Would you like to feel more purposeful and fulfilled?
Each of us has a purpose and a mission.
Each of us has a gift to give this world. Yet things get in our way and many of us end up off track.
I found out I was off track one evening when I got an urgent phone call. At the time, I was a sales representative for a pharmaceutical product used in life-or-death situations. A physician needed me to put her in touch with an expert who could help her save a patient’s life. My hands shook as I called my contacts, seeking to help as quickly as possible. When a patient needed this drug, they were at high risk of losing a limb, having a stroke or dying. Every minute counted. I made the connection and the physician received the answer she needed.
I never knew what happened to the patient.
But I knew how I felt when I helped someone who needed an answer. I felt fulfilled – and it was one of the few times I felt that way while working in Corporate America. That isn’t a judgment about corporate life, but rather an insight about the importance of feeling fulfilled in one’s work. Because I still remember that feeling: I felt good. I felt like I made a difference.
In retrospect, that phone call changed my life because it shed light on a void I’d been ignoring: feeling fulfilled was important to me.
Does it feel important for you?
Would you like more joy in your life?
Pause and ask yourself if you are:
- feeling unfulfilled?
- wondering if it’s possible to create something better for yourself?
- seeking to find out who you are meant to be – or what you’re meant to create?
If so, I invite you to walk down a path of joy. I’ve wrestled with your questions. And, while I don’t have your specific answers (because those are answered in your heart), I do have tools and practices to help you find what you are seeking. Even better, this path prescribes rest and play – so it’s not all work. Could you imagine if I’d looked at my little toddler and just decided to work, work, work? No way! Even if I’d tried, he would have reminded me to nap and play, play, play.
As you’ll see in this program, it’s all about balance. Let me describe it for you.
What is A Path to Joy?
A Path to Joy helps you create space for joyfulness. By taking time to reflect on your current situation and how to better it, you can consciously choose how you would like to feel in the next phase of your life. You will feel purposeful, authentic and more able to explore the life you were meant to live.
In this program, you’ll learn ways to feel rested, courageous and fulfilled. Then you can uncover what is most important to you and choose how you’d like the next phase of your life to look and feel. In A Path to Joy, you’ll explore ways to connect to your “heart wisdom,” which is the part of you who remembers your true nature and purpose. You’ll learn how to create changes that make you feel more purposeful and connected.
A Path to Joy can help if you feel:
- interested in reflecting on who are
- willing to explore parts of yourself you have been avoiding
- you would like to make conscious choices about the next phase of your life
Is this program a good fit for me?
If you are contemplating (or experiencing) a change that impacts how you view your role or identity, this program will support you in creating that change. Individuals have used these tools to transition through becoming a parent, changing careers, retiring, leaving a job, coupling, uncoupling, overcoming a challenging health diagnosis and more. The type of change isn’t what matters. However, you will want to be:
- ready to uncover your values
- interested in creating a life that aligns with your values
- open to accepting your strengths and weaknesses to support an authentic expression of your true nature
- seeking deeper connection with your heart, mind and body
Why is reflection combined with rest + play?
On a path like this one, you’ll need to spend some time thinking and feeling in order to connect with your head and your heart. But, interestingly, the spirit part of us really shows up when we rest and play.
The program nurtures your sense of belonging and connection. The method is multi-modal, meaning you will engage several of your senses – including visual, auditory and kinesthetic – to support self-discovery. Just like you did as a kid! You will integrate both analytic (left-brained) thinking and creative (right-brained) exploration to stretch you and help you uncover your own inner wisdom. That’s the grown up part, and the path might feel difficult, at times. So, you’ll balance it with play. You’ll reconnect to the fun side of you who remembers what it’s like to free yourself to feel energetic and vibrant. You’ll expand your capacity to know wisdom and feel joy.
Grownups tell little kids to rest and play, especially when they are learning. You’re going to treat yourself like you’re a little kid living in the body of a grownup. Lots of hugs, maybe letting out some tears, and wholeheartedly open to seeing the wonder in life!
How it works
A Path to Joy provides you with tools and techniques to help you see your life through a lens you haven’t before — without pressure to achieve. The program offers a path of restfulness, reflection and playfulness. It’s based in peace and centeredness.
You’ll share your goals and then we’ll customize the journey for you.
