There is a place for serious discussion and a place for lightness of being and joy and fun.

218. “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me”.
     Beautifully expressed Anneliese; connecting more to the joy is my plan to “Joie de Vivre”.

219. The more complex life becomes, the less fun it is. One of the things I love about Serge Benhayon is that he demystifies life and shows how it is possible to live in such a simple way, that there is always – always space for a silly joke.

     1. Love your comment Felix!

     2. absolutely Felix – its such a relief to drop all the complexity we create and reconnect to the simplicity that life really can be in every moment. it changes everything and is much less exhausting.

     3. and the moment things have become too serious, and the playfulness has gone, then I know i’ve lost connection to the truth, and am spinning in some false story, and thereby lost the simplicity and the joy that we really can live life in.

     4. Love what you share here Felix. I have so realised keeping things simple means for me not to get bogged down and go into so many details. I lose myself with the simplicity of the initial situation. In creeps seriousness. Totally agree there is “always a space for a silly joke”

     5. That’s so true Felix – all we have to do is look at the simplicity and sheer joy which abounds in children.

220. There is an innate joy within us all and the memory of the love we are and where we come from. Life can begin to dull this awareness from any age and we conform to the expectations set outside of us. What you are confirming here Annelies is that the connection to the joy and love is never lost and can be re-connected to by our own choice. First there may be just moments of Joy but as we re-claim who we truly are through the support of the Gentle Breath Meditation this moment expands to be much more. Thanks for sharing your Joy.

     1. Beautifully expressed Christine “There is an innate joy within us all and the memory of the love we are and where we come from.” It feels divine.

221. Lovely Annelies “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.” Joy expands our being and allows an open communication with the world to say here I am in full. Joy is contagious.

222. A gorgeous sharing Annelies and it reminds me to not take life so seriously and to embrace the joy that is within us always.

     1. Your words really sang to me this morning Annelies – “This joy is there to reflect to everyone in the world, to offer the serious people in this world an opportunity to connect with what is living inside of them”. Lets go spread the word.

223. “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me”.
     There is certainly a well of untapped joy inside me Annelise, I read your blog and feel it moving! Yes the choice is mine to heal the hurts that dampen that boundless joy.

     1. Absolutely Shirl and also to know it is normal to be joy-full. There is no need to be serious. Being serious makes the world turn grey instead of a world full of colours every where, we just have to be honest and see what we try to do with ourselves, playing down instead of experimenting playfully and be who we are.

        1. ‘Being serious makes the world turn grey’ So true Annelies. Grey is definitely the colour of seriousness and its various shades – and much heaviness just lingers and can fester if too much indulging in this behaviour is played out. Having spent much time in those grey areas myself until Joy was introduced and in its lighter, sparkly, brightness made more frequent visits which just keep growing and expanding. Expanding from the inside out. Just watching children play is a beautiful example of this and quite contagious.

224. “One thing I learned from him was the Gentle Breath Meditation, a simple tool to connect and stay with myself. Whenever I feel my joy is being suppressed, I choose to breath gently and connect with what I know is true.” I find this supports me too, to come back to the joy I know with in. Sometimes I can caught in the seriousness of things and loose that connection to my joy. Gentle breath meditation is such a simple technique to bring you back to you body,

     1. Me too, Amita. Once we know we are joy in our true essence and we find ourselves caught in seriousness, we know that is not us in truth, so we can simply choose to connect back again.

        1. I agree Fumiyo – and the trick is not to get hung up over the fact that we got caught up in seriousness and arduousness,, that’s part of the too serious ! just remember that all we have to do is to connect and we can be back in the joy again.

        2. Thanks for that great tip Annie – even when we master recognising that something has taken us out we can so easily spoil it by being hard on ourselves instead of simply saying oops and having a laugh at ourselves.

225. Joy has no limitations.

226. A beautiful reminder Annelies of how the whole way we see life is shrouded in this seriousness to different degrees. We call moments where we have a bit less great, but when we connect to the truth we start to see seriousness is a serious disease.

     1. absolutely Joseph.. a serious case of seriousness. 🙂 when hardness replaces joy, and control negates acceptance, judgment kills appreciation, but the good news is it is totally reversable and full healing available starting from within, simply we need to reconnect back to our true essence, and then all false imposters can be seen clearly that don’t belong and we can release them, returning once more to our natural joy..

227. It is so important to constantly remind ourself of this joy within, as there are so many ways we are held away from it. I feel I am a very joyfull man, but often chose to not be, and get lost in the seriousness of what is going on around me. While I know it is great reflection for everyone when I live from this joy, then they can choose to.

228. Annelies your opening paragraph reminded me of how, like you, I observed everyone and from this took on the fact that life had to be serious, I don’t remember seeing much joy around me. There was an intensity to everything that I didn’t quite understand but marked my life as this is how I should be too. Re-connecting to the bubble of joy that is inside us all and allowing this to be seen is so much more enjoyable than seeing the world as a serious place to be.

     1. I agree alison, it feels like when we take life seriously it is a very small and rigid way of life, the world shrinks, on the other hand with joy our world opens up and the feeling of space and flow enters our life. Actually it feels like making our lives about people first.

229. That was a joy to read Annelies

230. I love this Annelies, I really relate to what you have written, life growing up for me was serious business, nothing to smile about, we had to be sensible and behave, I too went through the Catholic system, I was giggling about something as a child one day when I was told to stop my silly giggling, it certainly was a clamper, so any joy I had got suppressed, now at the age of 72 I am finding and allowing my joy to be felt and expressed, this playfulness makes life light.

     1. This shows Jill Steiner it is never too late to find our true selves and the joy that comes with that. Amazing to come back to your joy and playfulness and enjoy a different, a lighter way of living.

231. The world is full of children who are naturally at ease with joy. So why do we not listen to these little masters more often, when we can learn so much from them and the playfulness that they bring to just about every situation.

     1. Yes Shami, as adults we can learn so much from ‘these little masters’ it is a joy to observe young children as they play around and lighten up the world. When our seriousness is all over us we don’t see this anymore and even consider the playfulness of children as a nuisance while our seriousness is really the nuisance for ourselves to not let out the joy and fun we can have in every situation.

     2. Yes so gorgeous to listen to those ‘little masters’ of Joy. The sight and sound of them is so infectious and just invites us to join in – and to not hold back.

232. … This is one of the things that I really love about bringing singing to the community… The way people simply light up, the way their faces change, the way it feels like they let go of burdens that have been carried for so long, and the way the eyes light up. Definitely joie-de vivre.

     1. Absolutely cjames2012 singing and singing together brings true joy back in our lives and everyone can sing, no one is left out, never.

233. I have noticed when seriousness steps in it becomes more about the ‘me situation’ wanting to exclude others, body posture changes, thought processes become negative and movements are far from flowing. Joy on the other hand is expansive, light, body movements open and free flowing, clarity in expression and very open to include/connect with others wanting to share with each and everyone we meet. Awesome.

234. Great sharing Brendan. “Re-connecting to our joy brings back our spark and lightness for life” – everything then does become much more free flowing with no effort.

235. Living the joy of life as reflected from within, now that’s the way of the Livingness – great reminder Annelies. Nature and small children offer this every moment, all we need to do is stop, pause and breathe.

236. Thank you Annelies, enjoyed reading this blog again it makes me connect with the joy inside of me and it is a lovely feeling of my body surrendering to it.

237. I agree Brendan, seriousness creates a restriction on the joy that is available in our bodies the more joy we choose to live with the more light we bring to everything we do.

238. Beautiful Annelies. To observe the true joy of a child with the full knowing that we have lost ourselves from that same joy is sad. But to know that that same joy is still bubbling away inside us just waiting to be brought back to life is seriously the most awesome joy ever.

239. To not hold back – is truly joyful.

240. beautiful. When we are younger we believe life has to be many certain ways, because this is the way that we see all around us, but it doesn’t match up to the joy that is naturally living inside. Thanks Universal Medicine for showing us that, the joy is always bubbling inside and we can choose it at any time, to be the way we live in life.

241. Just by reading this blog I’ve reconnected to the joy within, thanks Annelies.

242. Annelies, how needed is this blog about leaving behind seriousness for joy?! The telltale kill joy I detect is when I feel heavy rather than light, narrow and tunnel visioned rather than expansive and the tone of my voice also exposes seriousness. Well worth understanding also why the investment in seriousness or why has seriousness become the default attitude for so many?

243. Annelies this line is wonderful – ‘Whenever I feel my joy is being suppressed, I choose to breath gently and connect with what I know is true.’ When I choose to be breath gently immediately I am drawn to adjust my posture, to then surrender and be more tender in my body and thoughts – only then do I have any kind of rudder to help steer my next choice.

244. Joy is for me like an internal celebration naturally overflowing to be shared, for all to join in and be a part of, that forever expanding love that requires no invitation – Like the amazing offerings we have reflected all around us, back from nature in all its glory and beauty.

245. So beautiful to read Annelies and timely as ever! I have been looking at how I can be super serious as a parent at home but be more playful outside of the home and at work. What I just got from your story, was remembering how stifling the seriousness was as a child, and how it was frowned upon to laugh and play, from adults around that did not feel any joy or love in their lives. I can see how I do a similar pattern with my children, but also within myself. I’m going to sit with this great question “…what is bubbling inside of you?”

246. Awesome Annelies, thank you for the timely reminder to turn up the joy within us that is screaming to come out, everyone wants it, everybody is looking for it and we all have it equally.

247. Seriousness is a big thing in our society today.. But I can feel that the way I am getting to know myself I am far from this continuous seriousness that has been imposed upon me. It is a joy to live a life full of me, so how could that be serious?

248. Seriousness is like a blanket that dulls all feeling. Serge Benhayon has shown me how to lift the blanket that was smothering me and share the joy that was waiting to burst out into the light. So much more fun to be me rather than tying myself in knots trying to fit in with everyone else.

     1. I totally agree Mary, joy is waiting for us until we are ready to let it all come out and that is really a lot of fun and more!

249. I too went to a catholic school Annelies, and feel that life became even more serious, in that from a catholic school experience/upbringing that when I did something that was ‘wrong’, I woud automatically beat myself up which continued throughout my adult life. I can see how this behaviour really harmed my body, and grateful that this got exposed.

250. Yes, I agree Brendan. The dulling is often a sign that we have turned our light off. In truth, our light can never be completely switched off, but it can be dimmed to such a degree that we only see the world in shades of grey.

251. I love reading your blog Annelies, it is such an honouring of our essence; the love, truth and joy that resides deep within us all. Sometimes we pile a whole heap of stuff on top of this; beliefs, opinions, judgments, seriousness, drive, motivation, function and the like, that we forget underneath it all lies the chuckle of a baby, the grin of a dog, the laugh of the kookaburra, all these things reflecting to us that we are this in essence also. For it is our ‘lightness of being’ that dispels the darkness in which we walk and our joy that dissolves the shadows beneath our feet.

     1. ‘For it is our ‘lightness of being’ that dispels the darkness in which we walk and our joy that dissolves the shadows beneath our feet.’ It is worth repeating your beautiful words Liane and my joyfull hands touches and massages a lot of feet in my every day work and practice, no coincidence.

     2. This is gorgeous Liane “For it is our ‘lightness of being’ that dispels the darkness in which we walk and our joy that dissolves the shadows beneath our feet.” and reading it reminds me how simple and natural this is, compared to how exhausting and hard getting caught up in all the other ‘stuff’ is.

252. ‘Perhaps, like me, there is a vast spring of untapped joy just waiting to be felt and expressed. Live in your fullness, in your ‘Joie de Vivre’ to feel and show the world all of who you are. The choice is yours!’ Heartwarming sentences and amazing blog Annelies. I am so glad you were once again able to tap into your spring of joy.

253. Annelies I am so looking forward to see you to share our joy! How beautiful it would be not to hold back one ounce of it . . . As you mentioned in your awesome blog – the serious world need a bit of joy to get another reflection. I was always a joyful person but I too held it back – instead I was living in a constant drive and happiness – that was not so joyful at all. But as with you, I re-connect and since, the joy bubbles out of me – something to share!

254. Love this blog Annelies. It is so true that we are taught at a very young age how the things we do is how we are recognised. It is so misleading and ‘very serious and controlled.’ We learn that the joy of simply being who we are is irrelevant, when in truth this is All that we are. And without honoring, appreciating and celebrating this connection to our essence, all that we do is meaningless as we are left feeling empty regardless of whatever we achieve.

     1. Indeed through the focus on doingness we disconnect from our joy and we become serious and controlled. What you say, confirms that tapping back into that Joy is the way back to feeling the fullness of ourselves.

255. Your comment made me smile Brendan, it’s true when we re-connect back to our innate joyfulness it does bring back the simplicity of life and puts a little spring into our step!

256. When I read your words Annelies, there’s a picture that comes to me how seriousness is like a series of boxes we put on top of ourselves – or something like a straight jacket. When we connect to joy inside of us, it’s such a different feeling, like someone just opened up the windows to life. In writing this, I can feel how optimism and happiness are just different straight-jackets of seriousness, compared to the natural joy that flows when I’m with me.

     1. I agree with you Joseph, with the feeling of opening the windows and also with the feeling that optimism is another straight jacket. Good way to put it, as I have always felt that optimism feels the pressure of having to be a certain way, having to hide the sorrow, the pain, the suffering, putting a bit of jam on top of the nastiness of life. It is an effort while joy is a spring that cannot but emerge from inside.

        1. Beautifully put Julia:’ joy is a spring that cannot but emerge from inside.’ This so brings the emanating, well-springing effect of joy – a completely different kind of being which emanates rather than being constructed out of the obstructing, confining material of the ideal or belief.

        2. Lovely sentence Juliamanbos; ‘joy is a spring that cannot but emerge from inside’.

     2. Our natural joy is like fresh air, or like the wind is blowing through my hair and it smells like eucalyptus.

        1. Love it Annelies, my joy is like a warm breeze from the sea and it smells of jasmine 🙂

257. Oh god, I can totally relate to that. Feeling that the world expects me to be serious at school, and conforming my huge joy to that restriction. What you say is so true and so needed for lots of us, and very essential to see that the seriousness comes from the outside, I will definitely stick this on my fridge so I remember: “in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.”

     1. Yes Julia it is a great reminder to read now and then because knowing we have a choice makes all the difference in the world.

        1. Yes and that the seriousness comes from the outside originally, it is not us. That is a great realization, cause then we can connect knowing that what is us is the joy, it was there before any other restriction or influence from the teachers, our family, our carers, the world. Claiming our true nature of that bubbly and skipping little girl, that is still connected to the joie de vivre.

     2. Smiling as I read Julia that you would stick a reminder on your fridge. For me this is the place that I can open the door (when hungry) and select a food which brings comfort rather than nourishment. Therefore joy is not felt and I can feel heavy with my choice.

258. The idea that there is joy bubbling inside of us all is a new concept for me. Everywhere I look I see misery and often it is what I meet in the mirror too. I feel that joy is as simple as a choice when I read this blog.

259. It feels like ‘seriousness’ takes awhile to show itself, a build up (of what we are not) over a period of time. Whereas ‘Joy’ comes in an instant – and just is. No effort required.

260. The pressure to conform and be a certain way in situations stops us from being ourselves. Yes that serious side of life does restrict the body and hardens us in a way that we sometimes don’t notice. Remember the old saying “Lighten up” we use to serious people.
     There must be some merit in that.

     1. Very true Gail, love it. It reminds me of a saying by the writer G.K Chesterton: ‘Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly’. This is not to say that there is not serious work to be done, but more so we do not need to be so serious in doing it. Sometimes we become so bogged down in the seeming burdens of life, that we forget there is great joy in bringing our natural playfulness back into the equation.

        1. I have this saying; ‘Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly’ carved on wood and hanging on my wall, which I bought 20 odd years ago…but its only recently that I am developing an understanding of what this truly means.

261. Thanks for the word ‘dulling’ Brendan. That is exactly what the feeling is when I follow this old pattern of seriousness, I feel grey and flat and when I step out it is as if I can breath again and the sun start shining, I start shining again.

262. ‘I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.’ Wow I really needed to read this today. Seriousness it is that has gotten me feeling tired and a little down-hearted. Yesterday it was my refusal to come out of serious mode that led to an argument. I have been connecting to a joyfullness at times but not anywhere near enough – and it’s a choice – a gift I could give myself and share with everyone. I shall be watching out for the serious monster now, forget the cookie monster – it’s the serious monster that’s spoiling the fun.

     1. Yep! I too feel tired when seriousness has crept into my day. Possibly being something we are not takes more energy. Whereas joy which is so natural there is no effort. It just is. As you share Elaine – a beautiful ‘gift’

     2. This brought a smile on my face elainarthey ‘I shall be watching out for the serious monster now, forget the cookie monster – it’s the serious monster that’s spoiling the fun.’

263. I have found that there is too much seriousness out there, and it need not be. To be joyful is infectious, and it makes the day fun.

264. Beautiful Annelies, I have found when life becomes burdensome and arduous, it is simply because I have forgotten or chosen not to connect to the joy within.. and so rather than living from that deep innate quality of being, I instead get played by imposed pictures and ideals, and run down from all the outside forces that bombard us every minute of the day. But it only takes a simple choice to reconnect and remember where we are from.

     1. So true Annie, “…I have forgotten or chosen not to connect to the joy within..” Just today I felt like buying some flowers to share with everyone in the office, something that reflected beauty. What was totally different was that I didn’t doubt or get serious about buying them, whereas before I would question it and think do I really need them or that’s a silly idea. I ended up buying a dozen red roses, totally gorgeous they are, and what was amazing was how everyone in the office lightened up when they saw them. Some were inspired to start buying themselves flowers when they feel to instead of dismissing it.

265. Now why would I want to cover that bubble of joy inside of me just bursting to rise to the surface? well I did I chose yesterday to do something which tainted that joy – feeling a bit heavier this morning with an element of seriousness – so how beautiful to read this blog again today and realise that nobody else is to blame for that popped bubble but myself – and I can choose to not repeat those destructive patterns as JOY is the only way forward for the ‘real shining light’ that I am to shine. Thank you Annelies for such an inspirational sharing.

266. “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me”
     The choice is indeed ours Annelies; thank you for the beautiful reminder to, in every moment, connect to our inner wisdom and joy.

267. Annelies this is so true to my experience as well. As a child I was so open, innocent and ever ready to express joy to the full. Now I teach children because with them it’s ever present. I’ve been far too serious and your blog comes at a pertinent time for me. Thank you!

     1. I so agree Irena – being around children always brings an inner smile, you can feel their joy and it is ever present.

268. It is so True Annelies, it’s almost as if we’ve forgotten to be joyful and playful. You’re blog is reflecting to me how much I’ve chosen seriousness over Joie de Vivre. I’m much better now, but still have lots of moments that I feel myself being serious. Your blog is reminding me once again that the Joy is indeed one choice away. The choice to connect to that innerplace where our Joy is waiting to be connected to. Beautiful. To never forget!

269. Reblogged this on florisvanderschot's Blog.

270. We bring joy to our lives by simply allowing our essence out for all and not keeping it in because it is there to be shared. Thank you Annelies for letting out your joy for all to see. Truly inspiring.

271. Thank you for sharing your joy Annelies. I can feel how the education system suppresses the natural joy of children and asks them to conform and perform. This can lead to the seeking of recognition for what they are doing and competition between others rather than following their natural joyful expression. I know that I get way too caught up in the seriousness of life at times and your blog is a reminder to express the joy that I feel.

272. This real joy for life is so inspiring, as we instantly feel its depth yet lightness and simplicity.

     1. I love this Michael, the depth of joy yet light and simple, this is absolutely true.

273. Lovely Annelies, your words are beautiful – ‘Perhaps, like me, there is a vast spring of untapped joy just waiting to be felt and expressed. Live in your fullness, in your ‘Joie de Vivre’ to feel and show the world all of who you are. The choice is yours!’

