Journal to Joy

It is a joy to be able to share this journal with you. I use this book every day to awaken my truth and align me with my creativity and purpose. I created Maya Gandaia (which means from illusion to joy) after a break up and a break down. I was nearly out of money and unsure how to make a living that felt true to my heart. My birth name is Ella (which means complete). I received Maya Gandaia (pronounced My-a Gan-dye-A) as my Earth name: a present from Mother Earth on a magical journey of meditation in early 2017, and so this concept was born! Maya means ‘Illusion’ in Sanskrit, and ‘Gandaia’ is the joy in Portuguese! I have always loved Maya Angelou and so the name Maya holds even more power and truth in my heart. It has brought me pure joy on this path as a seeker of truth moving from the illusion of my identity to the joy of creating this wonderful life I LOVE! Maya Gandaia is the concept of breaking away from the illusion that life is about survival, and moving to a higher level, where we connect to the vibrations of joy, where we thrive and create. This book is the culmination of a five-year journey back home (to being more me). It took me a long time to find the way (a lot of pain and a lot growth), but I now do this practise daily and am living a much more joyful life as a result. I hope to empower you, and many more humans to be more you: to sing your song shamelessly, loudly and proudly. You (yes YOU!) can turn the difficult, the painful… the ‘shit’ (all our stories, our beliefs, our pain) into gold. If you stick at it, if you keep going, it will bear fruits in the following ways: You will find your way back to your heart, You will find you are more able to speak your truth, You will remember, unapologetically who you are. The work we are about to embark on is based on alchemy, which, put simply, is turning our ‘shit’ into gold… Somewhere along the path of life, we learn to suppress our light, we decide we are not whole: that there is a hole within us … that somehow we need outside sources to make us ok. This is a path for you to share your gifts with the world. This is a path for getting back in touch with your truth. This is a path for coming home to who you really are and what you were born to do. We create stories and beliefs about not being ok: about ourselves and how the world is. As a result of this conditioning, we dim our light in order to prioritize other things (such as earning a living, having a family, serving other people), but we still go about life trying to fill the hole, and feeling empty. Our lead is all that uncomfortable awkward stuff that might be hovering over us, weighing us down as we go about our day. It may be the whisper of jealousy, or how we daydream about doing something we love, but then procrastinate so it never happens. It may be how we react to someone’s words that reaffirm our thinking we are not good enough, it may be present in how we behave in our relationships. Thankfully, the first idea I want to share with you is that we don’t have to live in these thoughts: that we can transform this lead and use it positively to create the life of our dreams. By uncovering my stories, I have truly transformed my life from one of ups and downs, periods of brilliance and periods of depression, to a life of true joy where every day is ‘gold’. (This is Alchemy!) This journal to joy was one of the keys I found to unlocking my life. Every day during my own process of healing, I journalled, I meditated, I moved, and I made sacred rituals. It was this process that led to the creation of these morning practices. Journaling in this way is incredibly powerful, but it also takes practise and patience, so be kind to yourself: go slow and steady. Putting systems and structures in place can lead to brilliance or genius, and by doing this work everyday, or as often as possible, you will do the inner cleaning, you will transform your lead into gold. The second idea which we will work with in this journal is that we all have incredible potential. Everyone has an inner artist or a purpose: a gift we were born to share with the world. It gives me such joy to see people remember their creativity, and how as each individual switches on their own inner light, they light up the world and touch the hearts of others. I truly believe that we can heal the world with this work: through art and the heart: that when we are doing what we truly love and working with our lead, we are able to create businesses that thrive on collaboration, cooperation, intuition and co-creation. I am of mixed heritage and grew up in a small town in the South East of England in the UK, with an amazing beautiful Mother of mixed heritage who taught me French, showed me the world and to lose myself in books, and a rockstar Dad who taught me all things science and logic. I loved art, languages and nature, but I never danced: in fact I was too shy and too embarrassed to do anything creative in public! I moved to Bristol with my family aged 11, and there, my first ever dance was Salsa, aged 14. Growing up I felt far from complete: I had huge issues of identity around feeling that I didn’t belong anywhere: in my hometown, in my family, amongst friends: I lived under the illusion…