What brings you joy? 😊

 
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What brings you joy?

I recently asked dear friends this question during a virtual gathering. Here are some of the things they shared that bring them joy:

  • Enjoying nature (sunsets, hikes, observing life all around)

  • Dancing and movement

  • Music

  • Expression (singing, painting, poetry, …)

  • Massages

  • Deep conversations and community

  • Serendipity

  • Sense of potential and possibility

  • CATS!

The more we cultivate joy and wellbeing, the more the benefits will ripple out to all areas of our life. In these difficult times, the world needs all the kindness and joy we can bring to it.

What stands between us and joy?

In our troubled world, it’s easy to fixate on the difficulties and get caught in spirals of anxiety and worry. Our brain’s negativity bias wires us to look for what’s wrong. We’re rarely present in the moment. We’re on our way to somewhere else, doing the next thing and anticipating the challenges that may await just around the corner.

Or we might get caught in “if only” thinking: “If only I had a life partner… If only I had complete financial freedom… If only I lived somewhere else... If only I had a different X…” We think something is missing for us to be truly content.

Henri Nouwen wrote: “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”

Given our evolutionary pull to focus on the negative, it takes intention to cultivate joy in our life. We can practice turning our attention to what’s good even in the midst of difficult times and facing injustice and oppression. Albert Camus said: "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."

Choosing joy does not mean pushing away difficult emotions when they’re present. Choosing joy gives us more space to feel all of our emotions and hold them with kindness and compassion. We give ourselves permission to be just where we are, while recognizing that things are always changing, and no feeling is final.

What brings you joy?

May you be present to all the goodness in your life.

With love,

Sarah-Marie

Resources 

[PRACTICES]

Notice Joy When It's Here

Pay attention to when you are feeling joyful throughout your week. What does joy feel like in your body, mind, and heart when it arises? Open to and take in joyful moments when you’re in the middle of them.

Keep a Joy List

  1. Take a few minutes to write down everything that brings you joy (simple things, activities and experiences, etc.)

  2. Put a check mark next to the things that are already a regular part of your life.

  3. Circle the things that you could include in your life these days.

  4. Keep your list updated and regularly choose something from the list to practice cultivating joy. Try to be fully present for the joyful moments as you experience them.

Dance to Joyful Music

One of my favorite daily practices! Create a playlist with songs that bring you joy and dance to it by yourself or (virtually) with others for at least 10 min every day.

If you're looking for songs to try, I love Everything by City of the Sun and The Leap by Sounds of Isha. :)

[POEM] 

Walk Slowly from Go In and In by Danna Faulds

It only takes a reminder to breathe, a moment to be still, and just like that, something in me settles, softens, makes space for imperfection. The harsh voice of judgment drops to a whisper and I remember again that life isn’t a relay race; that we will all cross the finish line; that waking up to life is what we were born for. As many times as I forget, catch myself charging forward without even knowing where I’m going, that many times I can make the choice to stop, to breathe, and be, and walk slowly into the mystery.

[GUIDED MEDITATIONS]