274. Yes it is so much up to us to choose to allow that inner joy to come out and play – holding back just builds more resistance and a thicker outer armour builds which presents a seriousness that is heavy like “the world is on your shoulders”. Joy feels so natural, light and playful – and my body feels much more expanded. Just waiting to be shared with the world. Such an inspirational sharing with us all Annelies thank you.

275. Annelies, this was great to read! I know how joyful I was when I was little, and seeing this reflected in photos from that time is hugely exposing. I exposed how much of my life from then to now has not been lived with that joy. What a waste! And this is how most of humanity live – with this seriousness caught up in our heads.
     I loved what you shared here – ‘I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.’
     I know I have the most amazing & cheeky joy inside of me, that is just there waiting for me to choose it.

     1. Recently I became aware stepping in this old pattern,how this holding myself in seriousness is affecting me in everything that I do, a feeling of being withdrawn, a lazy way or should I say. arrogant way of observing which is really a judgement from the start. When I step out of this armour my body can expand again and feel what you’ve shared Amelia ‘the most amazing & cheeky joy inside of me, that is just there waiting for me to choose it.’

276. “I had a similar experience with the Catholic Church, …”
     I see such seriousness at the Catholic organisation where I work, occasionally there IS a giggle, but it’s back to the serious matter of life straight away.
     ” … what is bubbling inside of you?”
     I think from now on I’ll be having some fun at work in playfully finding people’s bubbles inside of them! Thank you, Annelies 🙂

     1. You being joyful with yourself will be an amazing inspiration Marian, they cannot resist

277. I know that feeling so well that you share with us Annelies ‘to show the world my joy’
     Living in my fullness joy is there in abundance – and I can so feel when others are not living in this way. But if just a spark of my joy can be felt by another – you never know it could gather momentum and trigger a spark of inspiration in them too.

     1. ‘Living in my fullness joy is there in abundance’ beautiful said Marion.

278. I am aware that I have made a rule to be serious. It feels very empty and hard and it keeps people at arms length. When I do express joy and be playful, it feels like sunshine is shining out from within and it lifts other people.

279. Unlocking the joy from inside us is a huge and life changing and healing. All the hurts carried about having to conform to reality in the many stages of growing up, are bundled on top of the choice to leave the true power and joy of our essence in the first place. That choice is the deepest pain, as it allowed all the measuring and compromise that life became. So reclaiming our full power and joy is healing the pain of that original choice for which no one else is responsible. From this true and timeless understanding we can at some point, choose never to leave it again.

     1. Wow Simon – I had never connected Power and Joy like that before- it makes perfect sense to me as it all comes from within us should we just choose to live it.

        1. I too have just realised the connection of the two. Very inspiring words to live with.

        2. I have had moments in my life when I have connected to different facets of me, power, delicateness, feeling expanded, feelings of love and joy… interestingly enough not all at the same time… but all of these things are the true me, and once I can connect deeper to my essence I know that with all of these aspects together I am awesome, as we all are. So yes, Power and Joy go hand in hand, and for me, lead to a deep contentment knowing that there is more to come, for all of us.

     2. This calls for a deep responsibility Simon. To take responsibility for the fact that, despite the education system and everything throughout life that has asked us to conform, it is still us that has chosen to step away from our true essence of joy. We have no one else to blame.

        1. While I love the equilibrium, truth and royal responsibility in this Lee (that we are the ones to choose to stay in connection or step away) I also give blame quite the run for its money, I will often exhaust blame by finding ways to be the victim, looking for reasons to self critique so that this too can be blamed – there are so many tricky ways yet the ultimate responsibility and choice is always mine. I can barely grasp the kind of love that must have bestowed our free-will.

     3. Simon, I love what you have shared here as it is our choice to step away from the innate joy within us and equally our responsibility to choose to connect to it again.

280. It is sad that we shut down who we naturally are, to be accepted to fit in and conform.
     Thank god you allowed yourself the freedom to connect back to who you were as a child.

     1. I agree Gail, and yes now Annelies is a beautiful, shining reflection to the rest of us that we are also Sons of God welcoming back are joie de vivre. This is taking the bull by the horns and saying YES YES YES to love and playfulness, in effect claiming our sweetness back.

281. As we allow complications into our life joy seems very distant. Once we start to introduce self love into our lives amazingly there is joy in abundance.

282. If we stayed true to the feelings we had as a child life would be so joyful and so much more simple!

283. Awesome blog, Annelies, about the beauty in Joie de Vivre. Such an important topic, which I definitely can relate to, – growing up with a seriousness instead of letting the natural joy and love shine out to the world. I grew up with a seriousness and also sadness, but, I could also feel, and I knew, somehow, that deep inside me there was joy, I just couldn’t reach it. I’m working on releasing that joy so that my Joie de Vivre can emerge. Thank you for a great inspiration.

284. What a delightful blog Annelies, I too was raised in a very serious household, with serious parents, serious grandparents and serious teachers – and yes the Catholic Church made sure it remained that way. There was no warmth, no joy and certainly no love and I carried this well into my adulthood, even after meeting Serge Benhayon. It took me many years of healing to actually give myself permission to be the naturally joyful person that I am, as it was that deeply ingrained and not at all questioned by anyone in the world around me, because they too were living without joy.

     1. True Terrianne, it is not questioned by anyone why we are so serious, you could say it is the other way around; ‘why are you so full of joy’ and it is not that we have to smile or laugh constantly but this inner spark of connection with myself makes me shine. This is making the world lighter and makes people wonder why we are in joy all of the time.

285. ‘Behaving myself” has me sitting up suppressing a laugh or a smile and being serious. That’s what immediately came to mind when I read that Annelies … I often wonder why I don’t get the giggles or laugh out loud as often as I use to, maybe I am still not expressing the depth of joy I have in my heart. Time to connect to the ‘spring of untapped joy’ and let it flow.

286. I like your question ” what is bubbling inside of you?” I will feel into my body to find out. I now know, that I can always deepen my relationship to my body, step by step. Thanks for your amazing blog.

287. Yep the other day I was way too serious and then I spent the afternoon with a three year old who found everything fascinating and fun, spending the afternoon with her was a great reminder of how simple and enjoyable life can be.

     1. I really love this; kids can bring back such a sweetness, playfulness and joyfulness in everyone if we allow ourselves to go there with them. Most of the time, without even knowing I find myself cuddling up to my nieces and nephews wanting to play with them.. It’s an amazing remedy for dropping the ‘seriousness’ of life that we adults tend to get ourselves worked up into! Gives me the knowing that life is not all serious and that I can indeed be playful and sweet and joyful all the time if I gave myself the permission!

288. Playing with my grandchildren and watching them play in their games with each other – I have noticed there is ‘no seriousness’ (only a gentle focus) in their play. There maybe the odd spat – but there is still ‘no holding back’ of how they are ‘truly feeling’. Giving their all in every moment of what they are doing. They ‘love to share’ and explain in full (great detail) and the joy of this is palpable. The infectiousness of this joy spills over – what a blessing. Now that child in me with joy wants to share this with you.

289. I love this blog and it highlights so beautifully how we at large have been crippled by the seriousness bug at some point in our lives. I know for me, this is a work in progress and on reflection, it just doesn’t make sense why we would choose to live life any other way than the natural joy we expressed as a child. The choice is indeed ours Annelies, thank you for the gorgeous reminder!

290. Joy is something that is very naturally in me, and is easy for me to express. However after so many years at school and then University I learnt how to be serious. I thought that serious was better or the way to be if you were professional or grown up, as it’s what I saw everyone else doing. By the end of 20 years of school and university I was very flat and a bit lifeless, because I missed my joy so much that I didn’t even realise that this was what I was missing. Since discovering how to re-connect back with myself and be me I’ve found that the world has it wrong, and it wasn’t me who had it wrong, and we can infect, let our joy out for us to enjoy and others to also enjoy – shaking of the seriousness.

291. Lovely to read your blog again Annelies. I have been enjoying continue to allow more joy and playfulness into my life – sometimes it feels like an archaeological dig getting through all the layers of hurt I have buried with hardness, seriousness and controlling behaviours. As I expose and remove these old layers, I feel lighter, less encumbered and more of true essence of love and joy shines out. I am also more able to accept myself in this process of digging and uncovering, by bringing understanding to my past choices and knowing I now have the support to make more loving choices and live in a more playful and joyful way.

292. Annelies I totally understand how taking life too seriously takes away the playfulness and joy we can feel within ourselves and share with everyone else. I have always had a seriousness to myself which I am working on to find that lightheartedness that I know is there. When I see it in others I notice how easy they are with themselves and how inspiring it is.

     1. I feel this too Sally – when we see and feel that joy/lightheartedness in another there is an ease in that flow. There is no effort – just a halo of love saying ‘welcome come join me’ and to be a part of something that feels amazing.

     2. It is wonderful to see it in others, I agree Sally and it is the receipt to know it is in all of us, otherwise we would not be able to feel this playfulness and joy in someone else. As some of the comments say joy is contagious. In my work with elderly people I always see the sparkle is still there and I love sharing this joy with them.

293. So right you are in our choice to live from the joy within us- so many of us have forgotten that it’s there waiting to be shared – why do we hold back the thing that we are all seeking in life? Giving our adult selves permission to play is essential to a full and all encompassing life.

294. So true Gill, when I first began to feel this I felt somehow that I had to hide the joy I was feeling, as it didn’t seem appropriate to express it. This is something that I am working with and beginning to express what is there no matter the situation.

295. What a beautiful gift to the world ‘to show your joy’.

296. I also love ‘The Choice is Yours’
     This shows, in every moment, you can choose to live that joy for yourself, awesome!

297. Beautiful Blog.
     I have always felt a great deal of Joy inside me, but up until hearing the teachings of Serge Benhayon, I felt as though it was trapped inside me.
     Sometimes it can still feel that way when things can get difficult and a little serious, but when it gets to come out and be expressed it is just simply amazing!

298. It is so easy to get caught up in the wheel of life – your day dictated by the tasks that need to be done. When we get caught up like this, there is no place for true joy. True joy comes from bringing you to life. Feeling the bubbling well of joy inside you that Annalies describes and going in and with that to the day-to-day of life.

     1. So true Kate – the key is to bring us and the joy to our daily tasks. Work need not be serious or stressful. We indeed make it that way by subscribing to the ideal of how we think work should be. God forbid if someone sees me being joyful at work, they may think I’m not doing enough work and laden me with more!

299. Joy that is really lived is the most amazing inspiration that can be.

     1. Absolutely Michael I couldn’t agree more

     2. This is so true Michael – and to feel that in another is awesome.

300. It is great to be honest with yourself and admit when that ‘seriousness creeps back in to your life – and to really feel into what triggered that sensation to be there. When I start to withdraw myself from others that can be a clear indication of my choosing the ‘serious’ route. Joy is just sitting there waiting to be let out and shared.

     1. To withdrawn is a strong pattern in me too Marion. Sometimes I fool myself to say to myself I am observing but that’s not true. When observing I am standing joy-fully in whatever there is, with withdrawing I create a distance between me and others and there is no joy and no equalness to experience and most of the times there is a judgement too.

301. Thank you Annelies I so relate to what you have shared here.I still suffer from the serious of life and am only beginning to now allow some joyfulness to flow, thanks to the much support and inspiration that I am receiving from Serge Benhanyon and fellow esoteric students and as a result am choosing more playfulness in my family and Life.

302. To connect to what we know to be our truth is such a joy and to express in this way with another is a beautiful celebration of life as we know it to truly be. An inspiring blog Annelies thank you.

303. So true that we leave that natural sparkle within ourselves – which is our birthright – to don the seriousness required from those external ideals and beliefs that are played out in our schools and in parenthood. Fitting in and being accepted is an enormous price to pay for suppressing that connection with who we truly are.

     1. Yes I feel when I am trying really hard with something to get it right that and therefore not make a mistake I often miss out on connecting with the natural joy and flow in life.

        1. I admit Jenny I have been trying to get it right a lot and it wipes out the joy completely.

304. I can so relate to this Annelies – and by the way I saw you recently and you were absolutely radiant with joy – but for me I’ve always taken life very seriously – I find singing and dancing fun and I love doing those things but what I’ve noticed in the last few years is when I’m at work and I’m meeting people that’s where I experience fun and joy and when I look back I’ve always had that ability within me, it’s very natural – I just haven’t always chosen it because I’ve withdrawn so much in the past and avoided the situations that actually confirm that joy in me. It’s an absolute joy to have found that again.

     1. I can relate to what you say Fiona. I was very withdrawn and very anxious thus avoiding to live the natural me. Since a few years I work as nurse again and I can say from my heart I love working with people, taking care and nurture them. Only recently I’ve discovered how much joy I am in while I am working instead of the old ideas that made my work a duty.

305. Well said Annelies, There is absolutely this seriousness that is holding many people back from expressing the joy that is there inside of them and always has been. It’s unfortunate that this joy has been artificially re-interpreted to mean you need to travel, party, drink, hang out with certain people, shop, have lots of money and time off work to be feeling good… but true joy is so much more then just good… and it can be in every moment of your day regardless of what you are doing.

306. I have gone through most of my life waiting for someone to smile before I would just in case I was rejected or put down for feeling lovely. Thank you Annelies, your blog brought back memories of being a child and this happening, and how rejected and guilty I felt because people didn’t respond or feel what I was feeling.

307. I also believed in “being serious”. To be taken seriously, maybe. No more being treated like someone you can play games with. A kind of protection.
     But your blog is truly a gentle wake-up call. A call of action for joy and lightness. I love it*

308. What a gorgeous blog to read and feel! I could easily connect back to the memories of when I held that natural exuberance and joy in my body as a child. And I know now that it can always be connected back to at any age, we simply just have to choose to do so.

309. The world is full of people trying to be happy, only to find that it doesn’t last or is dependent on something outside of us that we cannot control. The feeling of joy comes from within, as you write Annelies and that is always available. WooHoo!!

310. There are many reasons why we choose not to shine out our natural self. As a young child we are all naturally in tune with ourself and express without holding back be it joyful state or otherwise. As we grow up, the world tells us – almost dictates on the way we should be in situations, even when to smile or not. In that process we miss out on us and the world misses on us too. We are all playing this silly game and missing out on the real beauty of each other. Really doesn’t make sense! Yes, it is a choice and we can make that choice to shine anytime regardless of age and let’s all make that change for us and for everyone. Thank you for this beautiful sharing.

311. ‘Joie de Vivre’ Just beauty-full thank you Annelies – here is to more Joy in life and returning to the natural play-full-ness within!

312. I recognized being serious is a form of holding back- to not express my beauty and depth in full.

313. Beautiful Annelies, a great reminder of how when we let the seriousness take over we are actually saying no to the joy we truly are. Thank you.

314. Seriousness for me has also been indoctrinated from the Catholic Church and religious schooling that I attended. This is therefore how I have lived my life, believing that it is needed to get things done correctly and efficiently. However, ” Joie de Vivre” was no where to be felt. This led to me feeling depressed, and giving up on life. Annelies thanks for reminding me it’s a simple choice to reconnect to my inner heart through the gentle breath meditation that allows me to feel true joy.

315. That is also my experience Gill.

316. As adults, we can make life so very serious and heavy, getting completely embedded in issues and what is happening around us. Being with small children can bring us back to Joie de Vivre immediately, connecting with a twinkle in the eye, or a little chuckle, because it’s always in us too, just hidden a lot of the time.

     1. This is very true Gill, little children are great at living in joy, and there is no reason that as adults we have to lose this fun. Life can be productive and be joyful, in fact the two are perfect bedfellows.

317. Recently I observed that life was going super great, nothing at all to complain about, in fact I have been deeply appreciating myself and my life but I could not feel the joy every day. I talked to a practitioner about this and from our conversation I could see how I was being the ‘ernest’ student …couldn’t fault me… committed to any thing that was needed to be done….except no joy in ernest. When I realised this I decided to lighten up and the joy has re-ignited.

     1. Thank you Mary-Louise for sharing this – as of late I’ve realised that joy has not been in my everyday – why – I’d allowed an element of ‘getting it right’ into my daily life instead of allowing a natural flow to live each moment. As you share to ‘lighten up’ get playful allow the child within to come out to play.

     2. I know this one too Mary-Louise. Great to lighten up.

318. Annelies I love how you explain that Joie de Vivre is a simple choice to look inside and connect to “the vast spring of untapped joy” that is waiting for us to connect to. It is always there, no matter what heavy beliefs we encountered previously.

319. Its interesting how easy it is to consider ones life an adventure but really it can become a roller coaster of seriousness and problems. How far from the truth we felt as a child? Thank you for the reminder that the “Joie de Vivre” is what is innately and always inside and that we have the choice to connect to it at any points, it never goes away and we can choose at any time to live life in full connecting to what is naturally there.

     1. Great point David, I love what you have mentioned. Life is an adventure but if it’s a life full of man made struggles and seriousness then there is no accountability for those things being our choices when it’s just said that life is an adventure.

        The adventure would be far more fun if we were living the Joie de vivre which is in us all!

320. i find it interesting to see that as soon as we take on ideals, beliefs or doctrines from outside of us, whether it be religions, institutions like Steiner or or own compiled beliefsysteem of how we should be that this instantly kills any natural way of being and with that the joy we get from expressing and sharing how we feel.

     1. I totally agree Carolien, when we adopt a particular way to be rather than express who we naturally are from what we feel there is such a disconnection from spontaneity.

        1. So true. I used to have a friend who’s mum told him from very young ‘be spontaneous!’ This has disconnected him completely already as a child on a very deep/transparent level to be truly and naturally spontaneous as he always would feel his mum wispering in his ears.

     2. Yes very interesting indeed Carolien – institutions and belief systems that on the surface seem very ‘good’ and charitable are sometimes actually quite the opposite… It’s important for us to feel whether they are invested in actually supporting our natural way of being or diminishing it…

     3. It seems to me we take all from the outside internally instead of leaving the outside be and claiming in full what we feel naturally inside to be the truth and joy. The world for sure needs the inspiration of seeing the natural exuberance of people living from their innermost truth and joy.

        1. I agree Joshua, I used to say the world was inside out but I should say the world is outside in and thats just the wrong way around. There simply is nothing out there that can match what we hold within!

        2. Haha, love it Carolien!

321. I also seem to remember such seriousness being imposed on me at an early age, mainly if I recall right, it was through the Catholic church that brought in this seriousness. Well i feel robbed and thanks to your blog Annelies I’m claiming it back and aiming for a bit more Joie de Vivre for myself.

     1. I was raised a catholic and all I can remember was ‘hell’ and ‘damnation’. I cannot ever remember being told to appreciate yourself or that you were beautiful or to have a joyful life. It is a shame that many are not brought up feeling joy, or that they are beautiful, loving, and well worth appreciating.

     2. Me too. I could feel a slow smile creeping up on me just as I read this blog because I can be WAY too SERIOUS. When I really do love to have fun. Great blog Annelies.

322. Annelies such a great reminder to start the day – not to get caught up in all the things that need to be done but to connect to the endless Joy inside of us and to play with that through out the day. Lets be honest you can never have to much Joy in ones life.

