30 Days of Joy: Day 9/30

Day 9’s Joy – A Conversation with my Neighbour

Yesterday joy found me, I didn’t have to try and create it.  I was not in the best of moods yesterday.  I got up and felt like the minute my feet hit the floor I was just go go go.  Mornings like that always leave me feeling frazzled which then bleeds into being more agitated with things like traffic or work.  By the time I got home I just wanted to crash and zone out, of course the fact that I’m about to go on mini vacation and my lawn desperately needed to be cut argued that I couldn’t do that.

Grudgingly I headed out to mow the lawn.  This is by far my least favourite chore, largely due to allergies, so it’s hard to find joy in it.  The universe had my back though.  When I was about halfway done with my backyard my little old lady neighbour came out and to our shared fence.  I have known her for most of my life because we moved to this house when I was 5.  She is a wonderful lady.  Anyway seeing her wander over I stopped mowing and went over to chat with her.

As she often does each summer, she had an envelope for me to thank me for shovelling her sidewalk all winter.  I keep trying to tell her she doesn’t need to give me anything but she always insists.  She always tells me how much she appreciates that I’m willing to shovel her sidewalk and that it’s just a little something so I can do something fun on my vacation when I go.  I always tell her the same thing – ‘thank you so much, you honestly don’t have to do this.  I shovel your sidewalk because I couldn’t get over and do my grandma’s sidewalk.  It makes me feel good to put that into the world.’  It doesn’t matter that Nan isn’t around anymore I still feel very strongly about being able to do it to keep her memory alive.  If I can help by doing something like shovelling a sidewalk so someone can stay independent and in their own home I will do my best to help.

The sense of joy and satisfaction I get from this yearly discussion and in fact from actually shovelling her sidewalk is the only thing I need.  Hearing from her how much she appreciates it, fills me with so much gratitude that I’m physically able to do it for her.  There is just something really special about knowing that I can help make her life a little easier.  My time in this house is coming to an end and she is definitely one of the parts that I will miss the most when I leave.  It makes me appreciate the conversation all the more. 

After the 15 minute conversation with her, she wandered back into her house and I went on to finish my lawn.  The mood and internal dialogue had shifted though.  Doing something good for someone will always come back to you and is never wasted.  It is a form of joy that will always lift you up, even months after you do it. 

I suspect the next few days will be much easier to find joy as I’m about to head off to one of my favourite places in the world.  I will still be writing and seeking joy each day but I won’t be able to share it until I get back.  I am determined to keep going with this daily challenge.  I look forward to playing catch up when I return.  Much love and gratitude to anyone reading this.

Yesterday’s Joy

Challenge Introduction/Day 1  

30 Days of Joy: Day 8/30

Day 8’s Joy – Snailmail

When I started this challenge I created a list of things that I know bring me joy, so that if I was struggling on a day to find something I could just go to my list.  One of the first things I wrote on that list was sending and receiving real letters and postcards.  Yesterday’s joy was all about both of these.

At the start of 2018 I made a goal to send something in the mail every week.  The plan has been to send notes, cards, or whatever else I can think of, out to friends and family.  By the end of the year I want to have mailed at least 52 items.  Once this goal was known, one of my friends suggested that I also checkout the website postcrossing.com.  Now between these two things, sending and receiving real letters and postcards have become a very important part of my world and always bring me joy.  Yesterday I got to enjoy both sides of this hobby, the sending and receiving. 

In order to keep addresses safer on postcrossing they limit your access to getting addresses.  There are limits around how many postcards you can have travelling at a time but as your postcards are received you are able to request new addresses.  Yesterday I was lucky enough to have had three cards received over the weekend so I got to sit down in the morning and write three new ones. I love the whole process, everything from picking out the perfect postcard to send to trying to decide what to write to picking out some fun stickers to add.  It makes me feel amazing to know I’m sending some smiles and love out into the world.  I might not know the people I’m sending postcards to but I know (hope) I will be responsible for bringing a smile to their face and that is pretty special.

The flipside of sending postcards is that I also get postcards back.  Every day as I drive home from work I start to wonder if I will find anything in my mailbox.  Most days the answer is no but usually at least once a week or so I will have postcards waiting for me.  Yesterday I was blessed enough not only to have two new postcrossing postcards but I also a real letter from a friend that has now become a pen pal thanks to my 2018 goal.  Just opening the mailbox and pulling those out is enough to make any day better.

