Pure joy, I've realized, is pure presence.
It's the moment when you're not trying to fix anything, change anything, or get anywhere. When the present moment is so full that there's no room for the mental noise that usually follows you around.
I know that feeling now. But it took me a long time to get here — and honestly, I'm still learning it.
Because I have goals. Passions. Projects I care deeply about and am always working toward. The drive doesn't go away and I don't want it to. But somewhere along the way I started treating joy like a reward I hadn't quite earned yet. Like I'd allow myself to fully land in a moment after I'd done enough, achieved enough, figured enough out.
The problem is "enough" never actually arrives.
So you keep moving. Keep grinding. Keep putting the good stuff on layaway for a version of your life that's always just around the corner.
And meanwhile, the moments that are trying to show you that you're exactly where you're meant to be — you're half in them. Checking your phone. Running the mental to-do list. Already thinking about what's next.
I've had moments in Guatemala, sitting at the edge of Lake Atitlán watching the sun set over the volcano, where I thought — this is it. This is the whole point. Not the destination, not the achievement. Just this. Just being alive inside a moment this extraordinary.
Those moments don't ask you to have it all figured out first. They just ask you to show up.
That's what joy actually requires. Not achievement. Presence.
And presence is a practice — especially for women who've spent years in their heads, running on adrenaline, measuring their worth in output.
The practice
This one isn't about journaling prompts as much as it is about noticing.
1. Notice when you're half in a moment.
Not to judge yourself — just to catch it. The dinner you're eating while scrolling. The conversation you're in while mentally composing your to-do list. The beautiful evening you're documenting instead of experiencing. Just notice.
2. Ask yourself: what would it feel like to fully land here?
Not forever. Just for this moment. What would you have to put down — mentally, physically — to actually be inside this experience instead of observing it from a slight distance?
3. Find one moment a day that doesn't need to be productive.
A coffee on the balcony before the day starts. A walk with no destination. A conversation you're not rushing. Something small that exists purely because it feels good. No justification required.
4. When joy shows up, let it be enough.
This is the hardest one. Joy has a way of being immediately followed by guilt — I should be working, I should be doing more, this is indulgent. When that voice shows up, notice it. Then choose to stay in the moment anyway.
Joy isn't on the other side of your goals
It's available right now, in the life you're already living — if you're willing to actually be in it.
You were made for more than surviving your own life. You were made for moments that take your breath away.
Start collecting them. They're already there.
Ready to experience what full presence actually feels like — in one of the most extraordinary places on earth? We'd love to have you with us in Mexico, Morocco, or Kenya.