     1. Exactly Natalie joy is abundantly available for all if we choose to embrace it.

     2. Great point Natalie… we don’t need to get to caught up.. when we don’t, the rest is easy… so the joy is easy to feel 🙂

323. Reading this blog caused me to reflect on how often I ‘turn down’ my level of joy so as to not cause reaction from another over the past. I would become very serious. This is something I have done my whole life. Now I try to simply remain connected to that joy and let it out. While there is sometimes reaction I am more confident now in my knowing that my reflection needs to be absolutely fully ‘me’ and if others are uncomfortable with being around joy it is for them to look at rather than for me to measure how much joy I can allow to be seen and experienced by them….and indeed, my remaining joyful is actually supportive for them – it confirms joy is truly ok, we can be this way, naturally. I ponder on how naturally joyful children are when left or encouraged to be themselves… how gorgeous and naturally playful the world would be if we were all to express this joy right through and continuing into our adulthood! I know it is possible! 🙂

     1. I relate to your sharing Janene, I too used to hold back my joy so others would not react and so there was this seriousness about the way I lived. Since I met Serge Benhayon I have learnt to give myself permission to express the joy that I feel no matter what and it is a lovely reflection to others that they too can be that.

324. Great blog! sometimes there is a part in me, that doesn’t want to let out the joy. It wants to hold on to the frustration and not show its full amazingness. And I’ve found that these emotions come when I have first stopped letting out all of the joy that is naturally inside first. If I stop expressing the love that is me, then that leaves me open to express another energy, something that is not me. And once I have let this go for a while it starts to become more normal, but it is far from the natural way which I felt at the start of the day. It is true, we identify who we are by the energy that is in our body, when I’m frustrated and angry I will believe that thats what I am. But after a bit of cooling off, I come back to myself and I can feel that those emotions weren’t really me, they were just passing through me. What is really me is JOY, it comes out, its already there living and expressing in my body and then once I let that out the world is set on fire 😀

     1. harryjwhite, I absolutely love how you have claimed setting the world on fire with the JOY inside you. I can feel it through your comment! Seriously (ha ha), how amazing would it be if we all let out our JOY, no holding it back, perhaps the whole universe would become ablaze!

325. What I enjoyed about reading your blog Annelies is that, although you have written about the seriousness of life and how this dictated your life as a child, I can feel your essence of joy throughout the entire article. I sometimes find myself getting caught in the ‘struggle’ of life which takes over and makes it easy to forget about the Joy inside. Through feeling the quality in your writing, it is great to remember that the joy is always there, like you have said, the choice is ours!

     1. Very relatable Simone, it really is our choice.. too many of us feel like we are ‘victims’ to the world and life throws us things to struggle with when really we can choose ‘joy’ by choosing to commit to our lives in full and express ourselves and out true nature. This will then change the way we do handle difficult situations. We wont be choosing joy though if we instead hold onto grudges, emotions, reactions and shut people out.

        1. I agree arieljoymuntelwit, I too am discovering that choosing to commit to life in full and living all that I am, is indeed very joyful. Quite a contrast to my previous existence of waiting for life and people to prove itself / themselves to me before I was prepared to share my joy. And a pretty painful existence it was. And I’ve got a permanent expression mark of seriousness in the middle of my forehead to prove it!

326. Hi Annelies, on reading your blog again, I felt drawn to the lines “I have discovered that in each moment I have the choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.” and with reading those lines this morning it struck me that for many years I did not understand that ‘being serious’ was as a result of my actually choosing to align with the heavier energies that abound outside of us and not really seeing that I in fact had a choice to not do that, but I could have been more aware to the moment and claimed that those serious emanations were in fact not really me and could have chosen to align with the natural feeling of joy inside me. Wow!! Annelies – what a light-bulb moment.

     1. I have experienced this as well, that in every moment we can choose joy, a lightness, a simplicity, also in moments when things are intense, or when things need to be addressed, expressed or talked about. These are the moments the seriousness can kick in, in my experience. But even those situations can come from a place of joy.

        1. Indeed Mariette, even the most challenging and confronting moments can be joyful if we allow ourselves to appreciate the deep learning they usually offer – mostly about ourselves.

327. In re-reading this awesome blog I clearly remember as a child (3-5 years old) when out with my parents how I used to respond/behave to the adults who came over to chat with us. Some I would hide away from behind my parents legs and others I would want to keep them chatting and join in. As children I feel we have an instant joy button, and those we feel who are not going to join in with that joy we just do not want to know about it or be a part of anything less. Becoming an adult is another story.

328. Seriousness seems to be there at every turn if we don’t choose otherwise. And even when we think we aren’t being serious and are actually being ‘free’ and ‘having fun’ another imposter can arrive, disguised and masked. This one being the imposter called irresponsibility. It may look different, it may appear less serious, but still there is no true joy.

     1. Thank you Vicky, you are so right, irresponsibility comes in when we are only concerned to get some relief of the tension, when we are way too serious. Having fun and going for excitement is always on the outer. This is never to compare with joy which is coming from within and has it foundations in the way we choose to live responsibly.

        1. Great point from Vicky, there is no true joy when excitement an ‘having fun’ is used as a relief for the tension and pain in life.

     2. Yes i know that one too Vicky, the times that I have fallen for irresponsibility and have defended my lack of commitment to life in order to feel safe instead of choosing to be me in my joyfull way.

        1. Yes Francisco, with you on that one. I hid behind my lack of commitment to life,(thinking I would be safe) for example, I didn’t want to be here, life was a constant struggle etc, but what lay underneath was; I did not want to take responsiblity for my life, in other words take responsiblity for my choices, ouch!

     3. yes it is important to feel the true meaning of joy and to note that it is not excitement in any way shape or form and that there is a great responsibility needed to be lived to experience true joy.

     4. That is so true, Vicky. It’s like in order to seek relief from the seriousness that is forced upon us we end up rebelling against it and indulging in things that do not truly support us or bring us joy.

     5. That’s so true Vicky. The recklessness of irresponsibility can give us a thrill and entice us out of seriousness with thoughts of ‘freedom, fun and being carefree’.

        In reaction to the seriousness, we may fall for this trap- something that falls so far short of our true joy and merely offers an escape and short-lived solution for the misery we feel.

     6. Absolutely spot on Vicky… we have to be clear on which is which, whether we are living our true joy and expressing freely from our hear and hence responsibly, or if we are using ‘being fun’ ‘letting go’ ’embracing the child in us’ as excuses to not be accountable and not take responsibility.

        1. When we talk about “excitement” it can seem like this emotion is the same as true Joy. However, there is no mistaking what it feels like in my body. In excitement I feel lost in a haze and wonder where I am! I feel my heart rate increase, I often feel hungry and find it hard to wind down. It only comes on in reaction to certain events or meetings. The contrast is startling – true Joy has solidity, strength and clarity. It is playful, but also deeply present. I can be Joyfull at work, doing the dishes or catching up with friends. These words are completely different! Thank you Vicky and arieljoymuntelwit for the reminder about the importance of true communication and the importance of claiming back the truth of words.

     7. So true Vicky, it feels to be there always, unless we choose otherwise, as is, as you say, the imposter Mr irresponsibility!

329. Yes life can get a bit serious sometimes. One thing I enjoyed from the very start was Serge’s sense of humour and the joy he expresses doing what he does everyday. I have never lost my sense of humour and fun and it’s so good to share it with others.

     1. I agree Belinda. If there is anything about Serge that I found easy to connect with at first was his amazing silliness and natural joy for life in his expression.

     2. That’s so true Belinda, knowing you I can totally agree that you have not lost your sense of humour and your fun and cheeky nature. Getting to serious in life really spoils the fun and you are unable to appreciate the simple things in life.

330. I love how little kids play in their own little world and love how you describe yours as full of joy. Great to remember not to get too serious as adults!

331. I remember feeling like I needed permission to shine as a child. I felt like I was always being watched and was not confident enough to shine regardless. I allowed this to control me way into my adult life. I still find myself confined by my concern of what others may think, but am finding that the more I connect to people and let them in the more naturally joyful I feel and I find that others often join me in my joy. Joy is there to be shared.

     1. I agree with you Rebecca, this blog does feel like permission to let out the child that’s in us all when we weren’t afraid to shine and be ourselves.

     2. Rebecca, I too experienced the same and still keep a close eye on the ‘watch brigade’. Funny but I never feel the ‘watch brigade’ coming from within me, always it is a preasure from outside of me. This has been great to connect with, as it makes it much easier to tell when it is truly joyfully me, or when the ‘watch brigade’ have slipped in with their lies. So much easier to say no to them, as they are never joyful.

332. Today I’m celebrating – I feel very joyful like yesterday and the day before. Mmm!!!!! 3 days on the trot! because for now, I choose to not play the game of being too serious about all the little things that can so easily build up and change the whole outlook of my day. This blog inspires me everytime I read it and to appreciate the joy within – thank you Annelies

333. I can feel for myself I often loose joy with the world when I make life about success and failure, living life nervous of uncontrollable outcomes, and getting quite serious in attempt to control them, rather than just allowing everything around me to just be, and feeling my joy as part of that.

334. A lovely reminder to enjoy myself everyday in anyway possible, Thank you Annelies

335. Joyful moments are the only true moments in life.

336. This blog is gold Annelies, It touched me deeply and brought tears to my eyes. Tears for the Joy denied and for the Joy that is. I too had a similar upbringing with the deadly seriousness of Catholicism. This seriousness seemed to me to want to destroy the joy that I was as a child and replace it with fear. Fear of God! How bizarre is that! And I agree the Steiner school was the same but a different flavour. I sent my son there and I was not impressed. When we know that the essence of God – Pure Joy, resides deep within each and everyone of us we can see how damaging these institutionalized so called religions and philosophies can be.
     Thank you for this great exposé.

337. I feel we don’t lose that natural playfulness Nicole, but shut it away in a box, sometimes bringing it out on special occasions, but often forgetting where we put it. Annelies’s blog was a lovely reminder to open the box, let the natural playfulness out – and throw the box away.

338. “As a child I soon learned from others’ reactions when it was OK for me to smile and when it was OK to laugh. Most of the time it seemed like I was expected to act serious but what I truly wanted was to shine and to show the world the natural joy living inside of me.” These reactions can so easily become ingrained and adults – including myself – can get so serious! Time to reclaim playfulness in everyday life and feel the joy that is innate in us all.

339. Your words are very inspiring Annelies, ‘Perhaps there is a vast spring of untapped joy just waiting to be felt and expressed.’ I have really taken on the belief that adults are serious and its children that are playful and can have fun, it is lovely to be reminded of the joy we all hold inside and that this is in fact our natural way of being.

340. Annelies your joyful expansiveness could easily be felt through your words and that in itself triggers joy in others.

341. Reflecting today on life I asked what it is that stops us from celebrating our amazing existence and the blessings that greet us everyday in everything and everyone around us, the miracles unfolding with every breathe we take. The choice is our and may not another minute be wasted.

342. Anneleis, this is such a charming blog reminding me of a saying I used to say all the time, “Don’t take it all so seriously!” A time when I was a lot less serious than I am now actually! I love being playful and reading the way you described your secret world where everyone laughed and connected, feels like a life I used to have not so long ago. Thank God, Serge and all of Universal Medicine for bringing this way back to us. Life IS Joy, after all!

343. Through choosing self-love and openness, joy will come in and you suddenly realize that all that seems difficult or is not pure joy is nothing but your own creation. Big thing and great simplifier at the same time.

344. Thank you Annelies for reminding me that joy is just our natural state of being.

345. “Looking back on my life now as a 54 year old woman I can see that the big bubble of joy I feel inside me has been there all along and has been patiently waiting to come out and to be expressed in full in every minute of every day”. YES YES YES. What constantly amazes me is how after spending some time in seriousness, when I break out from that and reconnect to the joy – there it is, always, just patiently waiting, huge reservoirs of it. And what’s more it isn’t some kind of euphoric rush – the kind that I used to pursue thorough various activities or poisons – it is a consistent, absolute, truth. It is me. There 24/7. Ready and waiting. In unlimited and never-ending supply.

     1. I love what you say here Ottobathurst and can so relate. It is absolutely crazy to think that we can and do keep the joy that is within at bay.

346. Being in joy is our true way of being. There is too much seriousness in the world. Lets go out and play! Thank you Annelies

347. Joie de Vivre ~ sounds like a beautiful perfume ~ one we could all be wearing and with no expense required.

     1. Oh Gorgeous Victoria! ‘Joie de Vivre’ knocks over caffeine as the 2nd most traded commodity in the world. And it’s free – the best investment you could ever make.

     2. I love this Victoria, our inner perfume for everyone to smell.

348. I too remember wondering why the joy seemed to have been squeezed out of life, and got lost in rebelling against what I thought was the cause of it. Today, as a student of The Way of The Livingness life (while much the same externally) is full of the joy that I had once given up on feeling. Being part of the student body is a truly joy filled experience!

     1. Yes Helen, it is amazing that we ever come to give up the joy in the first place looking outside for what can always be found within.

349. Joy is a key to peoples hearts and one of the powers to bring lightness and simplicity back to your life.

350. What a gorgeous blog, Annelies! Thank you so much for sharing your joy with us. I love this line:
     “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.”
     So true, it is such a simple choice – to be joyful, which is natural, or serious, which is not!

351. It is so beautiful that you have exposed here that seriousness is what we connect to outside of ourselves and it is merely a choice… just as it is to connect to the joy that lies within and to live that in full. How we then want each moment to be is always up to us.

352. If we were all to recognise, our state of Joy or lack of it is formed by our very own choices and we chose to adhere to our own choices, we would live in the world you imagined as a child. It may take time to occur as I know I had to explore and am still exploring what choices are right for me and which choices don’t work for me. When given the space to discover this we all lead ourselves in an evolving direction.Thanks to Serge Benhayon and his loving example I am now exploring this.

353. Thank you for bringing the topic of seriousness and joie de vivre to light. What I’ve come to understand is there are many things that appear serious but can actually be very joyful at the same time. Since reading this your blog Annelies I’m starting to explore what seriousness actually is for me.

354. As a child I was taken frequently to church on Sunday mornings – remembering the whole preparation process prior to going caused a lot of tension both my brother and I would rather of stayed at home. We mostly sat at the back of the church, the heaviness of having to behave a certain way and as you mention the ‘expectations how to act’ was quite intensified. Feeling the ‘heaviness’ around me I would start giggling to lighten this heavy pressure, this would trigger my brother off too(and a few adults). It was called being naughty but I felt quite joyful and would look around the church admiring the sun beams coming in the windows or the beautiful colours of flowers in the vases. I took myself away from the seriousness of what I felt around me. Re-reading your awesome blog Annelies is bringing up many moments in my life where I often suppressed my natural joy to please others.

     1. Oh Marion, I can so relate to what you are saying here about giggling and seriousness! Not that I ever went to church but the same happened to me in the even more paltry situation at school (no beautiful flowers or sunbeams to gaze at), sitting in rows of old desks nailed to the ground with hundreds of years of students names carved into the old wooden desks – the place felt like a prison. We used to have to trudge up many flights of steps like a line of prisoners into class – all these beautiful fresh-faced children who just wanted to have fun. No wonder I just sometimes had to burst out laughing, unable to stop. No wonder we had a game in Latin where whoever had bought a cold chicken leg for lunch would throw it from friend to friend to have a bite, behind the teacher’s back! Anything for a bit of fun.

        1. Yes, church and school, Marion and Lyndy, both had that suppressing of the Joie de Vivre for me. I remember transferring from the playful kindergarten class, where we had the most gorgeous joyful teacher who was always laughing with us and took us out for our rest time to lie under the swaying branches of the copper beech tree, to the lines of wooden desks and implication that life was a rigid serious matter. It was an immense shock and I was utterly miserable and felt squashed and squeezed into a box. Learning to come back to this playful, light quality of my child is a wonderful thing at this end of my life, and I appreciate Serge Benhayon for showing me the way.

        2. What you have said here Joanchristine is so felt – about going from lying under the swaying copper beech trees with your joyful teacher to having to sit in a row of desks in your next grade at school. Trees have always played such a vital role in our lives, simply by their being and their standing. The very sound of their leaves rustling in the breeze, the beauty of their trunks and foliage, their absolute grace, have delighted us endlessly and have been there as a reflection of harmony! What a joy. No wonder children sit in class gazing out the windows.

355. How true Gill! There is nothing like seeing a dog playing and leaping to bring on the joy again!

356. Bubbling away, always there, patiently waiting to be expressed – our sparks of joy never falter, and in truth it is simply a matter of time until we all work this out!

357. We are that joy and nothing less :o)

358. Gorgeous example Gill. Life really can be that simple.

359. It is so wonderful to feel the joy of another – when those moments of seriousness slip back in to feel another persons joy whether a smile, a comment or eye to eye contact – what a beautiful nudge to re-connect to the joy within.

     1. Every day is full of nudges, some I still ignore, some I appreciate and embrace wholeheartedly – the point is, the choice is always mine.

        1. Matildaclark, just appreciating the grace with which you write…I love reading your comments.

360. “How could you be joy-full about yourself?” What a revealing statement and indeed this is a paradigm that I come across in so many institutions and companies, and very much in the health, caring, and education worlds. To light the fires of joy again, to lighten up, to feel the inner harmony, is what can be offered now to break the institutionalized paradigm of seriousness and self neglect, and it is much needed.

     1. Love the way you have incorporated ‘self neglect’ with ‘seriousness’ here Chris. They are first cousins that walk hand in hand. Joy, presence, Love is the way to go!

361. Thanks Annelies for sharing your joy, I grew up in a family who found humor in all of life, while reading your blog I could see how seriousness had still found its way into my life and how humor was not always joy, but a way to cover up how joyless sometimes life was.

362. Thanks Annelies, your blog made me smile at all the times I’ve gone into the seriousness of life and escalated situations in my mind, which was always a complete waste of time and energy. Thanks for the reminder that the joy and playfulness is there in all of us; we just need to let it out to play.

363. We are indeed trained in life as a serious matter, devoid of joy. Only relief is acceptable. It is all over; it is the reflection we get. We learn to live this way too. Thanks to it, it feels safe. Yet, there is no space in there to bring our unique expressions into the picture. Thank God that Serge Benhayon exists and he has clearly shown us by reflection how much we have been missing out on ourselves.

364. Yes – I sought refuge in Music as a relief from the heavy seriousness, also and you are absolutely correct: whilst the Music was, by comparison lighter, it still, unfortunately, had its own heaviness and was written to celebrate the ideals and beliefs of its fathering institution. Hence, it was only good by comparison to something else that was heavier – not usually, intrinsically, truly good or light hearted.

365. This is an amazingly meticulous description of the processes that occur in our lives from childhood onwards that lead inexorably to our closing down of our natural joy and into the sombre tones of seriousness. As you share so beautifully, Annelies, religion, education and so many other institutions, insidiously have us focus on everything outside of ourselves and have us moving to their funereal tones, so that we are remain out of tune with our natural, god given joie de vivre. ( I love that term! ).

     Thank God for the presence of people like Serge Benhayon, and the many self reclaiming students of the livingness for the reflection to re – turn our gaze inwardly to the ‘place that bubbles within,’ – our true Joy!

366. It is refreshing and honest to read life was something you endured not enjoyed. I am joyed to read this, knowing it is here for others to read too. I know this was how I was going about life and even though I had an underlying tension and was not at ease with life, I did not admit to myself I was enduring life. When I started to read this blog today, I felt how joy was not on my radar whatsoever which opened me to feel the two different states from my body – how expansive and natural my body feels from joy and how it feels when shrouded and pinned down by seriousness. Thanks Annelies for opening space for joy to be through your writing about it.

367. A lovely reminder to embrace the ‘joy’ and let it out, then it is reflected back and that simple connection makes up my day.

368. Annelies, I too “learned how to ‘do’ things, how to get recognised for my achievements; it was all very serious and controlled” and then chased so-called fun in my early twenties. Your comment, “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me” is an inspirational reminder that in truth we always have a choice and it is ours alone. Thank you for this insightful blog.

