Forget about "joy guilt"

Last week, I was in London to give a few keynotes at the LinkedIn Forward Conference.

It was such an awesome experience (and I got to bring my husband and my daughter along, which was an extra bonus!)

After one of the keynotes, a woman from the audience came up to me.

"You radiate so much joy and good energy," she said. "As I was listening to you, I felt so inspired and energized, as if you gave some of your joy to me."

Yes, THIS!!!

She was 100% right. I did give my joy to her and the rest of the audience... simply because I was feeling joy myself.

(Speaking is one of my greatest joys, so I felt a LOT of it!)

As human beings, we share our emotions with everyone around us. 

When you feel stress, you share stress.

When you feel joy, you share joy.

And that's why doing something that brings you joy can never EVER be selfish:

When you feel joy, you give the gift of joy to everyone around you.

I used to feel guilty about doing things just for me, things that brought me joy. And many people tell me they feel this way, too.

But the very idea that doing something that brings you joy is selfish comes from one huge misunderstanding:

We see ourselves as separate from each other.

But we're not.

We're all connected.