In a desire to extend the joy I get from mail, early on I started a bit of a ritual around reading them.  They get put on my computer in my living while I get settled for the evening.  I will usually make a cup of tea (or if it’s hot something cold) to drink and then I settle on the couch to read the notes and relax after a day of work.  It is always interesting to read and hear about the different things people want to share.  After reading the notes I spend a little time really looking at the postcards.  I will often do a little google searching to learn more about the images or the countries the postcards have come from.  Then finally I will register the postcards as being received which is also my chance to send a little note thanking the sender for the card.

I didn’t know how much I would love this new hobby but it thrills me. I have been blessed to be able to have had 29 of my postcards so far reach their intended recipients.  I have also been lucky enough to have received 33 cards from all over the world.  That is already a lot of smiles and joy being put out into our universe.  In a world full of email and text messages, I feel like we are losing the special connection that comes from having a letter or note that you can physically touch.  Maybe I’m crazy but I know for me I will always find joy in getting to send out and receiving real mail.

Find something you love and throw yourself in to it, you won’t be disappointed.

  

Yesterday’s Joy

Challenge Introduction/Day 1   

30 Days of Joy: Day 7/30

Day 7’s Joy – Scrapbooking with Friends

Wow I can hardly believe it has already been a week of trying to seek out intentional joy each day.  It has been a pretty great week.  Overall I’m feeling happier and more fulfilled with the things in my world.  It’s kind of crazy because I’m not really doing anything that I wouldn’t normally do in a week but in paying attention to how it brings me joy, it has shifted how I look at each day.  It’s been pretty amazing.  I’m also learning a lot about myself which is always a good thing.

Anyway, day number 7 was a pretty great day.  My joy came from spending 10 hours with a couple friends working on our scrapbooks.  I think it was even more special for me because I was scrapbooking the photos from my 10K race. 

Time spent scrapbooking for me is guaranteed joy.  It doesn’t matter when I do it or where I do it or even how long I can devote to it, scrapbooking will always relax me, inspire me and remind me of all the great things in my life.  If you want to increase your joy I highly recommend giving scrapbooking a chance, especially with events or things that brought you joy to start with.  Going back and looking at the photos will bring back the memories and feelings that you experienced at the time of the event.  You can increase that feeling by writing about it.  Then anytime you need a boost to your mood you can flip open the book and continue to relive the most important moments of your life.

Yesterday as I mentioned I was scrapbooking my 10k race photos.  It has only been 4 weeks since I did the race, so not really that long ago, but working with the photos did put me back into that moment.  I got to relive the pride, the struggle and all the love and support I experienced that Sunday.  The photos and pages I worked on yesterday will be add to a scrapbook that I have been keeping to document my weight loss journey and let me tell you, anytime when I feel like I’m struggling I pick up that book.  It has become a powerful tool to keep me going and to remind me where I have come from. 

Scrapbooking may not bring joy for everyone.  In fact one of the friends that was scrapbooking with me yesterday will probably never do a second book, but even she admits that she loves that she will have a book to capture a trip that we all took together last year.  Ultimately though what yesterday really boils down to for me and why it got added to my days of joy is because it was about doing something I love and throwing myself in to it with both feet.

Happy Monday world.   I can’t wait to see what you have in store for me this week.

Yesterday’s Joy 

Challenge Introduction/Day 1

30 Days of Joy: Day 6/30

Day 6’s Joy – Realizing I Love My Legs

Day 6 was an easy day to find joy.  I got to see a couple movies, hang out with one of my favourite families and spend time getting to know my brother’s fiancé, but when I sat down to write this entry I realized that the thing that brought me the most joy happened before any of that.  It started while I was at the gym but the joy grew for the rest of the day and I suspect will continue to grow. 

The last few weeks when I’ve been getting to the gym (which sadly hasn’t been as regularly as I would like) I have been getting back into jogging intervals.  I have missed running.  As I was getting ready to finish my first 10k I stopped working on my running and turned my attention to just training walking the distance because my only goal was to get across that finish line.  So it has been pretty great getting back to run training.  Yesterday I decided it was time to test myself and see just how long I could jog for and I was thrilled to hit 2 minutes.  This might not seem like a lot but considering a few weeks ago it was only 30 seconds this was a big improvement for me.  Of course when I was training regularly and at my best I was able to do 7 minutes so I still have a long way to go but seeing the improvement already made me feel amazing. 