369. Thank you Annelies, I can feel your joy !

370. As a child I spent a year in a Steiner school and it was like any other church I had known – full of stupid ideas and rules and crazy justifications. They promise to be a kinder, more gentle alternative to the world but they are only hiding. A very unloving environment selling the illusion that they are better. It has been 45 years but I can still feel my anger at an institution that promised love and family but delivered something quite different.

371. I can also remember a time when I felt free and unrestrained and playful in my childhood and then somewhere along the line at school and in my Catholic upbringing it all got very serious. Life became more about success, education, security rather than relationships and fun. In fact I would say that seriousness and security are very closing linked to each other. This seriousness has plagued me throughout my adult life and I am only beginning to learn to let it go and connect more to that bubbly, joyful, playful me that I can feel is there and has always been there too.

     1. I’d say you’re spot on with that assertion, andrewmooney26: seriousness and security do seem to walk hand in hand. We can often seem to become anxious when we have taken on the alleged responsibilities of life, anxious that we may lose the security and predictability of all that we have worked for. We also seem to become comfortable within our chosen niche too, and so, perhaps, close ourselves off to the joy of unfolding moments by focussing on protecting our lifestyle and assets.

372. It is lovely to read this article and recall how I felt as a child. I can feel that I was so tender, joyful and loving, however I chose to harden up and not express this and so I thought I had lost it. However, I had not it was there all the time waiting to be re-expressed and I can recognise that now as an adult of 40 years of age, I am coming back to something in my expression that was always there and it is a true joy.

373. Annelies, I can really relate to having taken life very seriously and thinking it was something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Thank you for the reminder of the big bubble of joy we each have inside of us. Your blog helped me to connect to it this morning.

374. Annelies, I can fully relate to what you have written. I have used seriousness for as long as I can remember as a place to go to when I want to withdraw, contract from people.. My seriousness is designed to keep people away and to isolate myself. My method of protecting myself. Refusing to allow myself to feel the joy that I know is inside of me. It is a way of living that feels normal and is very comfortable for me. People close to me tell me I am frowning, they tell me to lighten up. I am not even aware that I am frowning. What this blog has allowed me to see is that the choice I have is continuous, it is not just one choice to be joy full and everything will be okay. Sitting in the comfort. I need to make a choice in each and every moment. A choice to be serious and all that comes with it or choose to be me and all that comes with me. Way to often I choose to hide in the seriousness of live. Seriously, how could I not choose me and the joy and playfulness I know and can feel bubbling away inside of me. Thank you Annelies

     1. Thank you and you are welcome bjpiper1958, it feels as if everyone is waiting for you to let your joy out. So why not play and be silly to feel the true you!

375. I was driving home after a busy day at work yesterday and reflecting on my day. The seriousness came into my thoughts. I then noticed a double rainbow, the gorgeous light and clouds over the hills. It was truly beautiful to return to the child-like wonder and joy within me by seeing this.

376. What a delight to feel the joy and playfullness of you in your article and the invitation for us to let go of the seriousness of life and be our amazing joy filled selves.

377. There is certainly a lot of ‘untapped joy just waiting to be let out’. As you do, I was waiting in a car yesterday watching people go about their day – by what I could feel and see there was certainly a lot of joy being suppressed. Walking around the local town again observing – the same. One little shop (unlike the others) however was very busy – this was different all the staff were showing ‘the world’ their joy and by golly I could feel it.
     So enjoyed reading your blog Annelies.

378. Your blog is a true inspiration Annelies. After reading it the first time I can feel how much seriousness I have brought with me in my daily life. And how joyful and bubly I feel when I let it go. And to discover that there is no less quality when I am for instance playfull at work. I actually feel more quality in my body and my work feels so much lighter.

     1. This is so true Diana. I often find myself being very serious at work. When I remember to let this drop I start to enjoy every moment because I am being playful instead.

379. Beautiful Annelies. I was ‘stuck’ in very serious thought yesterday about my plans for the future and two rainbow lorikeets flew past the window chirping. They reminded me, as you have done here, that I am so innately joyful and that too much seriousness really stifles this! So my ultimate plan for the future now is to be joyful. Simple and amazing.

     1. I agree Amelia, nature is a beautiful and very joy-full reflection, I love waking up and hearing them chirp as if they say ‘come and play with us’.

     2. Great point Amelia, I also find if I get caught in a serious thought or problem then the magic of God is there to remind me of the real joy that I am. Although I’d not really seen it like that before so its great to look at it this way. I also love your ultimate plan for the future its much more enjoyable that trying to figures things out.

     3. Love this plan Amelia… and our joy is infectious and inspiring. Why would we choose for it to be any other way?

     4. lovely Amelia, letting the magic around snap you out of the seriousness…

     5. Great plan Amelia, a future that is simply, amazingly, joyful.

     6. That’s awesome Amelia – it is so easy to get serious when making plans, or thinking about the future – I love your “ultimate plan for the future now is to be joyful”!

     7. Great call Amelia…when things are becoming too serious and feel that life is a burden – it just means we have forgotten our natural connection to the joy inside. When I remember this, the crazy stuff of life just falls away.

380. Annelies, your blog has triggered something in me this week, and I’ve been exploring just allowing the joy I feel to be felt and seen by others…and wow!! I’ve had the extreme of people just wanting to be around me, to others not even wanting to meet me in the eye. And both are ok, I’ve just let people be and continued to shine, and when I haven’t been, it hurts. It actually hurts.

381. Love having this reminder to bring more playfulness into my life. A few months ago I helped prepare some food for a Unimed retreat and when I was sharing how much I had enjoyed being a part of the weekend I expressed how I had felt like a young child playing in the sandbox. It had been such a joyful experience, I was being creative and producing lovely food, which, unlike sand, could be eaten! So, I’m now asking myself why it’s not like that for me every night, preparing dinner …… something to ponder on.

     1. That is something to ponder on. What you wrote really reminded me of the joy I had as a child and how playful every action was.

382. The more I connect with myself and live from my heart, the more I appreciate that my joy has always been there- just a little dormant at times when I have allowed the seriousness of life to take over.

383. Although the playfulness of my childhood is still with me, sometimes I contract in the presence of people who remind me of old punishments for my natural spontaneity.
     I agree with Michael and Susan, the Gentle Breath Meditation and Esoteric Yoga bring me back to myself and my body allowing joy, my natural state of being.
     Thank you Serge Benhayon and the Ageless Wisdom for this incredible gift.

384. Annelies, this is a question a lot of us ask : “How could you be joy-full about yourself?”
     In our true joy, this emanates everywhere and any where. We have learned to cover our mouths when a fantastic smile is shown, or turn our joy down. We have believed that we can’t show our true light hearted joy because that is reserved for children. But why do children have the exclusivity to express joy for themselves and adults don’t? We may attribute that to the growing responsibilities and pressures from growing up, but could there be a more core reason that we have chosen to leave the connection that as children, we have with ourselves? And would coming back to a connection with ourselves, this joy will be felt again? Or more accurately, this joy cannot but be felt and expressed?

     1. I love what you are saying here 1heart1love1earth, it is so true most of us have learned to turn our joy down and to ‘grow up’. Thanks to the profound teachings of Universal Medicine I have now experienced that the joy and the innocence of playfulness is never lost, it is always a quality that we all have, but can only be accessed if we are truly connected to our own loveliness. Are we willing to honour ourselves to the bone, to express from our true selves and not what we think others ‘need’ from us, and do we put our own rhythm above anything else? That is the game changer.

        1. What is said here I found stop worthy too Eva, 1heart1love1earth highlights how natural it is for children to allow joy by understanding the seriousness that pervades for many adults is a symptom of disconnection. I love this as it points the way back and reminds me how Serge Benhayon has said just this many times and in many different ways and I can say it works because I’ve tried it – through conscious presence connection builds and naturally leads to joy. This is huge – what an answer – connection: a moment by moment antidote to misery.

385. Boy, Annelies, I can sure relate to being too serious in my life. I like how you describe how we all have that joyfulness equally bubbling inside, and about a month ago my daughter even said to me “Daddy, do you have to be so serious all the time?”. That was a big ‘ouch’ for me and I realised right there that all I had to do was follow her lead of genuine silliness and playfulness. Your blog has inspired me to be more playful and not resort to seriousness to hide my feelings or because of worry of not being taken serious in areas such as work, where there is a ridiculous belief system that if you are acting silly, you must not be professional or competent.

     1. Michael the expression from your daughter is absolute gold. I can feel her love for you and she is giving you an amazing opportunity to practise your playfulness and to be joyful together. Enjoy!

386. I use seriousness to protect myself at times but ironically it is usually what ends up hurting the most. An example is: I have 5 kids and sometimes I think if I am too playful or fun they will take advantage and everything will get out of control, they might get too hyped up and then I won’t be able to settle them down. Using seriousness like this out of fear and as a tool to control a situation always backfires on me. As you deliver Annelies, my natural state to connect to my kids in is the fun of life, and when I come from the joy first then I can bring them back from anything. I don’t have to be afraid as joy is the language kids especially understand as they are not quite as jaded or affected by the world as adults can be. This blog is a timely reminder to not get lost in the seriousness that life can trick you into thinking you need.

387. Thank you Annelies for the reminder that life does not have to be serious and if it does then to have a look inside and see where we have lost the Joie de Vivre……”Perhaps, like me, there is a vast spring of untapped joy just waiting to be felt and expressed. Live in your fullness, in your ‘Joie de Vivre’ to feel and show the world all of who you are. The choice is yours!” So true Annelies.

388. Lovely reminder of that big bubble of joy within us all, and how easy it is to choose to connect to that at any given time and enjoy life like when we were kids, Thank you.

389. I feel when I am connected to this amazing joy that is inside me and in everybody, I instantly let people in, no difference between me and the other. I am no less or more and the oneness is there to feel, a miracle!

     1. Ah yes Annelies, that’s what I’m noticing too.

390. Recently I met a 14 year old who had just attended his grandmother’s funeral. His most pressing question, when and where would it be okay to laugh again?

391. JOY is like a huge cuddle of love to feel this from another is a blessing and as you share with us Annelies “This joy is there to reflect to everyone in the world”

392. I had always found in the past when I had been in a real intense serious situation… I felt like laughing and I would have to force myself not to snicker or grin… the tension in the air was heavy and dense. I in-joy life now.

     1. I can so relate to what you say sjmatsonuk. When I was in high school, I would sometimes find something the teacher said hilarious and I would burst out laughing, but nobody else was laughing. I couldn’t stop laughing and would be sent out of class to sit in the corridor. Thank heavens I was nearly always found by the English Master who loved me and we would say a few ‘serious words’ with a smile on his face and let me go.
        My favourite bedtime stories used to be from my grandfather who used to tell me how he was always being sent out of class for laughing.

        1. What I love about your story Lyndy is that being sent out of class didn’t stop you – you couldn’t help but be joy-full and knowing you today joy consistently still bubbles out of the pores of your skin.

        2. What a beautiful thing to say Deanne! It is so enjoyable to read all these comments about letting in true joy again, and be aware of the ups and downs that the ‘serious’ life can bring upon us.

393. Annelies its very true that the “big bubble of joy” is there and has always been there. What I hadn’t quite seen is the seriousness is not actually from within me but actually from outside of me. When people are serious people and that appear to be joyful its only because that joy is also waiting to come out. What is also interesting is in situations that are deemed serious (deaths, work issues etc.) there is still the opportunity to be joyful in what I am learning the true meaning to be.

     1. I find when I take on the beliefs and ideals associated with duty, obligation or being responsible for others that I can become burdened with the seriousness of situations. But if I maintain that connection to me and still be in life there is a natural lightness and joy.

394. Thank you Annelies, there is much wisdom in what you have written, the joy of a child is to be encouraged right through adult life.

395. Thank you for sharing your experience of the seriousness that we often place on life. I felt sadness to see how your joy as a child and youth could only be expressed in the privacy of your bedroom and then was squashed altogether. It made me reflect on the way I am raising my children and finding the balance between allowing them to be joyful and preventing them from losing themselves in silliness. It is a lovely reminder that you share of the joy we all have.

     1. Thanks Lee – your comment about raising kids made me stop and consider too how to raise children without squashing the joy. It came to me that it can be quite simple – if I am allowing of my own joy it would be pretty hard to get in the way of anyone else’s. I can’t write from experience of being with kids but my experience of joy has often been triggered by being in conscious presence and stillness, so perhaps from this place kids could also be parented from truth.

396. Gorgeous blog Annelies – I can so relate to feeling that the world is in a state of seriousness, when this is not true as our real quality is so different

397. The Gentle Breath Meditation is an amazing tool. Whenever I feel that life is not just easy and joyful I can use it to connect to myself again and feel what is truly going on and needs to be looked at.

     1. I agree, Michael. For me, Esoteric Yoga brings me right back into my body and once I let go of whatever was keeping me fixated in my mind, the joy returns and it’s like a little mini celebration inside!

398. It is so true Annelies that I and many others have chosen to live a life that denies that there is a fountain of joy within us just waiting for the ‘choice’ to be let out and lived in and with every moment.

399. Yes Annelies, I too love your reminder that joy ( I thought it was happiness I was chasing all my life like ‘I just want to be happy’) has always been inside of me. From what I remember of my life it and I have always been very serious. But lately I get a sense that very young I have been a very joyful, alive and fully expressing little child. It never left. I just allowed it to be clouded over.

400. Annelies, Thank you for the reminder “that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me’. For someone who grew up suppressing my natural joy and embracing seriousness as this is what seemed to be expected of me, your words are gold.

401. After reading your blog Annelies, I can feel that I expressed my joy as a child, but experiencing a world which is very much serious I gave up on myself and lived a rather miserable life with no true joy. When I started singing with Chris James over 5 years ago i could access more of my natural expression with my voice and, with that, how joyful that is and how much joy i have inside of me.

402. A lovely blog and reminder Annelies that the big bubble of joy we have inside is important to share with the world, and, ‘This joy is there to reflect to everyone in the world, to offer the serious people in this world an opportunity to connect with what is living inside them’.This may bring much needed fun to so many as it grows.

403. I too remember vividly and sometimes now still experience something similar to this: “Most of the time it seemed like I was expected to act serious but what I truly wanted was to shine and to show the world the natural joy living inside of me.”

404. I loved this sharing so much, to just have a whole piece on JOY!!!!! I too had been chained by the seriousness and ‘joy’ was only fleeting moments through my life…and the only time i really feel joy is when i am living ME as you so beautifully and joyfully stated…

     Your statement:
     ‘I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me’.
     Is very POWERFUL!

405. I thought of your blog today when I was singing joyfully down the aisle of my local supermarket and I noticed a young boy watching me in amusement.

406. I have never heard the saying ‘Joie de Vivre’ before but I love it, the joy of living, brilliant.

407. ‘I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.’
     Great blog Annelies and one that I can relate to also. I was reprimanded all the time as a child for laughing and smiling. It seemed to upset the status quo of the serious world. These days I understand why and know that there is such power in remaining light and lovely. ✨✨

408. Wow, so much to consider from this blog. My body almost hurts to recall how much it has been squished to fit into ‘serious’, and another ugly guise of serious, ‘professional’. Gosh it is so hard to squeeze ourselves into ‘serious’ and ‘professional’, and on top of that, I for one judged myself for not naturally fitting in with that way! Thanks Annelies, I certainly prefer to think of myself as just having been way too joyful!

409. This is so true. If there is anything that gets us serious it’s complication and expectations.

410. Joy has not been something I have been used to feeling but recently, thanks to what I have been developing within myself since attending Universal Medicine presentations etc, I am starting to naturally feel again. Thanks Annelies for reminding me of just how much joyful expression is waiting right here inside of me waiting to be allowed out :).

411. Thank you Annelies, important reminder to lighten up and become playful and joyful as this is our natural way of being.

412. Thanks for your lovely blog Annelies and the reminder that every moment of the day we have the “..choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me or the seriousness outside me.”

413. I love this blog Annelies. What you have shared here is priceless, precious…
     It’s amazing (in a tragic way), how the seriousness that so many hold onto wants to envelop all in its hold… And yet also amazing to witness and work with children, who oftentimes are ‘putting on’ a seriousness and you can see they’re hiding their joy (so close to the surface..). It takes but a tickle and an acknowledgement of what I also call the ‘joy bubbles’ inside them, that are most surely busting to come up.. for the child (ok, oftentimes adult also..) to let their joy come up, and drop whatever facade they thought they should be holding onto.
     Joy and silliness – yep, absolutely priceless when it comes to relating to anyone in life! And such a cracker, when kids don’t expect such things to come from an adult – OMG! So much work to do to break the mould of seriousness, especially that we should be so ‘when we’ve grown up’! Go figure..

414. I have been told by several people in different areas of my life that I am too serious. This has shocked me, as I would have never used such a description for myself – others have always applauded my fun, happy and smiling disposition. Either are true actually, there is no steadiness or stillness in either personality – no lasting Joy – only spurts of excitement. Connection is indeed key and I appreciate your Gentle Breath Meditation sharing Annelies. Taking that time enables connection with our bodies – where our truth nature resides.

415. Thank you for the beautiful reminder Annelies – that we have a choice to get weighed down and “serious” or connect to the fun, playfullness and joy which is naturally within and share this with everyone! It is normal to enjoy life in this way but it is very true what you write – it is easy to see everyone else being very serious and then think that this is “normal” or what you have to do to get by in life.

     1. Love this comment, I concur entirely. Hannah you have been one person in my life that seems to always remember the joy in the littlest things. For example when you give a stack of paperwork, it pretty much always has a cute post it note with a sweet message that makes me smile.You make paperwork fun which says a lot, an inspiration on the subject of joy in life.

416. Thank you Annelies, a gorgeous reminder of the seriousness in the mind and the absolute joy in our body… which are we choosing to live from?

     1. Beautifully said

     2. So true Rachael – it simply comes down to our choice.

417. Thanks Annelies you have reminded me of when I was growing up there was a tremendous joy inside that no-one seemed recognise or resonate with and it didn’t come from alcohol or drugs or movies, or even from other people, but as happens, I began to think there was something wrong with me or I was just imagining it, and so dismissed that feeling and got on with being stressed about life… but the day I came across Serge and Universal Medicine, that joy instantly re-ignited, or more the sense of re-connected back to it as it had never actually left. Now it is amazing to deepen that joy and not hold back sharing it.

418. It certainly is a great reminder for us Annelies, that joy can be but a breath away, it is there always for the choosing and once you do, it gets your whole body fired up!

419. Wonderful sharing Annelies, on a beautiful topic. I must admit that life has been quite serious for me from quite an early age. Taking responsibility from the age of 9 for looking after hundreds of chooks, collecting eggs cleaning and packing for the Egg Board feeding them etc. Then having had a marriage and family that I love, but I do find that since I have been a Student of Universal Medicine I have realised Life is about Love and Joy and it seems much easier to let that into my Life now. I find my Grandchildren a great source of joy and the opportunity is there to be playful and have fun together, which I do!

420. Its definitely easy to get sucked into being serious and treating life with a frown, how great to become aware of this happening and let the playfulness back in. I don’t really enjoy being overly serious yet do find this can be a bit of a default at times. Thanks for sharing your experiences Annelies and how you are now able to make life fun.

     1. Same here Stephen, I also find that being serious can be by default as it is such an old habit or way of being…. but I am so much more aware of when I have gone into my old way…. simply because it is far to serious…!

421. Annelies, it is a joy to read your blog and thank you for the reminder that underneath all our seriousness, is a well of joy just waiting to be connected to.

422. A beautiful blog shared with us all – Yes my my hand is up – like many I can still get too serious at times. That’s when ‘trying’ and ‘doing’ gets in the way of the free flowing ‘allowing’ and just ‘being’. A beautiful reminder that we all have this bubble of JOY naturally inside just waiting to pop right out at any given opportunity. Thank you Annelies.

