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There’s something in the air right now. We’re all feeling it. The world is shifting—systems are crumbling, structures are faltering, and there’s a heaviness hanging over everything. But in the middle of all this chaos, there's a call to us—a call to remember something essential. The call isn’t to work harder, fight more, or consume ourselves with worry. It’s to play. It’s to celebrate, to reclaim joy, and to let pleasure be an act of resistance. We’ve been taught that spiritual practice is all about sacrifice, discipline, and struggle. But let me tell you, joy is just as sacred. In fact, it may be the most revolutionary thing we can embrace right now.

Let’s start with joy available right now in your life. Look at the relationships around you—the ones that sustain you, the ones that challenge you, the ones that make up so much of your life. The weight of the world feels suffocating, people’s hearts are heavy and spirits are tired. Our beloveds are going through really hard things, maybe you are too. We can get caught in the trap of believing that connection means always talking through the hard stuff, always carrying the pain, trying to always be the strong one for each other. But there’s a deeper truth here: our relationships are sacred because they can hold joy right alongside suffering. We forget that sometimes, especially when everything feels urgent and broken. But the truth is, when we connect through joy, when we make room for laughter, for play, for the lightness of being, we’re inviting the Divine into those spaces through the light of our joy.

Example: You and a friend sat down to talk about the state of the world—how the economy is crashing, how people are divided, how we’re all trying to figure out how to survive in a system that doesn’t serve us? Maybe you’ve rehashed the same conversations over and over—talking about politics, about the climate crisis, about everything that’s wrong, everything that’s broken. The heaviness of those conversations starts to feel like it’s weighing down your heart. But then, something beautiful happens. One of you cracks a joke, or maybe you start reminiscing about something silly that happened in the past—that one time you pee’d your pants a little bit..—and before you know it, you’re laughing together, letting go of all the fear and frustration, even if just for a moment. You realize that you’ve shifted. You’ve moved from the weight of the world to the lightness of being. You didn’t ignore the struggles; you simply made space for something more—joy. That moment of laughter, of shared play, is sacred. It’s a reminder that, even in the hardest times, the Divine is still here, still with us, calling us to live fully, to love deeply, and to celebrate each other. This is one of the ways we can feel how big we are to have the space inside us to hold all that life is. This is equanimity. 

Right now, when everything feels like it’s coming apart, we need to bring pleasure more central into our relationships. When we’re constantly bombarded with bad news, stress, and division, our souls crave more beauty and harmony…more Divinity. If you’re only working, focused on fixing what is broken, only having the serious and pragmatic talks, you’re missing a huge piece of the spiritual journey and your life. Your soul might be starving for joy, for the kind of play and pleasure that brings you more alive.

I don’t mean the kind of mindless pleasure that’s rooted in distractions and numbing out. I’m talking about the sacred pleasure that comes from truly being present in your body, in the moment, with someone you care about, from sharing in something that makes you both laugh until your stomachs hurt. I’m talking about the pleasure of being fully alive with one another—not in a rush, not in need of fixing, but in the celebration of just being here, together.

And here’s the thing: intention is key. When we bring intention into our relationships, we’re doing more than just connecting—we’re engaging in a spiritual practice. Every time we show up with the intention to create space for play, for joy, for pleasure, we’re inviting the Divine to move through us, through the connection. This is especially powerful when we make it a point to honor pleasure in the body—whether it’s through sexual intimacy, creative expression, or simple, joyful moments of physical connection. These acts become sacred rituals, ways we practice being fully embodied in our divine selves.

In romantic and sexual relationships, have the courage to explore true pleasure in your body, to connect with a lover on a level that is deep and vulnerable. You are designed to experience the fullness of life, and part of that is experiencing the fullness of your physicality, the beauty and joy of being in a body. This isn’t just about fleeting physical pleasure or release; this is about connecting with the Divine in and through your body. Sexuality, when approached with love and intention, is a powerful act of spiritual union, a way to honor the sacred energy flowing between two people. It’s about slowing down and feeling each touch as a blessing, each movement as a prayer.

Another way to connect with the Divine is the artistic realm—whether it’s painting, dancing, writing, or singing—we enter into another form of play. Artistic creation is a spiritual act because it invites us to step into the unknown, to be vulnerable, to express ourselves fully, to access and channel the divine energy that is flowing through us. This is a way we create space for the Divine to be expressed through our bodies, through our voices, through our art. Play isn’t just frivolous; it is the essence of creation.

Play isn’t just for kids. The world would have you believe that when you grow up, you have to leave the fun behind. You have to become serious, responsible, and always thinking about what’s next. But let me tell you something—you need to play. You need to laugh. You need to move your body and let go of the weight you’re carrying. It is an act of rebellion and the way of liberation and freedom. We live in a world that’s collapsing under its own weight, and the way to stay anchored in the Divine is not through more anxiety—it’s through more joy, through more play. It’s when you allow yourself to be light, to play, to laugh like a child again. Play is a spiritual practice because it breaks you open. It cracks you wide open to the truth that you are whole, that you are free, and that you are divinely connected to everything and everyone. This is a radical and spiritual way of life.

I’ve seen it in my own life, and I know you’ve seen it in yours: when we show up for each other in our moments of joy, when we laugh until we can’t breathe, when we take a moment to let go of all the pressure and just be together in play, in pleasure, we are claiming Life. We are saying, “No matter what the world tells me, I am divine, I am whole, and I am here to enjoy this beautiful, chaotic, sacred life.”

So, let’s bring joy back into our relationships, let’s make play a spiritual practice, and let’s dance—not just through the good times, but especially through the hard ones. There is nothing more powerful than you fully lit up and ecstatically fully unapologetically free.