69 - Joy Over Fear: 3 Spiritual Practices to Find Light in a Dark World

💫Episode 69 - Joy Over Fear: 3 Spiritual Practices to Find Light in a Dark World

"I believe that when we can focus our attention on joy instead of everything happening in the outside world, we are going against the darkness — and we are adding cracks into that darkness that let light shine through."

The world feels heavy right now. There's no sugarcoating it. And in Episode 69 of Collective Guidance, Charla Goodnight isn't here to pretend otherwise. But she is here — in the middle of one of the most meaningful weeks of her personal life, her middle son graduating from high school — to offer something real, something practical, and something that works.

Three things, actually. And they might be simpler than you expect.

You Don't Have to Fight the Darkness With More Darkness

Charla opens with something worth sitting with: the world moves in waves of intensity. Some seasons feel heavier than others. And this one — with financial pressure mounting, divisions deepening, and the noise level of the outside world at a near-constant roar — is one of those seasons.

But here's what she's found: the antidote isn't more outrage, more doom-scrolling, or more fighting. It's something three letters long.

Joy.

Not naive, head-in-the-sand joy. Not toxic positivity that pretends nothing is wrong. But the intentional, daily, courageous choice to return to joy — even in the middle of difficulty. To share kindness with the people you encounter. To remember that everyone around you is doing their best in the same imperfect human experience. To give grace freely, because you know you'll need it too.

This isn't passive. This is resistance. Every moment of genuine joy, every act of warmth, every choice to create rather than consume — these are the cracks that let light into the darkness. And light, as Charla reminds us, is always more powerful than the dark.

Creativity Is a Download From Source — and Everyone Has It

The second tool Charla offers is one that many people have quietly abandoned somewhere between childhood and adulthood: creativity.

A recent conversation with her sister sparked this thread. When Charla mentioned that everyone is creative, her sister pushed back: "Not me." And Charla recognized something in that — because she used to say the same thing. For years, she didn't see herself as creative.

Until she wrote a chapter in a book in 2022 and remembered something she'd forgotten: she was a really good writer. She had loved it in high school and college. The creativity had always been there — she'd just stopped reaching for it.

Here's Charla's invitation: go back. Think about what you loved in high school — before the world told you to be practical, before you decided you weren't talented enough, before life got too busy. Was it pottery? Music? Writing? Drawing? Dancing?

Whatever it was — pick it back up. Even five minutes a day. Even imperfectly.

Because creativity, Charla believes, is not a talent some people have and others don't. It is a download from source. When you create — when you write, build, paint, move, make something from nothing — you are opening yourself to spirit. You are doing the opposite of what fear and darkness ask of you.

And right now? Charla is practicing what she preaches. She's working on a spiritually inspired clothing line with downloads she's been receiving. She's writing a follow-up book — seven chapters that take readers on the inner journey her first chapter only began. And she's continuing to build out her fitness membership, creating workouts that move people in body and spirit.

The creative energy is flowing. And she's letting it.

Creativity Can Also Be Financial Freedom

One more note on creativity that feels especially timely: this is the perfect moment to turn what you create into income.

When things feel financially tight — and for many people right now, they do — creativity is not a luxury. It's a lifeline. A side hustle built around something you genuinely love creates income and meaning. It puts your energy into building something rather than just surviving something.

You don't have to know exactly what it looks like yet. You just have to start. One small thing. One idea. One yes to something that lights you up — and see where it goes.

A Tarot Card for This Season — The Three of Skulls

In a sweet and spontaneous addition to this episode — inspired by her middle son's idea over dinner — Charla pulls a card from her beloved Grateful Dead Tarot deck for the first time on the podcast. She calls in Jerry Garcia, and a card falls immediately: The Three of Skulls.

Its message feels almost uncomfortably on point for this collective moment:

"Storms rage. Hard lessons are being learned. Stay true to yourself even when it's hard. Grief, loss, and betrayal must be faced. Be willing to let go. This period of anguish and turmoil is forcing you to move away from relationships and situations that no longer align with who you are becoming. Listen beyond the pain for the sweet sound of truth calling you into being. Though you feel misunderstood and rejected now, you will move beyond this and into more empowered being. Stay true to your heart, even when it's hurting."

If you're in a season of loss, conflict, or painful transition — this card is for you. Not as a prediction, but as a prescription. As Charla sees it, the card is not saying this is what will happen to you. It's saying this is what the season is asking of you. And what it's asking is clear: stay true. Let go. Forgive.

Clean Up Your Side of the Street

The thread that weaves through the entire episode — and the one that Charla returns to with striking clarity — is this:

How do you want to feel when you cross over?

It's a question she holds often. When her life is complete and she looks back — will she know she cleaned up her side of the street? That she took accountability for her human moments? That she made right what she could, forgave what she couldn't change, and didn't let her ego win more arguments than her soul?

She's honest: she's not always going to get it right. Nobody is. But the practice — the daily, sometimes hard practice of forgiving yourself first, then extending that same forgiveness outward — is what allows us to move through this life with integrity. To know, at the end, that we did the work.

If you're in conflict with someone you love right now, Charla's message is gentle but direct: your biggest lesson is forgiveness. To yourself. To them. Clean up your side. Call on Archangel Raguel to bring harmony. Trust that the heartache will subside. Because it always does.

Only love is real. And when we can remember that — even for a moment, even through the pain — we have cracked the darkness open just a little more.

Three Things to Do This Week

1. Choose joy intentionally. Not as a bypass — but as a practice. Find one moment each day that genuinely lights you up and protect it.

2. Create something. Dust off the creative thing you've been putting off. Write five minutes. Pick up the instrument. Start the project. Let it be imperfect. Let it be a download.

3. Clean up your side of the street. Is there someone in your life you owe a conversation, an apology, or a release? Do the thing. Not for them — for you. For the version of yourself you want to be when this life is complete.

✨ If this message resonates with you, please share this post with a friend, subscribe to the Collective Guidance podcast, and join me on Instagram @charligirl7 or @collectiveguidancepodcast . Let’s create a world where sensitivity is celebrated.

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Sending love, remembrance, faith, and creativity,

Charla ❤️