423. Thank you Annelies van Haastrecht, your blog was very uplifting, inspiring us all to feel our joy again, and to not get caught up in the ideal that we have “lost or diminished it, and that we need to find it or re-build it”, but in fact just connect back to it.

424. I enjoyed this Anne-Lies, it reminded me of the playfullness that I can feel busting to get out in me. And it does get stifled by seriousness… and the place I notice it the most is in business where you seem to almost get rewarded more, the more serious you are! Its definitely a trap as it is the joy bubbling within that brings out the creativity and that staff and customers can feel and enjoy.. just like in all other walks of life.

     1. Great point Simon, how many businesses can be positively enhanced by a more playful and joyful approach, particularly in relation to both customer service and the creative side required to make a business flourish. I wonder where that seriousness arises, I now recognise just how important it is to make work fun to make it work.

425. “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.”

     Yes that’s true. This I can see in traveling every day by train to work. People are so serious and contained. But you need just one person or one situation where you can laugh and all the people in the train can connect to this and change. Traveling like this is such a fun.

426. What a JOY reading your blog Annelies. And yes I do feel that there is Joy bubling inside of me and recognise that I also made a choice to go through life with a seriousness. I also feel that one of the reasons was that I thought that no one would take me “serious” if I would be playfull. This blog is such a huge reflection to me of that this was not a true choice from my heart! Thank you, Annelies.

427. ‘I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.’ Being playful is fun.

428. Just Beautiful – thank you Annelies – there is so much I relate to here and so lovely to reconnect to my bubble of joy and playfulness from feeling yours.

429. Thank you Annelies I really enjoyed your blog, I know only to well, growing up in the church, about seriousness. Life was a serious matter if you sinned by not going to church on sunday you were damned to hell, but to save you from that, there was always confession. This was serious business, not a spark of joy anywhere. Joy was really not encouraged because this did not equate to being responsible. That was another life. Today , thanks to Serge , and Universal Medicine, I am able to step out of that life of unworthiness, and gradually claim the beautiful, adorable , and joyful me, that lives within, the true me.

430. Yes I can relate Annelies, to becoming far too serious!
     I studied acting and performance in my early twenties and I remember finding it very hard to let myself go and got frustrated with silliness or ‘time wasting’ when classmates were having a laugh or improvising.
     As I let my body be more gentle and stop being so incredibly hard on myself – having lived as a perfectionist in an attempt to gain love, acceptance and recognition – I find my joy and lightness of being returning. And my sense of humour!

431. A gorgeous blog Annelies, I recall being a very joy-full child and always having fun, and over time being worn down by others around me with their ‘serious’ view on life. Your blog reminds us all of the absolute joy we have within, waiting for us to connect to and live: “Perhaps, like me, there is a vast spring of untapped joy just waiting to be felt and expressed. Live in your fullness, in your ‘Joie de Vivre’ to feel and show the world all of who you are. The choice is yours!” – So beautifully expressed!

432. Burst that bubble and let ALL out !!

433. Thankyou for remind us that is ultimately our choice to plug into the seriousness switch or the joy that is naturally within us all, it is that simple!

434. “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.” – I am catching myself more quickly when I have fallen into the seriousness outside of me.

435. Joy is such a natural state of being that is with you every single moment no matter what. This is contrary to happiness which is momentary. Happiness exists on the sliding scale of emotions where you can have varying degrees of it and where sadness exists at the other end. These are our reactions how we see the world and us in it. Joy is a constant and it bubbles away, like you say Annelise, it never leaves and it never reacts. In fact joy can see the misery and understands the gift for humanity.

     1. I can relate to the fleeting moments of happiness, Suzanne.Like when I was in love or a wish came true. But then before I knew it it was gone again. The joy I start experiencing now is felt more consistently and the cloudy, serious days are becoming moments, shorter and less. I stopped looking for happiness on the outside and find joy on the inside.

436. What a great reminder Annelies, about the joy that’s naturally there within you. What a beautiful blog to read, thank you.

     1. I agree Johanne, this blog by Annelies is certainly a great reminder “about the joy that’s naturally there within you.” I have found that that joy is but a breath away, if we but remember to re-connect with our loving self with the gentle breath as presented by Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon.

        1. Yes such an important reminder to lighten up and to allow ourselves to be playful and joyful as this is our natural way of being.

437. Annelies, this a wonderful blog to write about. Like you I do have memories of my childhood and remembering feeling this bubbling joy and how it would only take a comment and I could be seduced by those that have lost that joy to again sink into sadness and dull this light hearted playfulness, although it would take me days, sometimes weeks to come back to myself again.Joy was never far away. It is Serge Benhayon who has deeply inspired me to re- remember that love and joy are our natural essence and nothing can take that away again.

438. I love this image of you Ariana, and you’re showing everyone that joy never leaves us…we are born with it and we will die with it…it is part of our essence.

439. All the comments on my blog are a beautiful testimonial of the joy that is in all of us, we all know joy inside out, lets bring it out into the world.

440. Annelies, this is beautiful and I love reading all about your joy and how it is a true joy because when you feel it, you know it is an equal opportunity and lives within us all equally. The perfect antidote to happiness which is all about the success of oneself, your joy flies off the page as being a knowing that we are all naturally light and playful. Thank you.

441. Yes Annelies – the joy of living – with all the complexities and seriousness that life can show, returning to our true nature it all makes sense again.

442. I can totally relate to that as in school it is always serious, not many teachers have much fun with their lessons and it is all for the exams and grades. Where as when I am in my home all the seriousness isn’t their and I can enjoy life.

443. Thankyou Annelies, most of the time when I want to express this joy that you have described inside I can feel a lot of tension in the relationships around me and I am learning the art of living with the tension without letting it dictate how I should behave.

444. Annelies, thank you for knocking on seriousness’s door and putting it into its place. There is far too much seriousness in this world, and I find particularly in Germany. It is high time to give joy its space.

445. And I love the saying ‘ Joie de Vivre ‘…..I’m just waiting for a butterfly to fly past.

     1. Me too……….imagine a world of JOY, a world of celebrating US…..lets begin and live JOY, why not!

446. Seriously serious this blog is such fun and feels like a story for children to help them to be in their joy. I love it’s playfulness as well, such fun to read. Thank you Annelies

447. Seriousness has a lot to do with taking things personally, seriously ouch! When I have always known the funny side of life, why spend so much energy hiding when there is so much joy to be shared.

448. I had all this joy inside of me that I didn’t realise too Annelies… the more I let go of the way life should be and live more from how I really want to, just being myself and making choices from there, the more joy I feel.

     1. Absolutely Kate – as we begin to let go of the ideals and beliefs we have about life the more joy we feel as it doesn’t constantly feel like we are trying to shape or mould ourselves into a box that looks ‘good’ to others.

449. Lovely said. The Joy of Life which resides in us seems to have captured by Seriousness. It is indeed time to tap into that hidden but very present bubbling spring again and let it all out like a fountain,

450. Super supportive Annelies. When we have spent such a long time committing to seriousness it can feel like such a sin to sway from the path. Whatever flavour of seriousness, from whatever choices in the past, to let it overtake your true expression is a killer. Having people like yourself and Serge around to light the way on this is awesome.

     1. You’re so spot on Phil. Seriousness and ‘not being worthy’ of joy and love in one’s life is something which endemically saturates our society… so much so, that when someone does fully reclaim their natural, inherent joy, oftentimes people come down on them! How insanely ridiculous, yet it happens… through the jealousy of another stubbornly staying in their own misery, and not wanting to take full responsibility for it.
        So bring on the ‘bravely joyous’, who have reconnected to their (I’ll say ‘our’…) inner Joy so deeply, that we won’t have it squashed. People who don’t like it will just have to deal with it, and one day, just maybe… they’ll catch on to the joy within them too.

451. My parents used to talk about the way I danced the ‘hokey pokey’ when
     I was young. I can feel the joy being expressed in those
     moments…wonderful to feel it still lives within.

452. So gorgeous to connect with you in your joy Annelies.
     I have a photo of myself at the age of about 1 year old and my eyes are radiating joy. I have begun to catch more frequent glimpses of that in my eyes nowadays when I catch myself in the mirror. I know this is because of Serge Benhayon and the Universal Medicine student body who have inspired me to open up and live more lovingly and playfully. Claiming back the joy bubble.

     1. What a perfect thing to reflect on in relation to Annelies’ awesome blog, Jeanette. I have a photo also, of myself as a baby – 100% pure joy, absolutely A-maz-ing. I most certainly radiated this BIG TIME! And I too know that same joy in my eyes and being today, frequently so…
        Without the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, I can’t say that I would have ever re-found this. The seriousness of life most certainly dropped in increasingly so as I grew up, and lived through difficult times, etc., making choices to only further dampen the enormity of Joy within through alcohol, cigarettes, constricting relationship patterns… Arrghhh… and how absolutely miraculous to turn all of this around in one’s life. Wow.

453. Gorgeous blog Annelies. I love how you’ve described your joy – so natural and flowing – and how truthfully you described how easily it was for you (and all of us) to lock this away based on other people’s expectations of you. The consequences of that were quite drastic – living life as a joy-less obligation. It’s beautiful to read that you’ve turned that all around and live each day with joy – and in doing so are inspiring others to do the same. Thank you for sharing.

454. Beautiful blog Annelies. Joy is certainly something I have become much more aware of in recent years, being something that is innate in us – not something we have to create or earn. I love your distinction that we have a choice in every moment to connect to the joy within, or the seriousness outside of ourselves. Thank you.

455. Annelies, I read your article yesterday morning and felt very inspired to allow myself to be more playful, knowing this is my natural way of being, just being aware of when I was being serious really helped and I felt much more lighthearted and joyful yesterday, thank you.

456. To wake up and genuinely be in enjoyment of myself and life is a complete turn around to the waking up, dragging myself out of bed to get to school or work. Yet I do also notice when others are in that serious drag there is a clear and strong pull to tone down the Joie de Vivre – a choice that seems insane on the one hand after taking time to care and build that joy and love but something I’m noticing to be aware of.

     1. That is something I’m really aware of David, allowing myself to be caught in a serious drag of another. Toning down around others is a trap for young players and no fun at all.

     2. So true, David, I find it hard, when someone is feeling down and talking very seriously about it, not to get drawn in because I feel this would not be respectful in some way. But that is not true; I know I would show them more love and respect by sustaining my own feeling of joy and not getting pulled into their feeling of depression. Then, with the way energy works, I would be supporting them to feel their own joy and support themselves to heal whatever was making them take life so seriously.

457. When I first read your blog Annelies I wondered about my childhood I don’t remember feeling joy, but reading your blog again I remembered I did feel joy but every time I expressed it, it seemed to be extinguished by the seriousness of others, My bedroom became my sanctuary to get away from the heaviness of seriousness so that I could just be me.

     1. It has me reflecting too alisonmoir, I distinctly recall feeling very serious growing up and yet not serious at all when I was really small.. in fact, I can remember feeling so light and bubbly and ‘care free’ and it makes no sense that I would choose to squash these feelings down to fit in with the seriousness I saw around me.

458. I relate very strongly to this article Annelies, the seriousness of life is very strong and so easily taken on. It is much more fun and joyful connecting to the playful and alive me and being with this in all that I do, no question.

459. Beautiful blog Annelies! I can so connect to what you are saying … and as I am reconnecting back to my true self I still can feel how I suppress that playfulness and joy which I can feel is bursting to come out and be expressed. I am a parent and teach as a profession and it being around young children really highlights to me how I hold back. But your blog has been an inspiration and I shall give myself further permission to let it go and fully express!

460. For me, I cannot recall feeling naturally joyfull as a child, I can, however recall feeling a strong connection to the knowing part in me that knows truth absolutely.
     I am en-joying claiming that back.

461. Really great aspect of life to bring the microscope to Annelies!
     The whole seriousness thing feels to me to be part of the way drama is used to distract and unhinge people – a drama that can ultimately lead a church to massacre their brothers simply because they do not align to the seriousness!
     The serious, important face can indeed coerce others to come under its sway! Then the lightness, fun and joy of life gets lost . . . but the beautiful thing is that they can, in an instant, bring things back to balance. Joie de vivre is assuredly a magical ingredient in life.

462. Annelies, sometimes I catch myself taking life seriously and realise that it is a choice to connect to my bubble of joy or continue in a grumpy seriousness.

     1. A lovely way of putting it fionacochran01

     2. I love this fionacochran01, when you put the choice like that, to choose your bubble of joy or a grumpy seriousness it isn’t hard to choose really. Why be heavy and weighted down when lightness feels so much more loving and true and then supports everyone else to make loving choices too.

     3. Definitely, we are the ones that can make the choice and the change in our and other’s lives.

463. ‘How could you be joy-full about yourself?’ it sounds a ridiculous question to ask but I understand what you are saying; that we, humanity don’t allow ourselves to connect to all that we are and don’t celebrate who we are and the joy and love we all hold within equally so. It is saying if we are Joy-full about ourselves we must be self centred (wrapped up in ourselves) But maybe this is starting to change and so the question will be ‘How can you possibly not be joy-full about yourself.” I feel here as well appreciation is the key.

     1. When you multiply this out to humanity Vicky, its gorgeous imagining all the joy that could be released

464. Thanks Annelies. A great reminder that while there are times we need to take things seriously we do not need to let go of our connection to the joy we naturally are.

     1. Absolutely Penny. Seriousness delivered with connection and love can still be joyful.

        1. Yes this is true. Being serious does not have to mean being heavy and hard.

     2. So true Penny

465. Sharing your Joy with others as you are doing Annelies allows us to feel that bubble of joy that we all are inside. I had the same experience of seriousness as a child attending catholic schools which felt cold and hard, where joy was not exemplified. I deeply appreciate the example set by Serge Benhayon who showed me that joy and love are our natural essence.

466. Annelies, I so know what you speak of, I’ve often been serious in life and not living the joy I know I am and yet in more recent years I’ve been learning to reconnect to that joy, and to expressing it in the world. It’s been and continues to be a journey of discovery, and blog is great to read Annelies, to be reminded that when I do get serious (an old habit), to stop and connect to the joy again.

     1. Gorgeous monicag2, and knowing you personally I can totally testify to your reconnection and re-expression of joy, more so every time I see you! I notice this in myself too; the more choices I make that honour the messages I receive from my body, the better and more joyful I feel in myself, which I can then express with others.

     2. It’s interesting what an ‘old habit’ seriousness can be, and it feels that we can go into analytical thinking or even trying to measure ourselves and work out situations when we are being serious.. and yet, life is about living who we already are in the moment, and so what could there possibly be to think, or work out in advance based on others, and our ideals? when our natural joy will support us to not only enjoy whatever is ahead but hold a deep sense of love and joy for the process we live with ourselves as we get there.

467. “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me”…that’s quite a powerful statement here Annelies. And a very true one – we do have the choice at every given moment. And even in writing that I can feel more joy in my body and a big smile coming to my face as I realise that I have that choice. We are bursting with joy – all of us – it just wants to come out and play but the serious side of us, keeps it contained. Let it out and let it shine – gorgeous message for me from your blog today. Thank you.

468. “..living became something that I endured rather than enjoyed.” I feel it’s mighty sad that so many people would know exactly what this feels like. It’s turned for myself because of the regard I have developed and will continue to develop for myself; may all others unlock themselves from their mental prisms too.

     1. Yes Oliver, so true there are many people who can sadly relate to that sentence, enduring life because no-one has ever reflected another way to live. If it were not for coming across Universal Medicine, I too would be enduring rather than embracing life now. I too will continue to deepen my embrace, so that others too may see there is something inside themselves that breaks the endurance mould and sets them on a new course of connecting to the joy within.

469. When I was really young I was so playful and full off joy, around 5-6yrs old I became very serious like I suddenly had to grow up and be in control. This control has taken over my life. Just now over the last year have I started to let go, it’s still work in progress. But the more this control is releasing from my body, the lighter I am feeling.

470. “And I can say that I am ready, more than ever before, to show the world my joy – my Joie de Vivre! This joy is there to reflect to everyone in the world, to offer the serious people in this world an opportunity to connect with what is living inside them.” – You have definitely shown the world your ‘Joie de Vivre’ in your gorgeous blog, Annelies.

471. It’s a great belief that there is a spring of untapped joy waiting just out of reach, waiting to be felt and expressed.
     I must admit that I jump out of bed at four in the morning eager to start writing my comments for the day, with a smile on my face.
     Perhaps it’s because I feel that even if it is only a small start, I am working towards making the world a better place.
     Now that makes me joyful!

     1. So gorgeous Nick!

472. Thank you for reminding us that the bubble of joy is inside of us at all times and, unlike ‘happiness’, it is not something we have to strive for. All we have to do is choose to connect to that joy.

     1. So true Carmin. I have taken life so very seriously and completely forgot that there was this “bubble of joy” that I came into the world with and had with me as a young child. As an adult now I realise that to feel joy I only have to choose to connect to it. Simple!

        1. Yes it is that simple Michelle, to stop running with what is all around us and to choice the gorgeousness of connecting within and boom there is the Joy right there to come out and play. Ah so simple, in my every choice.

     2. We are bubbles of joy .. at all times! How beautiful and true is this.

473. Thankyou. An oh yea, the choice is mine! No more keeping it locked away!

474. Thank you Annelies, I can so relate to the seriousness in life – I too grew up in Steiner School and I have to say everything is taken very very serious in there. I feel like the joy got knocked out of me… so very refreshing to read your blog and feel the bubbles. Time to resurrect the joie de vivre!

475. I love how when I am being joyful and light, naturally others seem to lighten up around me. Its like we instantly remind each other that we can enjoy just being ourselves.

     1. Beautiful observation Vicky and so true.

     2. I completely agree. And at that time, I have noticed that there is no room for issues.

     3. This is so true Vicky and it is an ever expanding joy when this happens.

        1. Yes, sheer magic Jonathan and Vicky – and that is something that the mind in the head doesn’t quite comprehend – but we know it deeply and love it.

     4. Very true Vicky and I like how naturally this happens. Life sure does get serious sometimes 🙂

     5. I find this too Vicky, a simple reminder of just being ourselves, which can be so much enjoyed.

476. Oh that seriousness and intensity, I know it well, and it feels like a prison, but it actually locks you out! The joy and playfulness are inside, and it feels as though the intensity, once invested in, turns the key and locks the door into that place in us that is our true essential nature. I agree, Annelies, the adults around me as a child were “deadly” serious, and killed any fun and playfulness and joy that wanted to be expressed, and I lived it out in my own private games and imaginings. Joy and play became things I had to search for when I became an adult because I was so disconnected from them, and the trying to be them became a serious business, and of course, never worked. Now, after meeting Serge Benhayon and witnessing the way he expresses and presents, I can feel how joy can be lived, and how play is just a part of everything.

     1. I too noticed the seriousness of adults when I was a child, and as I grew up I noticed how children’s natural playfulness was squashed by adults who were too tired and preoccupied to notice the beauty in the easy way children connect to pure joy.

        1. I remember this too Rebecca…and I have slipped into that adult at times also. We miss out on so much and affect those closest to us, especially our children when we become too busy to enjoy the simple and playful qualities that are always available to us if we allow it.

        2. I completely agree that many people, including ourselves, lose out when we fit ourselves into the ‘serious’ box.

        3. Yes, very true Rebecca. And, it seems the more serious you are, the more the world takes you seriously!

        4. Exactly – I was apply for a job recently and the pressure to be super serious and formal was so strong, but instead I went with my feeling to add in something that was more personal and human and it really made an amazing difference to my CV. Sometimes in all our seriousness we forget we are all human and deserve some joy and love for ourselves and others

        5. Yes Rebecca, it is a real shame that this is not noticed and appreciated more. Children show us so much about natural connection and interaction.