After the gym it was time for my Weight Watchers meeting and the joy that started at the gym was magnified.  The topic this week body image.  As we were talking one of the questions asked was ‘what is your best feature?’ and the answers were pretty typical - eyes, hair, feet but nothing in between.  As everyone was talking I thought about the question.  My easy quick answer is always my eyes but yesterday I realized that the part I like most about myself right now is actually my legs.  They may not be the definition of beautiful but they are strong and powerful which is pretty beautiful to me.  I’m strangely proud of my legs.

Since doing my 10k I have been thinking a lot about my legs.  I have started to become incredibly grateful for them.  They carry me around and have to deal with more weight than they should to do it.  They also put up with me pushing them in ways most people my size wouldn’t.  They let me jog, walk big distances, climb and even squat for long periods to get perfect photos.  Yesterday taking time to really recognize how much my legs do for me was truly a joyful experience.  I was filled with love and gratitude not only for my legs but also my whole body.  It was a powerful feeling that is sticking with me.

Today I want to end my blog with a wish of joy for all who are reading this.  My wish is that I hope you can find a few minutes of joy by spending a little time appreciating and loving your body.  No matter what you might think its flaws are, the reality is our bodies are pretty amazing and special just as they are in this moment.  No matter what journey you are on send a little love and gratitude to all yourself.

Yesterday's Joy 

Challenge Introduction/Day 1

30 Days of Joy: Day 5/30

Day 5’s Joy – A Low Key Night at Home

There is a Brene Brown quote that I have written in my book that sums up yesterday’s joy.  “Joy comes to us in ordinary moments.  We risk missing out when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary.”  My world is often crazy and even when I first thought about this challenge it was to bring more of the extraordinary moments into my life (the whole idea of Expo mashed up with 10k finishes) but I have to say that in the last 5 days what I have started to realized is how much of what I do really brings me joy.

Last night I had a plan in place for what I was going to do to find my joy; I had a vision of my book and my bathtub all day.  However as I had to clean my house first and have dinner I turned on the television.  I came across the movie Bridget Jones Baby, which I love.  That movie led to watching another movie Home Again, which I hadn’t seen before but it was sweet.  There is something great about movies but last night it was more than just tuning out and watching movies.  The best part of the night end up being that I got to spend all of Home Again and most of Bridge Jones on the couch with Zoe (my cat for those who don’t know) cuddled on me. 

Sometimes joy comes from the simplest things.  Zoe is the world’s biggest suck.  She is unlike any cat I have ever known.  If I’m sitting down she is on me or lying beside me with her paws reaching out to touch me.  She has always just wanted to be attached to me.  Lots of times though I don’t sit still long enough to really enjoy this.  Lots of times it drives me nuts because it is hard to do much when you have a cat demanding your attention.  Last night though I just revelled in it.  I was just grateful to be able to pet her and have her curled up on me.  It was pretty much the perfect night.

I have to say that even though I’m only five days in to this challenge I’m learning a lot.  I’ve started a list of lessons that are coming out of it that I will share at the end but one thing I wanted to share now is how amazing it is to be able to find joy each day.  Now that I’m watching and checking in with myself to notice those little moments that fill me up, I’m realizing how much of them are there.  Being more aware has made me more grateful which in turn has showed me that maybe I had more joy in my world than I thought. 

My wish for everyone today is that you can all find the luxury of time spent doing something that brings you joy no matter how simple it may seem.

Yesterday’s joy 

Challenge Introduction/Day 1 

30 Days of Joy: Day 4/30

Day 4’s Joy – Catching Up with Old Friends

Day 4 was a pretty easy day to find my joy.  I didn’t even have to set an intention to find it. Time spent with friends and kids is instant joy for me.  One of my goals this year is to reconnect with people.  I have a tendency to spend a lot of time on my own which I think is okay except that last year I noticed that I was starting to feel disconnected from the people I care about and that’s not cool with me.  So this year I have been trying hard to fix that feeling by reaching out more. 

