Finding Everyday Joy blog post June 18, 2022
Find your everyday joy by choosing to be happy.
Happiness is a choice, but to get to the state of happiness I am referring to takes some conscious effort and intention. Most people can’t just “choose to be happy” and immediately be overflowing with joy and happiness. More than likely, you will need to make a commitment to achieving this state and “choose the journey to be happy” anew in every day. Every moment, if necessary.
Becoming aware of your reactions to things is the first step.
Navigating to happiness (what I call a state of everyday joy) starts with becoming aware of your knee-jerk reactions to things. If your immediate reaction is negative/anger/anxiety/fear – or any other response that doesn’t make you feel good, just notice it.
Notice and pause.
The next step is to catch yourself first and pause the next time you are triggered. This is a BIG STEP, because it requires you to own your reaction to things that you experience, like words/scenes/sounds/tastes/smells/memories, etc.
Pat yourself on the back. This step takes a lot of courage.
Own your reactions.
Once you develop your “reaction ownership” muscle, you can move to flexing the “allowing” muscle – allowing yourself to consciously choose the response that makes you feel better.
Make the choice to feel better and allow yourself to navigate there via baby steps.
Make the choice to feel better and grant yourself some grace. Allow yourself to navigate there with baby steps. It takes time to integrate the new behavior patterns. by refusing to take score or beat up on yourself if it isn’t happening as quickly as you like or at any particular moment, you allow the process to happen in the most efficient, effective way for you.
Ultimately, you arrive at “feeling good” and living the “fun life” by choosing to feel better than you did the day before every day – minute by minute, if necessary.
Life IS supposed to be fun, and you ARE supposed to feel good.
Test it out and see for yourself.
You can get there by intentionally, consistently, constantly choosing to be happier, choosing to feel good.
Yep.
For sure.
For real.
But don’t believe it just because you read about it here. Test it. Test the heck out of it.
Again and again.
Because getting to everyday joy is worth the time and effort it takes to get there.
Allow yourself to imagine a life where you live joyously every day.
Just imagine it – waking up every morning in a good mood, eager for the day and the tasks ahead. Appreciating life.
It sounds like a pipe dream, I know.
Why not make it your daydream?