        6. I agree, we often see children as less then adults, but what if actually they reflect something to us that as adults we have lost – such as the joy in life.

477. That’s a really great insight Annelies, about the church choir seemingly being the only place in church where you were allowed to be joyful but even then it wasn’t simply a true joy of being you but had to be about something outside of you. I think that’s an issue that we have generally in society today; that it’s not normal to let joy at simply feeling ourselves be seen because this would be ‘arrogant’ when really it’s not.

     1. We only have to look at the natural joy a child exudes to know how exquisitely gorgeous it is. Their whole bodies radiate it and they eyes light up and simply melt everyone around them. How could we ever encourage the dampening down of that, not notice it go out or not encourage it to remain? Simply beautiful that Annelies and many others are now reconnecting to it!

        1. So beautifully said Michelle!

     2. I agree Fiona, we are not encouraged to simply celebrate and rejoice ourselves in this society without it being labelled as in-appropriate or ‘blowing your own trumpet’. Annelies’s comment exposes the bizarre doctrines of many religions that we are supposed to praise God, but not praise ourselves as being the equal and glorious sons of God we are. When one knows this truth, celebration and joyfulness become a natural part of everyday, not confined to a particular building or singing hymns, but enjoyed in everyday activities with the congregation of friends, neighbours and all we meet in the day.

478. A gorgeous blog – it is true, most people walk through life with a seriousness thinking that is a ‘responsible’ and natural grown up thing to do or way to be. The great thing is that it is never too late to make a turnaround and come back to the joy and lightness that we all innately are – you being a great example of this Annelies, along with countless other students of Serge Behanyon and Universal Medicine.

     1. Yes Eva, there is a naturally responsibility in JOY, bringing a quality to life that is expansive, appreciative with a lightness and knowing that we are full of a richness within
        spilling over to be shared…joy can be lived in every moment, its a different take on life…we have a vitality and confidence that even in the most challenging of days we can deal with them and live…..not be eaten away by stresses, the conflicts, etc etc…

479. What an amazingly joy-full blog Annelies – it does feel painful when I realise how I gave up on joy at about 3 years old – until that time I still allowed my joy to bubble through but gradually as it became more suppressed and I nearly forgot what it was. That is until I met Serge Benhayon – and as you say the joy that he expresses in the way he lives life to the full and in equal love for everyone inspired me to re-connect to that joy. The more I allow myself to express the more joy I can feel that joy begin to rekindle.

480. There is so much i relate to in your blog – your experience with the catholic church, choosing an alternative education system for the kids, I found that we went from being a playful joyfilled couple to such a serious one. Reconnecting to joy has taken a little while but it is sitting there just under the surface – ready and waiting.

481. Thankyou Annelies, these could have been words written from my heart also. When we approach all that we do with the incredible lightness that we are, we never have to feel bludgeoned by the world again and by virtue of this act of grace, as is your blog, we are able to show others that although there is serious work to be done, it doesn’t have to be done so seriously! Love it.

     1. Love what you have said Liane about the serious work not to be taken seriously!

482. We all have joy in our hearts, but it seems people have lost that feeling on how to let it show. Pressure seems to be the big barrier, that people fail to let down, and let others see the real person in all their glory.

483. Joi de vivre is a very poorly tapped resource that people could be sharing and revelling in any time, all the time. It doesn’t mean that one is reckless, irresponsible or uncommitted to life: quite the opposite. How amazing can ordinary life be when filled from that bottomless reservoir of inner joy?

     1. I love what you have said Dianne and can feel the power in it . Sharing and revelling in a joi de vivre that en riches the quality of every aspect of life.

484. I totally agree that life can get too serious sometimes and it’s very special having people in your life that can remind you that it’s okay to be joyful and share your joy with the world. This is going to be what inspires others to also bring out their joy in their lives.

485. Thanks Annelies, a great and timely reminder for me that joy is innately there right inside of ourselves. Seriousness is what gets in the way.

486. As a wise person once said to me, if you are not being play-full, you are not with your Soul. Great reminder about the important things in life. Thank you.

487. I began to wonder on the ‘intensity and seriousness’ that you describe Annelies and they are qualities that society have held up as a markers of growing up and becoming responsible – these are often attributes that our children therefore aspire to, to be seen as worthy. This is a huge trade-in when you consider the true value of another’s joy. Thank you for cashing in your seriousness and coming out with Joy!

488. I have felt true joy as quite different to happiness or bliss. Joy does not comes from some event or comments happening outside of me. It feels like an expansion, a sense of oneness, a sense of connection and light-heartedness without any excitement or stimulation. Joy does not offer a relief from seriousness such as bliss, but is the most beautiful naturally hilarious expression that comes from me being connected to my essence. And the great news, that I have learned from Serge Benhayon is that Joy lives inside us all equally, so we can share it with all.

489. Annelies this is a beauty. At a young age I became serious and my life became about getting the job done and of course you weren’t allowed to have fun whilst you worked or so I was led to believe. This led me to “liven” things up by being stoned all the time but that just amplified the depression and lack of self worth I held for myself. Being playful is not something we can learn to be, we just need to be ourselves.

     1. Yes,Tony, there is a lot of seriousness around getting the job done. I was recently told by a Superior at work that the children I was tutoring were having too much fun. There was absolutely nothing coming to me to reply to this statement. So I just continued to have fun . . . with everyone.

        1. Productivity and quality can actually increase significantly when fun is added.

        2. Totally agree Tony – fun is the key ingredient – we love, the body loves it, the others love it!

490. Annelies, i can really feel the joy you are now able to express and it is there in all of us. I can really relate when you write about the “different flavours of seriousness” as was the case for the church. I too found little or no joy in the church or more correctly the church was actually not able to connect into the inner joy of the people who “belonged” there. Tapping into my inner joy is a revelation for me as I too have been caught up in the seriousness of life for too long!

491. Tears of Joy reading this article, I loved it. The timing could not have been more perfect.

492. Thanks Annelies, your joy is inspiring and evident in your writing as is your care for humanity, this is a very lovely blog.

493. Thank you for making such a clear distinction between so-called having fun with joy. We think we’re having fun on nights out, drinking alcohol, taking party drugs etc but the reality is, these are just relief mechanisms from the seriousness we’ve adopted as our way of life. There is no match for joy, once we reconnect to that gorgeous bubble of joy within us, no so called fun living, pleasure inducing activity can match it. Give me joy over fun on a night out any time.

     1. So true Katerina, here we are thinking we miss out on life if we do not go out partying – yet truth is we miss out on so much more if we do. However I used to be in such a downward spiral that I did not know anymore how to re-connect to my joy – only thanks to Serge Benhayon and his teachings was I able to make the right choices to find my way back to it.

494. Wow Annelies, that is really a joyful read! Many times in my life I was so serious and making life complicated, which is against my nature. Finding back the lightness and keeping things simple is a truly freeing experience.

495. “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me. ” This is beautiful Annelies. The choice is a no-brainer!

496. I have learnt that Joy is a constant state and unlike the ‘happy-meter’ it does not go up and down and so this is something that makes sense to me and why would we not want to connect to our bubble of joy inside us?
     There is a time of course where we need to be serious but it can be so without it affecting the joy bubble inside. A great example is Serge Benhayon presenting on stage where he is serious but you cannot negate the joy that comes out of his body so to speak and it can be felt for sure. He lives with joy and is a reminder to me that I can be the same too. Thank You Annelies for this great post.

     1. Bina, I used to think being ‘happy’ was being ‘joyful’ but as you say with happy there is the roller coaster of highs and lows, always being on the look out for the next high whereas Joy is consistent. I remember a friend saying to me years ago that surely that would be boring where is the fun in that. But until you are living and experiencing what joy really is everyday you cannot fully appreciate the polar shift between being happy and being joyful. I more I deepen my daily level of joy and the more consistent I am the stronger and more content I feel within my body which is priceless.

     2. Serge does have a constant playfulness that is ready and waiting to come out no matter what the presentation or topic. Its a well that he is constantly drawing from, and sharing with others, and the beautiful thing is that when shared, that joy spreads outwards.

497. as i read your blog Annelies i was reminded of a childhood picture of me where i am so open and joyfully am meeting the world. I have come to know the seriousness all too well and have found that it had become a pillar of my way of being. I am naturally playful but have bound myself with so many beliefs and ideals, so many ‘have to’s’ and so little just letting myself be. In fact i was taking myself way too serious! But now when i am surrendering to the simplicity of being myself, no boundaries, impositions or restrictions, the joy and playfulness can be there once again.

498. This is lovely Annelies, a bubble inside me is a gorgeous way to feel me, thank you that will stay with me!

499. Wow Annelies, a great topic and one I can relate to. I am naturally playful and joyful, but have succumbed to being serious and so fitting in for numerous reasons. Time to cast off the veil and allow the fun to flow.

500. Hear Hear Annelies, let’s all bubble! The Gentle Breath Meditation has been been a great tool for me to bring out my bubbles.

501. Annelies thank you. It’s easy to forget the infinite joy we already are and that we can draw from this pool whenever we choose to.

     1. Totally Agree Kehinde2012. It’s accepting that it’s there. The choice to tap into it is up to the beholder. The question is why don’t we choose it more often? This is a question I often ponder for myself. What do I gain when I resist what’s on offer?

502. Hi Annelies, I can so relate to the seriousness you speak of. I have gotten so caught up in it in the past, and still at times can do. It is often my children, or sometimes just the person on the street who bring this to my awareness and mostly without words- to just lighten up a bit and it feels very freeing.

503. I feel it is the jealousy that we feel from other people when they feel our joyful way that has made us put a lid on it or filter it. If someone else is not connected to their own joyful way then when someone who is comes along, it can be very uncomfortable for them and we cop it.

     1. Great point Sandra, that has for sure made me cop it and stop feeling the enormous joy that just wants to come out naturally every day. Every day can be joyful, getting too serious is a great marker that I am out of connection.

     2. How very true Sandra – we can feel how our joy in life can really discombobulate someone. Thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal medicine we can now reclaim this joy, be respectful with others, and refrain from putting a lid on it, no matter what reaction comes at us.

     3. Sad but true Sandra. Joy-full-ness isn’t always accepted and appreciated by others. As you say, there can often be a reaction and an attempt to switch off or turn down the light!

     4. It’s time we all came out of the closet and let our natural joyful way be seen and felt by all, and let others make the same choice that we have.

504. Thank you Annelies for bringing the focus on being our naturally joyful selves. There is so much playfulness to be enjoyed when we connect to our essence of being, rather than trying to take on how we should be or act according to what society or different philosophies proposes.

505. Thanks Annelies, it’s great to read and feel your bubble of joy coming out and growing.

     1. Yes absolutely Matthew, and also feeling the joy that everyone is expressing in the comments below is beautiful.

506. Annelies I can so relate to everything you have shared in holding back our inniate joy. I too have been caught up in the seriousness of life with family, work and more work! I am now too choosing to let the joy out that I have so long denied.

507. Annelies, what I love about what you have shared is what happens to us and our lives when we live according to a set of ideals and beliefs and what a simple, but powerful tool the Gentle Breath Meditation is.

     1. I find I experience Joy through connecting to my true essence, and the Gentle Breath Meditation a powerful tool for developing connection and thus to feeling the joy that lives inside us.

508. I feel the joy and playfulness in the words of your blog Annelies… beautiful. I was also raised Catholic and well remember the seriousness of going to Mass not to mention a Catholic Boys School. It was all so heavy, austere and controlled and has taken me years to gradually peel back some of those layers of seriousness and allow myself to relate more and more from my innate joy and cheeky playfulness. Thank you for the inspiration to keep peeling back the tenebrous layers that are far from the real and joyful me.

509. Great blog Annelies. For me it feels like having to take a lot of responsibility in life from a young age brought seriousness with it. Back then everything was made to be serious. I can remember as a small child if my sibling and I were on the odd having fun we would always be told that “enough of that someone will end up getting hurt” no matter what the situation was. This always brought a dull heavy feeling to life. It was almost like joy was not allowed.
     I carried this into my adult life and lived by the picture I created as a child of having responsibilities meaning seriousness and not allowing joy in my life. These days I know when I reconnect to who I truly an I can feel joy is all-around me and responsibility and seriousness can also have a joyfulness to them. It is just a matter of me allowing myself to feel it.

510. Thank you Annelies, I could definitely relate to a world as a child where it seemed the adults had made it a very serious structure. It is great sharing that this is not our natural way and an imposition at the least. It’s an awesome reminder to keep choosing joy, love and lightness as it is our natural way.

     1. This is true Greg, ‘It’s an awesome reminder to keep choosing joy, love and lightness as it is our natural way.’I can really feel how serious we have made the world as adults and how this is not how we are naturally, so yes it reminds me to bring back my natural playfulness and lightness and know that it is not only children who can be joyful and light.

511. Annelies I love this blog. I was so serious when I was young, very painfully so. Now I really appreciate the fun I have with people and this is becoming my every day more and more.

512. This is beautiful, Annelies, and it’s lovely to see and feel the joy you are living now. I could really feel the words ‘I can see how I allowed the seriousness I felt in church and in the education system to pervade every part of my life in order to fit in and survive.’ Fit in and survive is what many of us ‘try’ to do, and it’s so wonderfully freeing to simply be ourselves and let the natural joy bubble up from deep inside – where it has been all along.

     1. I agree Carmel – “it’s so wonderfully freeing to simply be ourselves and let the natural joy bubble up from deep inside…” afterall that is our natural state.

     2. Ouch! That ‘fit in and survive’ line hurts! But you are correct Carmel, that’s exactly what our lives tend to become. No wonder it all gets so serious. Thank God for the bubble of Joy that is within us all.

513. ‘vast spring of untapped joy’ love it Annelies. I can understand what you mean.. I’ve never known if it was okay to be me and let people in on a secret that I’m joyful and just do the things I want to from that..

     1. I like that Emily, do we tend to think that we need to keep our joyful bubble that just wants to burst with glee under wraps because not many around us have connected to their own joyful bubble? Thing is, when we do let our joy out it can remind people of the joy they long to reconnect to as well, because joy always comes from within, from us connecting back to who we truly are and living our lives from that.

514. Such a joy-filled blog on a life of seriousness versus a life of joy. As I read I found myself remembering the little girl who learned very early on that “I had to be serious in life and behave myself.” – that’s what you did to please people and to fit in. Of course that seriousness stayed with me into adulthood and it became such a part of me, I thought that it was simply normal. But like you, I have discovered and re-connected to that delightful joy bubble inside me and just love allowing it to bubble on out, sharing it with others and the world. Joie de Vivre – the joy of life – and there is so much in life to be joyful about!

515. Thank you Annelies for the wake up call, you are so right, in essence we are joy, it is our natural state of being . Its a great marker for me to feel and if I am not feeling joy, where am I ?

     1. It is an amazing marker indeed to realize that in all moments in which we cannot feel the joy and amazingness that we are, we are just not living ourselves in full. Cool and very simple support :o)

        1. So true michaelkremer2212. Knowing and feeling that seriousness is not who we are but a way of being that we have taken on. This is indeed great support as we then realise that we do have a choice. The choice to connect to our innate and joyful way is always there.

     2. A great point paulmoses39 – ‘if I am not joy – where am I?’ Indeed something for all of us to take a honest look at.

     3. Thank you Annelies and paulmoses39, absolutely the truth of living our childhood “joy” which is so natural, should be taught in schools!

516. Beautiful, Annelies. I enjoyed reading your blog very much, and feeling the possibility that being joyful may become the new norm, as ‘serious’ is no longer cool.

     1. It’s so uncool isn’t it Janet and I think I need to unsubscribe my membershipship from Serious_are_is and re-subscribe #joyiship #itswhereitsat #letitout #and #letinshine

        1. He he….Serious_is_it

     2. Ah yes janetwilliams06 joyful becoming the new norm – hear, hear to that!

        1. Indeed Bianca, bring on the the joyful new norm. It will be great when the day comes when instead of depression, anxiety, etc.. being talked about as worldwide epidemics, joy becomes the topic of discussion and ways to help deepen our connection with both ourselves and others – it is like the world will be quite literally turned upside down!!

     3. Thank you Annelies and janetwilliams06. If ‘Joy’ as a subject is too cool for school, maybe it could be introduced as a subject, called, ‘Joy, never hide it’. Now that would be ‘cool’ and at the same time fiery.

517. What a beautiful inspiring article to read. I could really feel the joy in you Annelies and connect to the joy within myself, a glorious way to start this day and everyday.

518. Annelies, like you I remember as a child being very joyful but getting the message that my joy was often not appropriate! Very quickly I learned to put on the serious face, and then in time life grew to be rather a serious affair just like it was for the adults around me. With the support of Universal Medicine I am coming back to that joy, and learning to express it no matter what others around me are doing or thinking. That’s something I observe in Serge Benhayon an absolutely palpable joy that emanates from his body even when he is apparently being ‘serious’. It makes an inner smile just to see it, a great reminder.

     1. I love what you share josephinebe2012 it is true, joy is something different then excitement, and it can be expressed in many different ways in all situations. I feel the trick is to give ourselves permission to feel this joy even when others are not. No more enjoining and much more enjoying! 🙂

        1. “No more enjoining and much more enjoying!” is a great catch cry Carolien

     2. Yes, what you say about Serge Benhayon I experience as well, it ignites a feeling in my body that goes beyond happiness, excitement etc. It is a deeply felt joy from a place where I know i belong and come from.

     3. Yes I so agree there is such a palpable joy that emanates from Serge Benhayon.
        Josephinebe2012 you’ve reminded me of how I felt about expressing joy when I was young. I remember thinking that joy didn’t fit in with those around me who showed me life was all about struggle.

        I can remember laughing with my brother and being told to be careful because ‘they’ll be tears.’ I remember being really puzzled because there never were any tears. Time to let go of the fear that when I feel great then something bad will jump out from around the corner by surprise!

        1. Karin, you have reminded me of the very same experience growing up always looking for the bad things that may be coming. What a horrible trick this is. It keeps us constantly looking ahead, away from the moment & looking for the bad. So when we were experiencing wonderful moments, they were never enjoyed in full, because we wet looking ahead for the next bad thing. Phew time to toss this to the rubbish dump.

     4. I can recall being a joy-full six year-old and being told not to ‘show off’. Big download of seriousness in that moment. Happily the joy was not banished for ever though – and can never be, for it is innate within us all.

     5. Yes I agree josephinebe2012 I too have childhood memories of the inappropriateness of my joy, I can remember a specific moment when I was bubbling with joyfulness and the playfulness that accompanies this and my mother turned to me and said ” Grow up” I was standing next to her, not really doing anything and I can still remember how I deflated; just like a balloon being let down. I was about 7 years old at the time.

519. I so enjoyed reading your blog Annelies. I could feel the ‘joie de vivre’ in your expression and wonder at the pain of the child when it felt it had no choice other than to be ‘serious’. How very beautiful you had the awareness that this ‘joy’ was a natural part of you when so young – I have no real memory as a child of that myself, and following the initial meeting with Serge Benhayon and other students, I used to question why I did not have any knowledge or awareness of the ‘joy’ of which they referred to – but indeed, there it was, hidden very deep within, buried beneath much that was not true nor true love just waiting to reveal itself and who I was truly. Thank you for the reminder, it brings forward a sense of appreciation yet again for the inspirational presentations of Universal Medicine.

520. Thank you for reminding us all of the big bubble of joy inside us and that it is our moment to moment choice to connect to it or not.

     1. A great reminder josephinebe2012, that “the big bubble of joy inside us and that it is our moment to moment choice to connect to it or not”. It never leaves us far from it the moment we choose to come back to it it bounds back to us quicker than we could wish for, regardless of how far we may have strayed from it!