In a series of five 1-hour sessions with Erika Hovland Bahij, you’ll begin to follow a path that supports your ability to nurture your true nature. While the journey will be customized to your specific needs and goals, generally you will:
- Reconnect with your strengths and values: this creative exploration helps you find hidden strengths and connect to parts of your soul that need more light
- Find ways to experience rest and play: these tools and approaches to put you in a place where your soul is nourished
- Pause on words of significance that are meaningful to where you are on your journey: to connect with your intuition and your purpose
- Find encouragement and guidance
You’ll be given a set of self-empowering tools for each word of significance. The tools fuel the connection between your mind, body and spirit and include things like exploring in nature, writing reflections, meditations, creating art and listening to music. The “work” is balanced with “play” and an overall feeling that you can nurture yourself through the full cycle of living, which includes birth, death and re-birth.
The program honors your heart and your feelings as a high priority. Therefore, while a schedule is offered, the program is heart-led and your own internal wisdom is the guide to when, how and where you step on to the path. When you are leading with your heart, time opens up. You may develop a 15-minute daily routine to engage with the tools. Or you may create a period of several hours to dedicate towards focusing on the program. Either way, you are asked to listen to the wisdom of your heart.
Currently, you can join an exploration with a community of people who are facing a similar life transition. You can contact us to learn more.
What you’ll experience
When you target a specific aspect of your life that needs transition, you see changes that bring you joy. This program leads you on a path to help you uncover what is most important to you and helps you make choices that support your highest good.
In A Path to Joy, you’ll find ways to spark your playful curiosity and to connect more deeply to your heart and spirit. This program is both self-directed and supported as part of group sessions with open yet confidential sharing.
You’ll join in with a group for several sessions to explore what it means to be on the path to joy. We’ve built in pauses for contemplation. We create a safe space to help you face things you’ve been avoiding. We balance the hard things with fun.
A Path to Joy will lead you to connect with your “heart wisdom,” which is the part of you who remembers your true nature and purpose. You’ll cultivate connection between your mind, body and soul. If you are a spiritual seeker, it will deepen your connection with the Creator as the source of joy.
Give yourself the gift of joy
The facilitator, Erika Hovland Bahij, has more than a decade of experience teaching at the university level and has (and is) walking this path on a daily basis since being diagnosed with stage 3 cancer in 2009.
Money back guarantee – If you are not happy with the program, you may withdraw within the first 2 weeks for a full refund.
Going through financial hardship? – Apply for a scholarship. We’ll reduce tuition for qualified candidates who are committed to integrating these lessons into their lives or careers and “paying it forward.” Contact us for the application.
Tell me more about Erika Hovland Bahij
A couple of years after that urgent phone call from a physician needing help with a patient, I received a different phone call involving a life-or-death diagnosis, but this time it was about me. This time, I was the one who needed connection. I was the one who needed answers. My questions were common but complex: how do I survive? what is my purpose here on Earth? what gifts do I have to give? is it “safe” to hope for something better?
I left my job and walked a winding spiritual path, while teaching and consulting on the side. I got married and started a family.
Then, ten years after the first, I faced another decision. I looked into the eyes of my 19-month old boy and said, “I am well. I choose to be well.” What did this mean? It meant that I, once again, chose the path of joy. This time, my life was transformed even more. I learned more, and have even more to share.
Every minute counts. Every belief, every breath, and every blink counts. And so, it’s important to get connected to your questions, and your answers.
FAQ
1. Is “A Path to Joy” right for me?
If you feel you’ve been missing joy in your life, and are ready to mix “the work” of finding your authentic self with restfulness and play, then this would be a good fit for you!
2. How much time will I need to give this program?
You have freedom to determine how much time to invest. The sessions are 1 hour each. Outside of each 1:1 session, you’ll be guided to use some of the tools provided, which will likely take 1-2 hours each week.
3. What technology is needed in order to participate?
A high-speed internet connection and access to Zoom.
4. What support will I have in going through the program?
You’ll be able to reach out to the facilitator throughout the program to ask questions.
5. Who is leading the program?
Erika Hovland Bahij, the founder of Rose and Redwood and creator of A Path to Joy. Erika has been adjunct faculty at Temple University for more than 10 years. She is an entrepreneur, mom and wife. She worked in a large corporation as a Product Director and Program Manager, among other roles, and was a business consultant for several years.
Her journey on A Path to Joy began after she was diagnosed with cancer in 2009. In late 2018, she was told she had metastatic cancer. Since then, she has been focused on teaching others about this path and helping people connect with their true nature.