Your Daily Dose of Joy!
I’m on another happiness-theme kick, mainly because I am about to wrap up the third (of four) installment in my How to Be Happy series for the Premium Members.
All this happiness is good for my health and I am always looking for ways to share how I do it, with you! I can’t remember exactly what I was reading earlier this week, but something caught my eye and got me thinking about finding your joy!This is not the first I have written about joy. My blog, podcasts and articles are full of “how to be joyful” tips (and I wrote How to Live a Joyful Life specifically specifically for Aspire Magazine’s May/June “Joyful Life” Theme! Heck, my book that is scheduled to come out in December is titled “The Happiness Formula!” so I like to consider myself a carrier of joy to others.)
Here are 3 simple steps to help you add more joy into your daily life, so that you can feel peaceful, light and calm.
- Define Your Joy
My joy is probably not the same as your joy. Society leans on us to need certain things to be joyful, so you might think that you need to spend money and accumulate joy. This is not true. If you listen to your authentic self, and examine your true priorities you will easily find your Joy.
I had a client who thought her joy was with a certain boyfriend and in a certain joy. Although I could feel that this wasn’t the case for her, she was not ready to hear it. For several weeks I supported her as she discovered that her Joy had nothing to do with this man, and in fact, he was causing her pain and disrupting her Joy! She discovered her Joy was actually exercise, spending time with friends and taking good care of her spirit through reading and meditating.
I encourage you to take a few minutes and think about your life. Define what bring you lasting Joy. Create a list in a journal and… - Set Aside Time for Your Joy
You might be thinking that you don’t have time in your life to take long walks and meditate, and hey, if that isn’t your Joy, don’t do it! However, if your first thought to reading this is, “I don’t have time for this,” then you have a problem and you definitely need to set some time to discover your Joy because this is a major sign you’ve lost it!
There is no need to panic, you don’t need to spend 60 minutes in silence to feel joy (that’s why defining YOUR joy is so important). Start with 20 minutes per week. After a few weeks, add in another 2 minutes, and work your way up to 15 minutes a day (or more). I promise, when you start doing this, you won’t want to let it go. This time rejuvenates your spirit, and you will feel calm and secure, no matter what is going on around you. - Nourish Your Joy
This means take care of yourself when your struggling. Pull out that Joy List you wrote in step 1 and do some of them. I know when I feel stressed or start to panic, the first thing I do is ground myself…literally. I stand up, stretch and feel my feet on the floor. This brings me out of my head and into the reality that this is just a moment in time and it will pass. After that I might take my dog for a quick walk, or just step outside to breathe some fresh air. You could buy some flowers and admire them, open your favorite book to a random page and read the message there for you, email or call a friend, dance…whatever you need to do to reconnect with your spirit.
It doesn’t get much simpler than that. We like to make things complicated and get frustrated when simple things feel difficult. This is simple stuff. The hard part is taking the time out and making a priority to do it! It is like any new habit, it feels hard a first but with practice it becomes easier and soon it’s a part of your regular day and you don’t have to think twice.
Make a conscious effort to try it for a month and see how you feel. I bet you won’t want to go back!
Want to use this in your eZine or on your blog? Sure as long as you don’t change anything and include the following:
Grab your FREE Copy of “Dump The Junk, and Be Happy” eBook at http://kimberlyenglot.com. Kimberly Englot is CEO of The Center for Authentic Self Development. She is the courage you need to put yourself back on your priority list, without feeling guilty or selfish.