     2. Yes I love the image of this, a big bubble of joy inside.

521. The feeling I get when reading your blog Annelies is why don’t I feel joy from my body like I can feel you do. Thank you for opening this up for me to reflect on.

     1. Yes it is great to read blogs which can inspire and raise our awareness. In this case the joy in our lives.

522. I love how you reconnected with your “joie de vivre” Annelies. My bubble was buried deep inside for a very long time. I was taught that life was a serious business, which left little time and room for expressing joy. Bubbles are meant to rise and mine is slowly moving towards the light putting a smile on my face.

523. Weeeee! I really love this blog; it’s often been a mystery to me too – why all the grumpiness? Or, why so serious? Don’t get me wrong, I have my periods of frown time too, but generally I like to have a laugh and enjoy the humour in living philosophically. This blog is great at highlighting the importance of allowing, great job Annelies.

     1. i love that Oliver ‘ enjoy the humour in living philosophically..life in its reflections often makes me laugh out loud!

        1. Me to Carolien.😍

     2. Great question Oliver – why all the grumpiness? Is this what we want our kids to grow up with, or to reflect out into the world. I prefer your comment at the start, and the feeling I get when I let the joy bubble up … ‘weeeee’

524. Just yesterday afternoon I had the joyful experience of watching three young magpies playing like puppies on the grass – rolling over, pinching leaves off one another and gently nipping each other. I couldn’t help but watch them until their antics were over. Possibly telling me to get back to being a bit more playful!

     1. So lovely Deborah, moments like these are something that I enjoy so often now, just yesterday I saw a Wedgetail Eagle drop his dinner and swoop back to pick it up. Rewind a couple of years back to where I was so stuck in my head and the chatter there that I shudder to think of what I missed in my life, not just the beauty of nature, but also the connection with family, friends and humanity.

525. Reading about ‘Joy’ ignited the Joy in me and it feels beautiful. I see the Joy everyday in the little ones around me, in my grandchildren and I also see clearly moments that you spoke of Annelies, when you were young and life suddenly became governed by ‘getting’ serious. Even taking my grandchildren to the playground there is excitement and joy of play and then I notice a seriousness come in as they apply themselves to mastering a piece of the playground equipment – serious business. Joy is the wonder of Be-holding all the beauty inside us and around us. Thank you for starting my day re-connecting me to the amazing joy of all I am. Each day is about celebrating that and bringing it to all around me.

     1. Its amazing how much joy is pushed to one side in life, to make way for seriousness. I have to say, feeling the joy in life is something I need to bring more focus to – it feels that to begin to again connect to the joy of life, it requires stepping back and observing life, not getting so involved and caught up.

     2. Beautiful ch1956 ‘Joy is the wonder of Be-holding all the beauty inside us and around us’.

526. Wow Annelies, amazing! I love your blog, the part about seriousness and feeling the joy, it was like you were describing me. I have been told many times that I can be very serious and when I used to hear this I would react but the reason I reacted was because it was true. Most of the time I had forgotten to be playful and joyous. There were rare moments when I really let loose, just be myself but then I would let the seriousness creep back in again. It was like I was afraid to be playful and joyful in case something awful might happen to shut it down, so I did it myself and only allowed it out when it was safe. It was very controlled and restricting. Now, I am learning to be myself consistently, to show my natural joyfulness and playfulness everyday without hiding it. I am learning from inspiring people at Universal Medicine and from my children. They inspire me to connect to who I am and to be fun, playful and express the joy I feel inside.

     1. Just allow it to come out chanly88 that is what I am learning, it is there when I allow myself to be joyful in a world that is caught up in seriousness and all the complications that follow up this way of life.

527. Thank you Annelies for sharing the lack of joy and the seriousness about life, I can very much relate to it. For me life was so serious as a child that I had to be very naughty and do silly things all the time to feel light and joyful. I also went to a Steiner school and its so serious there that you feel you are dying of boredom. I grew up in Germany and left it in my 20’s because I couldn’t stand the seriousness. People would judge me as immature and superficial when I was offering playfulness and joy. The inner joy I felt was nowhere reflected and the false re-interpretation of the joy was for me partying, drinking, drugs and being silly with friends until I came across Universal Medicine and realised how much I was missing my true joy. Today I live joyful all the time and I don’t need special events or occasions to feel joyful I AM JOYFUL. Very awesome, thank you for claiming true joy back!!

528. Awesome, blog full of joy just landed on my desktop and the only thing stopping me from feeling it is old beliefs that I am not aloud to or I shouldn’t.
     I have been way too serious for way too long, and there is a part of me that wants to just go for it, and enjoy and be more playful and then like a boring strict parent, I control it and not let myself just be. (Although at limited times I do.)
     I can’t blame anyone for this, this is my own making..
     Thanks for reminding me that I have a choice. I now work with some very playful joyful friends, who offer this reflection to me… so its all around me, just waiting for me to bring it on and open up my floodgates.

529. Thank you Annelies, it’s beautiful how you are expressing yourself. Really, to read how you have seen a pattern in your life that has been rather a role than that absolute joy you felt inside when you where a kid. I love this example. I too have felt this seriousness big time in my life, I too have been going to a Rudolf Steiner school and did feel that I needed to suppress my joy even more and become serious, become a certain way to fit the rules, like church school. THIS is so the opposite of what I am re-discovering now in my life. I am none of that seriousness, I actually acted and behaved in that way – but first and foremost, I am full of joy and I am thrilled to feel my joy again and to be and share this with everyone I meet. Thank you for this inspirational blog, I would love to read other parts of your development.

530. Hello Annelies, this is a ‘seriously’ good blog. I love the distinction in this quote of yours, “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me.” From this connection to yourself much will change as the ‘world outside’ is telling us to be things we naturally are not. Thank you Annelies.

531. I too lost that joyful laughter as a well inside me, searching for meaning in life. I am not a big well of joy all day every day but I have glimpses of feeling very very light and at ease in myself. I know joy that you share is possible and know that is where I am heading.

532. Having known you now for some years, Annelies, it is a great joy to see your Joie de Vivre as when I first met you it was not present. You now have such a lovely, joyful presence. I love your question to the reader, “have a look inside yourself – what is bubbling inside of you?”

533. What a beautiful blog Annelies and I could so feel how the seriousness of life is such a trick we all together fall for. We have all been children and probably almost all have been very joyful in that period of our lives. I wonder after reading this why we all accept this much lesser, serious way of life! I can feel in me, and every single one of us, is a joyfulness and playfulness waiting to get out again.

     1. I can feel the sadness when I choose to hide my joy and playfulness each time it happens. I now understand where this sadness comes from, it doesn’t last once I feel it, recognise it and identify what I have chosen to create that. By me choosing to connect to who I am and to express my joy in full every day, sadness simply cannot exist. Like you beautifully shared Lieke, we all have joyfulness and playfulness inside waiting to be expressed. It is so natural and beautiful when we connect to it. Awesome reminder for me, no more hiding it or supressing it, let it out and express, express and express.

534. Ahhh Annelies, I luurrvvee this. I can so relate to having a lid on the Joy bubbling up inside. Before Universal Medicine I felt extremely frustrated that there was a big voice inside me and enthusiasm for life that I just could not access or let out. I was always too concerned about what others would think. Now through much letting go of the blockages, I am much more expressive and most definitely the Joy for Living is Out.

535. Thank you Annelies, it has been so easy for me to creep into seriousness in the past making life feel like a burden or struggle. I too have been inspired by Serge Benhayon and his constant reflection of joy and love and now know that I too have this same amazing joy inside me whenever I choose to re-connect with me, life can be so joyful and playful!

536. Thank you Annelies for this blog so full of Joy of living and of beauty.
     I feel that more than just bubbling, there is a whole spring of joy inside of me.
     A spring that will let love and joy flow out into the world to nourish all who choose to drink from it.

537. Thank you Annelies for this beautiful blog, one only has to look into your eyes and the sparkle of joy is there in full. You are pure joy.

538. I can’t keep my serious face on when reading your blog Annelies! I adore feeling the joy in how you live now and appreciating all the joy that I am also living in my life too!

539. I love it Annelies. I can relate to this seriousness you are talking about, there is so much seriousness in the world and I very much brought into it. But, as you say, when we allow ourselves to bring out that which truly lives in us there is a lot of joyfulness bursting to come out. Thank you for showing and living your bubbly self.

540. Beautiful blog Annelies. This seriousness you describe is very much known to me, but as I can feel I am much more than this, I enjoy myself and life more and more.

541. What a super blog! I too remember enjoying the singing in church when I was young, but it never truly lightened the seriousness of what they were presenting on how to go about life. Nowadays I’m all for tapping into the joy that is naturally inside me and will be ever thankful to Serge Benhayon for showing me there is a true way to live life on earth that isn’t bogged down in all that ‘seriousness’.

     1. Judy, from what I know of you, there is not a bone in your body that is not infused with joy. I adore you for it as I do us all for being able to embody such exquisiteness and share it.

542. A gorgeous blog Annelies. How wonderful to drop the serious exterior and allow the joy to bubble up from inside.

543. Thank you, Annelies, for reminding us that joy is our essence, and I remember clearly how seriousness used to make my life complicated, heavy and emotional.

544. A lovely expression on Joy, thank you Annelies. I grew up being quite serious, wanting to get it right & trying too hard with my responsibilities etc.I know that’s not really me, as when I lighten up, life just flows beautifully. It’s inspiring to read ” there is a vast spring of untapped joy just waiting to be felt & expressed.Live in your fullness, in your joie de vivre to feel & show the world all of who you are”. Being silly and playful is really ok!

545. This is so lovely to read Annelies…I am naturally very playful but I can get very serious which really doesn’t suit me and isn’t me at all. So reading your blog is a lovely reminder to let my joyful, playful way be seen and felt by everyone who meets me so that they get a reflection of how they too are full of joy. I’m going to join you in this joyful epidemic!

     1. Me too Sandra. I’m naturally playful and can have so much fun and laughter but I can be sooo serious at times – the opposite of who I naturally am. I notice I do this when I let self-doubt in or want to be accepted. I agree this blog is a lovely reminder of the joy I could be living every day, which is already in fact inside of me. It actually feels sad and confronting that I do not express this joie de vivre consistently, so thank you Annelies for sharing this and inspiring it in me.

     2. Me too Sandra, I am joining you in this joyful epidemic, connecting to what feels so natural and amazing.

     3. Yes Sandra, as we allow our playful, joyful side to be seen and felt we give permission for other people to join us.

        1. Yes, would you like joy with that? Oh it’s not an option, it’s part of the package 🙂

546. Annelies, your Joie de Vivre could be contagious and you could start an epidemic 🙂

     1. Bring it on then…

547. I have often got stuck in a seriousness about life, me and the universe. There’s a lot going on and a lot to consider! Things are easier to deal with when connected to the joy of simply being. Once you build a consistent connection to it, it is even there whilst dealing with difficult situations that might require a serious moment.

548. Thank you so much Annelies, I could feel the joy bubbling inside of us both as I read your beautiful article reminding me of the absolute joy that we are!

549. I love the way you have reclaimed your joie de vivre – it is so natural and yet, it gets educated out of us and then it is so easy to do it to the next generation as well because it is all we have ever known.

550. Wonderful Annelies, a joy to read as the playfulness shines through in this blog. I used to be very serious and it was hard going! As I grew up, being silly in my every day life wasn’t seen as ‘normal’ unless I drank alcohol as drinking alcohol gave me an excuse to be silly! It wasn’t until I attended a workshop by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine that I found the playfulness that had been sitting within me all along and this time it was without the need for alcohol! It feels such a relief to have this confirmation that it is ok to be silly and playful whenever I feel to, especially with my children as they are so much fun to be with.

551. Dear Annelies,
     Yes I do know the seriousness of life that you talk about. I also know the joy I feel bubbling up from inside me. Finally the joy bubbling from within is now becoming a full flowing spring. I love how you have claimed that you could always feel this within you, as I read your article, I connected to the reality that I too have always felt the joy within. Thank you, this is so very humbling and extra beautiful to feel.

552. Whenever i get serious – i know I’m not being me!

     1. Exactly! I agree Marcia, being too serious, it’s a real alarm bell.

553. A delicious summary of your life’s experiences Annelies, one I easily relate to because me being serious means I’ve kind of lost the real me. You clearly spell out life is full of joy and we’re meant to embrace that in our lives. I’m all for that! Next time I get too serious, I’ll remember how I felt reading this blog. Thank you.

554. There is a gorgeousness to someone who is feeling their natural joy and sharing this through everything they do. I have begun to let myself express my joy again and it feels like life is lighter in so many different ways. I am finding that I am enjoying myself no matter what it is I am doing when I allow this joy to be present.

     1. That is a very good point robynjones11, when there is joy in your life, it really doesn’t matter what you are doing, working, chores etc, whatever it is, you can easily enjoy it.
        It does not matter about to DOing part, just the BEing part.

555. I was naturally joyful as a child but it seemed to make everyone angry so somewhere along the way I lost it. I remember the first time I truly felt it again was in a swimming session with Simone Benhayon. It was as if the whole water was full of the joy that is Simone and I was bathed in it. Now thanks to Serge Benhayon, his gorgeous family and my choices, Joy is back in my life and with me every day. It is a joy to share joy and it is a joy to read about joy at Unimedpedia JOY

556. Annelies, this was the perfect blog for me to read today! Thank you! In many ways it was confirming to read what you shared as I too have felt that the seriousness has been a large part of my life, whilst at the same time having this abundance of joy within me just busting to get out and play! You have expressed it all so beautifully too, with such lightness and humour! Love it!

557. Thank you Annelies, I definitely relate to allowing a serious streak to ride over the top of what is my more natural and playful way of being. I appreciated hearing how you have reclaimed this for yourself.

558. A wonderful question to ask “…what is bubbling inside of you?” beyond and underneath the layers of beliefs, ideals and behaviours there is something to be cherished and enjoyed, a JOY of living life in full. It is ‘patiently’ waiting to be revealed, I have reconnected with my innate joy and it feels wonderful. Lovely blog to share about what lies beneath everyday ‘serious’ life – Thank you.

559. What a lovely inspiring blog Annelies I feel lighter, joyful and more playful just by reading it. I too am reminded of what a joy-full little boy I was, maybe he’s living inside me still ? !

560. Thanks Annelies for sharing your big bubble of joy! It’s wonderfully contagious reading this and enjoying sharing the joy you are living. Thanks for the reminder that joy lives inside us and seriousness is a choice we have to bring from the outside. It’s hard to imagine in the presence of joy why anyone could be serious.

561. “have a look inside yourself – what is bubbling inside of you?” This question just fills me with joy Annelies because what you are saying to the reader is that we all have that access to joy in our lives …and it’s OK, you can go ahead and play, explore and enjoy your self. Very inspiring and written with such joy, it’s contagious!

562. Dear Annelies what a tresure of an article and what You share with us. There is so much tenderness and sacredness in these words and of course I feel the confirmation of Joy 🙂 thank You for expressing and being so open and honest with us. With love Nadine

563. Annelies I love this blog. I can so react to making life serious and it feels like what we are expected to do but very unnatural. I have a an enormous amount of joy living inside me and the presentations of Universal Medicine is supporting me to let the joy out to sparkle for all to see 🙂

564. I love what you share Annelies. Whenever I get serious I actually get stuck, feel heavy etc. It is a great marker of how connected I am or not with who I truly am: a delightful joyful being.

565. The seriousness of life can make everything appear that there is nothing but the seriousness. In those serious moments I often feel that there is a resistance and an attachment to that seriousness – for how can I let it go and just be the love that I am when everything must be so serious!? Why does it need to be that way? And what would happen without the seriousness?

566. Top blog Annelies and a great reminder that we are all naturally joyful, we just have to remember.

     1. I agree Tim, we only need to connect to ourselves. The gentle breath meditation as presented by Universal Medicine is a great start.

567. Awesome blog, Annelies and what a powerful and important topic you bring up.
     I can relate so much to seriousness, like I had this constraining suit I wore most of my life. Seriousness makes things in life heavy, complicated, controlling and for me gave me a false feeling of security, because I did things ‘right’. So actually it made it all about me. Joy and also laughing opens up, makes things lighter and flowing and is also a lot less tiring. With letting go things are less about me and get more all inclusive.

     1. ‘With letting go things are less about me and get more all inclusive.’ Great point Monika and another great reason to lighten up and let the joy out.

568. I can completely relate to the seriousness of life – that to love every moment of life would be too much for some people who had let go of their Joie de Vivre. And yet the joy that can be felt and expressed is so beautiful that it is a blessing to see and feel someone express it.

569. This is a great post Annelies and much appreciated. When I read this line –
     “As a child I soon learned from others’ reactions when it was OK for me to smile and when it was OK to laugh” I immediately thought of my own serious childhood. My mother insisted that we behaved well when visiting the relatives and to focus on one thing in the room so our attention is not on anyone or anything. In other words not to engage and only say No Thank You to any offer of food or if other kids asked you to play with them or leave the room. This was very strict and it was not negotiable. I know my mum thought this was the way others would see she was a good parent.
     Today we laugh about how she sees her grandchildren, who have not have this serious upbringing and how they have grown up.
     What is interesting is that I began to grow up and live a life where I was always seeking “permission” and this was deeply disempowering. I once attended a one day workshop with Serge Benhayon and he talked about giving ourself permission and it was life changing. I have never looked back and just this simple change has made a profound difference to my life and all those whose lives I touch by giving myself permission to be me. Its a freedom inside my body that is beyond words.

     1. Awesome Bina, giving yourself permission to be you, all of you.

570. “Joie De Vivre” what a lovely saying, I’m saying it all the time now. Yes it is amazing, when we open up, literally a mountain of joy is inside and all we have to do is accept the instant glory of expressing it

571. Beautiful Annelies. Thank you. When I look around I feel that joyfulness is quite subversive. A great way to rebel.

     1. I agree with ‘subversive’ Amanda, it sometimes feels as if joy is for children, not grown ups.I’m all for being a subversive agent for joy.

572. This is so good Annelies. After a life time of seriousness with some joyful, playful moments in amongst it I am leaning towards the light side more and more myself. Even serious moments need the presence of our joy to lift and lighten them up.

     1. I absolutely agree, Jeanette. We can be far too serious even when it is a serious moment. Being present and full of joy makes the serious moments easier to deal with. I know I am in a much better place to deal with that which presents itself before me when I am not taking life too seriously.

573. Annelies. I love your blog and you claiming your joy of life back. So deeply beautifull and healing for all as we all can probably relate to having been caught in the heaviness of seriousness. Time to play again, shine in full, claim the joy we are and express it all, to be contagious with ‘joie de vivre’ 🙂

     1. I love your last sentence here. Time to play again.

        It makes me question who and why did we ever stop and further more who said we can’t play and be joyful in life? What has the world fallen for ? And at what cost ? . . . Where we have a situation where masses of people are not expressing from our true joyful essence.

574. YEAH ! Let the joy out – I will embrace it immediately 🙂 🙂 🙂

575. This is super gorgeous Annelies; a great reminder that we are all joyful on the inside, but it’s up to us to let what’s bubbling inside… out!! Thanks you sharing 🙂

576. I am learning that at times( less and less) I dull down the absolute joy and playfulness I feel and am to not let people feel the misery they are in.

     1. Gyl, this is a ‘big’ one for me. Dulling down my natural immense Joy of Being to make others feel comfortable. Time to truely let that ill-way go! Thank you for pointing this out and inspiring me to claim my joy in full again.

577. Life without joy is unfathomable once you have experienced it in truth. And that experience comes from dropping all ideals and beliefs, truly embracing the amazing beings that we all are and then really opening up to people and letting our gorgeous selves out. When we connect in this way we feel joyful – and it does bubble from inside us Annelies!

578. being serious is cool, and is needed at times, though not with control or letting it ruin your life.

579. Thank you for the beautiful reminder Annelies and a joy to read 🙂

580. Dear Annelies, Thank you for writing this blog – I can confirm I am a huge bubble of joy – and there is nothing more amazing than sharing this joy and playfulness with the world.

581. I can relate to being very serious from a really young age and couldn’t understand why others didn’t feel and act the same, and it took me quite a while to accept that joy was there as a natural expression inside of each and everyone of us. Even now I have to remind myself to feel the joy in my body, which feels like i’m smiling from the inside out.
     Thank you Annelies for the reminder.

582. Gosh thank you Annelies! Reading your lines I remember my father shouting at me: “Life is no joy!” and sometimes he even slapped my cheeks in total powerlessness. I was so sure life should be joyful and was asking for that very strongly, but my family did give up on that and they – specially my father – did suffer from this choice very much without being aware of it. I was not willing to give up on a joyful life completely but did give up on the joy that’s inside and started to expect that someone (partner,..) or something (a job, a hobby) should make my life joyful. Well that did not work and so I ended up in depression, always KNOWING that I and life should be joyful, that that is the truth. But how to get it back, how to live again in a joyful way? 10 years ago I met a men who gave me a tip: be playful.
     I was in Sacred Esoteric Healing Workshops and had individual sessions and worked strongly and thoroughly on my issues, I seriously wanted to clear myself and he said: “be playful – that’s all for now to ‘work’ on”. And that brought the turning point into my life, to feel and live my joy is my responsibility. It also turned around my view on responsibility: that it is a blessing to have and take on! Thank you Serge Benhayon for supporting me on my way back to joy. And thank you Annelies for reclaiming your joy – we all benefit from that!

583. On reading this blog I felt my joy bubbling up inside and it felt wonderful. I could feel the playfulness that is there just waiting to come out and the seriousness and heaviness I have held in my body for so long. Thank you for your beautiful words they have lit me up and the joy is there for all to feel!

584. So lovely Annelies. Seriousness is definitely an epidemic that has taken hold of the world. As you so wonderfully express it caps and restricts our expression. Hiding of natural qualities of joy and playfulness. Wonderful to feel the joy and fullness of the life you now live.

585. So much joy in your blog Annelies. Reading it I realise we hurt ourselves and everyone else by keeping our joy in. It is far more joy-full if we simply keep letting it out, then we can inspire everyone else to express their joy too.

586. Annelies thank you so much for this beautiful reminder to connect to the bubble of joy that is inside me patiently waiting for me to express it.

587. I had the serious disease too – still have it a lot – instilled in a boarding school when towing the line left me under the radar. The holidays were so different when I would dance and sing in my room at home – just being me. Yet joy is there for us all – deep inside – if we so choose.

588. Pingback: From the Seriousness of Life to Joie de Vivre |

589. It’s so cool to read that no matter what went on around you, you always felt this secret joy inside you, and very cool you now no longer hold it in, after all, an unjoy-full life is a serious matter!

590. Reading this has really highlighted the very serious and controlled way of the Catholic Church, I can see how growing up as part of this religion has effected me too, and how I have taken on that seriousness and brought so much control to my life as a result. I know that feeling joy and a lightness in my heart is my natural way or my natural essence, but I do have to work at not letting the seriousness get the better of me after so many years of this -oops, i can feel myself getting all serious now, you are right Annelies, it is just a choice, and the more aware I become of those controlling ways in my life, the more I can choose to keep letting them go, and make room for more joy.

     1. I can relate to this Laura. Even though I wasn’t brought up as strict a catholic as some, the influence of seriousness was still there…especially at church. I remember having to sit so quietly and be such a ‘good girl’ during mass…this was some serious training in seriousness! What ever happened to a joyful sermon? Thank God for Serge Benhayon, bringing the joy back into religion…true religion. Sermons these days, are everything I knew they should have been from when I was a child.

        1. Dear Sara, you have triggered a memory for me about the one time I ever went to the Catholic Church and the seriousness of it.
           I was 8 years old, staying with my piano teacher in the holidays when Mum and Dad and my brother went away, because I was being taken to Sydney to play the piano in the big Eisteddfod there. She took me to Church and I insisted on bringing my teddy bear, Kyshe. My teacher wrapped my bear up in a brown paper bag so it couldn’t be seen! I was a bit disturbed by this and remember discretely opening the end of the paper bag so that Kyshe could breathe!

591. Annelies, this is a gorgeous blog about that which is always within us – JOY!
     That great, spontaneous joy overflowing from us as young children which can be buried so deeply underneath seriousness is horrible to experience. I can remember in my early teens, the feeling of my body being like a cage (constructed from this attitude of major seriousness amongst other things), which became more hard over the years. The conflict of being so serious and yet knowing there was a deep well of joy somewhere underneath it all was very debilitating. Only sine attending Serge Benhayon’s presentations did I really begin to understand and feel how much of my true self and pure joy was locked away.
     “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me”.

592. Seriousness is an old companion of mine and sometimes when I get busy it creeps back in the back door, but these days, I am much more aware when this happens, and then I can step back and remind myself, that is not who I am. I so much prefer to express my playfull, joyfull child like innocent side which makes it easier to stay connected with myself and easier to connect with all others. And yes Annelies, the choice is always ours, in which we choose to express, it is that simple. A gentle reminder, thank you Annelies.

593. Just awesome Annelies to hear how you are now choosing joy over the much seriousness of your own up bringing. I see you when you visit England and the child like wonder and joy in your eyes is infectious and inspires the ‘Joie de Vivre’ in me!

     1. Yes, samanthaengland it really is contagious, I have to call in a lot of force to not let it out, very painful too.

594. Thank you Annelies, for sharing, I also find it easy to go into serious mode and that is usually when I find myself trying to control everything and everyone around me, so I can have a grasp on what is going on, as a form of protection to essentially not get hurt. But it is so limiting and exhausting! As you say: “I have discovered that in each moment I have a choice to connect to the natural feeling of joy inside me, or to the seriousness outside of me”. It really is that simple and important to bring it back to the choice as it is so easy to get caught up in our heads otherwise.

     1. Recently I got caught up in my head and I felt how my body turned into a hardness and a strictness. It took me a while to get back to honesty to feel what was really going on, and how sad I was not choosing the natural joy I am inside. Coming back expressing all that I am my body feels lovely and spacious, a joy to feel!

        1. What is great Annelies is that now, like you, I am catching myself quicker when I go into seriousness and lose my sense of joy. It means I now do not wallow for so long. A day, let alone a week in misery and sadness now feels like an eternity whereas before it was my normal state and way of living!

595. This is beautiful. Seriousness and how we allow our lives to become so serious is something I have been contemplating on too recently. I love the way you have shown how joy is inside us all the time just waiting for an opportunity to express.

596. This was a joy to read Annelies – I really take away how the joy you now feel is for everyone – which is so lovely to feel.

597. Beautiful Annelies, reading this article I can feel how serious I can be, I have a young son who is playful and silly most of the time, so i can feel how this is our natural way of being, when I let go and allow myself to live playfully it is very lovely, life flows more and i can feel how there is no need to be serious, that it is possible to work and do the tasks we need to do playfully and joyfully.

598. This was a joy to read Annelies! Reading this has reminded me of times as a young child where being on my own in my room was where I most felt ok to be myself and be the joy that I naturally felt.

599. Thank you Annelies for such beautiful sharing of how you lived growing up, with such seriousness, and how this has all changed for you now since meeting Serge Benhayon.
     I can relate to living life so seriously with a Catholic upbringing. I also sadly brought this into my relationships.
     But, since attending workshops at Universal Medicine with Serge Benhayon I am learning to be more playful and accept me more.
     In doing so I am embracing life more and opening my heart to people and letting them in.

600. Annelies this reminded me of how serious most of us become as we grow up. No wonder as kids many of us, myself especially, didn’t want to grow up because we didn’t want to become like that and loose the magic feeling inside. Yet who said we had to? As you’ve shared the joy is inside as is a way of living that is without all the struggle we have when we try to live to some picture set by society, education or institutional religion. Yet without Universal Medicine and their presentations I would still consider that seriousness to be life even though I knew there had to be more.

601. I love your blog Annelies and can really relate to it so much. The natural joy inside me or the seriousness outside myself a constant choice in life. What a gift we have been given from Serge Benhayon and his family of living the joy within consistently with responsibility and joyfulness, lovingly, honestly and with absolute dedication to humanity. Wow so inspiring.

     1. Absolutely tricianicholson, Serge Benhayon and his family are a constant inspiration for all of us. To connect to the fact we do have a choice has changed my life.

602. Annelies, I love the fact that you were always in touch with joy even when you knew you had taken on the seriousness of life that had been presented to you. Like you I was raised a Catholic and I for one took life very seriously indeed, so seriously in fact that I question whether I really felt any joy at all, especially as a teenager. Gorgeous that you are able to offer that joy now and to show the world there is a much lighter and sparkling side to life!

603. Beautiful Annelies, thank you for bringing that precious gift Joy to the fore. Seriousness is far to prevalent an attitude in our society and what a joy to hear how you never gave up on your inner joy. I love your comment about how alcohol and one night stands are not joyful, or even really fun. Serge Benhayon and in fact his whole family are experts at expressing the playfulness and joy in everyday life, even when there are serious matters to deal with. Their example has re-ignited the joy in so many of us, supporting us all to re-kindle joy on a daily basis, ushering it into every corner of our lives and bringing light and laughter to all those grim moments and serious frowns. There is nothing more joyous than true, light hearted company and what a real service to world you are Annelies, bringing your joy home to light the way for us all.

604. Annerlies, thank for sharing so clearly your experience of walking with seriousness in to life. I recognise this very much. I too walked with that same energy and did so from childhood. I now know I can choose to be me and stay with what is true. I’m touched and inspired by this ‘I can see that the big bubble of joy I feel inside me has been there all along and has been patiently waiting to come out and to be expressed in full in every minute of every day’.

605. Beautifully said Annelies. I too found life all very serious while I was growing up and then found all the ‘fun’ activities were a disappointment as they lacked any true joy. I always felt this lack of joy meant there was something wrong with me – and there was. Since I have been taking part in Universal Medicine events I have been inspired by Serge Benhayon to connect deep inside me and find that beautiful bubble of joy that I knew was waiting to be found and shared with everyone I meet.

606. Thank you for this beautiful sharing, Annelies. Even if the theme is serious I can feel the joy of you and feel how you have claimed this joy in your life. I can feel how you were full of joy as a child, but aligned to the expectations of the world and society and buried your joy. In my youth I had similar experiences and burying my truth and joy and hiding it behind a pleasing smile is hurting and sad. But like you, through Universal Medicine I am in training to uncover the false blankets. Wow. And this brings forth a different person again. Me finding back to the lightness and joy I in truth am.

607. Thanks Annelies for a great blog this is exactly what is called for, more joy and less seriousness.

608. Beautiful, Annelies, thank you. It was a joy to read your blog. I can totally relate to the element of ‘seriousness’ and ‘control’ you felt in your life. This is a great way for us to stay small and un-noticed …… keeping our true joyful selves ‘under wraps’ …. but what are we waiting for. Lets release those bubbles of joy and live from the fullness of our beautiful selves.

     1. Wow, thank you Annelies. I so relate to what you and Alison have here shared about seriousness and control. It certainly can take the spark out of joy.

609. It is amazing how we loose the joy that is naturally inside us because we try to conform to everything around us instead of staying with our own loveliness. I could relate Annelies to how we then try and change this but all we really do is bring in different versions of the same seriousness and joy becomes something of a distant past.

610. Thanks Annelies, you made me wake up to the fact that I still hold on to so much seriousness that is really unnecessary,. Time to make room for more joy. I too remember the seriousness of the Catholic church as a child, this big old, cold building that you went to every week where I soon learnt that to utter a sound seemed like a mortal sin. Very un joyous for a child who just wanted to play.

     1. Yes kevmchardy, I did not need a keep quiet sign, it was made very obvious that I was not allowed to say something until the church service was over.

611. Thank you for reminding me of the wellspring of joy inside me Annelies.

     1. My response too Leonne! A well spring of joy always there for me to claim!

612. Annelies, I am touched by reading your blog and it is so true that we tend to give more attention to the seriousness in life than to live the the joy that is in us all equally so. Lets stop this definitely and put this blog up on the wall next to the mirror to remind us every day that we have a choice to be either in the seriousness of life or to live a life in joy and harmony, the ‘Joie de Vivre’ of life.

     1. Nvanhaastrecht, love your suggestion of putting this blog beside the mirror, reminding us to be playful. Seriousness is certainly a trick and can seep in when we get caught up in the living of our lives, yet the joy can expose the things we are doing and offer us ways of living that supersedes the seriousness. Yes we all need this reminder at times.

     2. And in the kitchen : )

613. I am one that used seriousness as a tool to feel in control of my life.
     With constraints that seriousness gave me I felt I could feel comfortable and safe. Nothing could surprise me. However this created a void of joy, fun, silliness and the unexpected (magic) of what life can offer.

     Life can’t be boxed and neither can the people who live their life. In my experience seriousness doesn’t work.

614. Lovely Annelies. It is just too easy to get caught up in seriousness when it is all around you…and etched into everyone’s faces and influencing everything they do down to the way that they do it.
     Is it possible to do the most serious of tasks, even those where another’s life is in your hands, with joie de vivre? Well yes it is, because the joy bubbling inside of us will apply itself to any task with presence and quality. Maybe this is hard to fathom, because we have been taught from young that to do something well we have to have a very serious, almost glum, even miserable approach to be considered as doing it well.
     Joy brings such a quality to life and our activity, far greater than “well” can account for.

     1. Rachel thank you for the inspiration to connect to my joie de vivre whatever I am doing because ‘the joy bubbling inside of us will apply itself to any task with presence and quality.’

     2. I can relate to this Rachel, it feels great to bring this quality in my work as a nurse in the community and to see the sparkle of joy in the eyes of the clients I work with when they connect with me. Sometimes it is only a few seconds but I know when I leave they have felt what is naturally inside us all.

615. Annelies, what an amazing sharing – thank you. I can relate to much of what you have said. Being brought up in a catholic house and going to a catholic school there was much seriousness, especially around what was the way to act or not. Sadly I took this on and lived life from this consciousness playing in the background until I met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine; where I once again connected with the Joy and Preciousness of me. Thank God for this beautiful reflection that reminded me, I am that too and it is always within. Now I live from my heart and share that with others. And when a problem does arise- it is nothing compared to the grandness of our love, so it is dealt with in a way that holds our love and quality first.

616. Absolutely gorgeous Annelies. Re-discovering my inner joy has been the most deliciously lovely change for me over the past few years.

     And I am constantly reminded by my son, to come back to being playful and make this part of my every day…especially it seems, when cooking…MUST be playful in the kitchen!!! This is an unsaid non-negotiable in our house that often has us laughing till we cry…crazy kids in the kitchen!!

     1. love this expression of yours Sara. MUST be playfull – in the kitchen and everywhere. I’ say yes to it and will take this in my day!

     2. That’s great Sara! Really enjoyed reading your comment! I too must remember that joy comes before cooking good!

     3. This is beautiful Sara, I can just see you dancing around. I have had experiences of dancing while cooking too and it is so joyfull and the food tastes amazing too 🙂

     4. You two are crazy kids in the kitchen Sara and having experienced it, it inspires me to be more playful and light at home….I don’t have any rules for the kitchen, but I’m going to take the MUST be playful in the kitchen and run with it!

        1. I love this Sandra, you should take this to all these serious cooking programs you see on television nowadays.

617. Thank you Annelies, what a beautiful article, I could feel the smile radiating from your face as a reflection of the joy you feel. I can relate to your words too and it is since re-discovering my self through the presentations by Serge Benhayon and by interacting with the Students of the Livingness that I can take that ‘joie de vivre’ with me everywhere.

618. Annelies simply gorgeous! I can feel the joy bubbling up in me as I read your lovely warm words. What a great way to start my day. Thank you.

619. Thank you for sharing your ‘Joie de Vivre’ Annelies, it as touched something inside me that wants to come out and shine.

620. Yes, the joy from living love and expressing this love is contagious Annelies, it is who we naturally are, and the more we express, the more love we find there is to enjoy. This expression is everlasting and eternal.

621. Annelies your blog has a wonderful flavour to it! The joy we all had as children doesn’t ever disappear it only lies dormant until we let it fire up again. The seriousness of this world had been felt by us all and your choice to not play ball with it is great to read and feel as well.

     1. What a great choice to not play ball with the seriousness we see around us! Otherwise life becomes this dull play instead of an inspiring and joyful experience with the opportunity to connect to ourselves and everyone/everything around us. Let’s all play ball with that!

622. Everyone in the world wants to feel joy – we have just forgotten how natural and lovely it feels. That’s why we need people like you and Serge benhayon to remind us.

623. Thank you Annelies. Like you I also felt joyful as a child but I soon learnt that it wasn’t OK to be joyful. Many years of resentment followed until I understood that joyfulness is who I am. If others choose too be serious, then that to is OK.

     1. I have been full of resentment too Janne, until I came across Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and I learned how to connect with that what was true and the joy came back into my life. I know when I feel any frustration, resentment etc I have lost myself and there is this choice do I stay in this or do I connect to the natural joy inside. And this choice is always there.

624. Seriousness is sooo last century! Have you ever noticed how many people are serious because it makes them feel important? And is seriousness contagious? Hang out for too long with a serious person and see how you feel.

     Yet as you have shown us Annelies, we don’t have to look too far to find the source of the problem (a quick glance into a mirror will do the trick).

     I’m with you Annelies, give me ‘Joie de Vivre’ every day and express it to the world.

     1. In December I wore my ear muffs that have large fluffy snowmen as ear warmers. I was in a chemist’s shop when a very outwardly serious, and some may say sophisticated looking, lady remarked on how silly they looked. My reply, ‘thank you so much, isn’t it fun to play’

        After what had been an embarrassed silence all the waiting customers burst into laughter as did the assistants, they couldn’t hold back , just a real moment of joy!!

        I agree Rod and Annelies what could be more important than expressing joy in the world (and to ourselves)

     2. I love this Rod seriousness is sooo last century! Yay I agree 🙂

     3. The mirror is a great tool rodharvey, to find our joy inside and the greatest thing is we can be each other’s mirror too.

625. I can so relate to how you feel Annelies – the joy has been in and with me all along. It is very familiar but nothing in the outside world reflected what I felt within so I calibrated and adjusted to fit in. I would try to be serious but seriously it never worked! It is not been until I reconnected to music through Serge Benhayon and his presentations on music and my experience of listening to all that Glorious Music presents that I found a match for the joy I feel inside. This has now extended to connecting with a choir led by Chris and Jenny James. The joy I feel inside is magnified through this shared experience, and is completely blowing the roof off of any ideals and beliefs that kept me feeling small and less. Joy is our birthright and is within us all.

626. Absolutely Annelies, seriousness is a serious disease!… and it seems like there’s something of an epidemic in the world today. I love that you are coming back to the natural effervescence of you and reminding us that this is our way too :-).

     1. I know that for me living also “became something that I endured rather than enjoyed.” How many of us feel that way….? What a scary thought! Too true Joseph, seriousness is a serious disease and the cure I have discovered is just what Annelies prescribes… a coming back to our natural selves in everything we express, do and say.

     2. I agree Joseph, seriousness is a disease and it causes a lot of complications in the world. We need some medication and the only cure is coming back to our natural way of being oh so joyfully!

     3. Hear hear Joseph, the world is definitely to serious.

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