I have a few friends that I have known since junior high and high school (20+ years…wow where does the time go).  We may not spend a lot of time together but when I do get to see them it always just feels easy.  There is something special about the people that have known you forever.  It is hard for me to even put into words how much these few oldest friends mean to me but between the flood of memories and the ease of conversation, I know I’m always going to leave a visit with one of them feeling more joyous and lifted up.  These people became friends at a time when it felt like the whole world was making fun of me and judging me for my weight and I’m sure that is part of why they have such an effect on me. 

Of course added to catching up with my friend was also getting to spend some time with her son.  I haven’t seen him in a couple years.  He is full of kid energy that is just contagious.  I suspect it might be a bit different if I was around kids all the time but because I don’t, I can’t help but love that energy.  To see the world as kids do and spend time with them is fantastic.  It reminds me not to take myself or life to seriously.  It also challenges my imagination to try and connect and play on their level.  it is just a great way to spend some time.

I might only be four days into this challenge but I have to say that of all the random challenges I have tried this has been my favourite.  I’m amazed at how much more I’m already smiling.  As content and happy as I always am bringing joy in daily has raised the bar.  Happy Friday to everyone, may the day go fast and the weekend start soon for everyone.

Yesterday’s Joy 

Challenge Introduction/Day 1 

30 Days of Joy: Day 3/30

Day 3’s Joy – A Finished Task and Memories Relived

Day 3 reinforced the realization that I had yesterday about joy and intention.  Anything can bring you fulfillment and joy if you set that as the intention.  I was struggling yesterday with a headache in the evening, so I wasn’t at my most cheerful and without a plan for what I would do to bring me joy it was hard to try and come up with something.  I needed something low key and easy, so I decided that finally finishing sorting the last of my Alaska photos would be a good thing and maybe with the right mindset it would bring me the joy I was hunting for the day.

I love travelling, taking photos and scrapbooking but I do not love sorting through thousands of photos to pick and choose the ones I need to print.  It is a tedious task that if I don’t do right after the vacation often gets put off, which is what happened with my Alaska trip.  I have been slowly sorting and printing over the last few weeks.  It has felt like a chore but last night, after deciding it would bring me joy, I jumped in to finish my last few days off.  I turned the television off and then took my time going through the photos.  I focused less on the actual sorting and more on remembering the vacation.  It helps that the photos I was sorting were from some of my favourite parts of the trip. 

Setting the intention of making a tedious task into my joy really helped.  Not only did it push me to get it done, knowing that if I crossed it off my to do list, it would at least make me happy but in setting the intention to make it joyful it gave me the permission to take my time and really reconnect with the photos and memories from the trip.  This is not something I usually get to do until I’m scrapbooking the photos and writing the stories.  Of course in actually finishing the sorting, there is a fair amount of excitement that floods my system know that it means I actually get to start working on creating that album.

I have to say that by the time I was done sorting my mood and energy had changed.  I still had the headache but I went to bed with a smile on my face.  I felt accomplished and excited.  I was also reminded of how much gratitude I have for having had the opportunity to share another amazing trip with my mom.  Sorting photos may not have been on my list of things I would expect to bring me joy but I found it anyway which at least in some part is what this challenge is about.

Happy first day of summer, may the new season bring much joy.

Yesterday's Blog
Challenge Introduction/Day 1

30 Days of Joy: Day 2/30

Day 2's Joy - A Lunch Date with Myself and a Book

I have to say I think this idea of trying to find joy each day is going to be really good for me (shocking I know…heheh).  The world feels different when you set your intention to be joyful.  Day #2 of this challenge reminded me of this idea.

It is probably not surprising that I love food and eating out.  Lately between working on saving a down payment for a house and trying to lose weight, eating out is something I don’t do as much anymore.  Yesterday I decided that my joy was going to be taking myself out on a lunch date.  I grabbed my book and left the office at lunch time so I could go visit a nearby restaurant.  I followed lunch by a visit to Starbucks for a frappuccino before heading back to work because for an hour I didn’t want to worry about calories. 

Now a lunch break probably doesn’t seem that special but the crazy thing that I realized is because I set the intention that it would be my joy for the day it actually was.  As soon as I left the office I was more grateful for the sun warming my face, the light breeze keeping me from getting too hot and even the hint of the scent of flowers because they all were noticed and lifted my spirit.  Lunch itself was probably nothing amazing or special but it was tasty.  I took my time enjoying the flavours of the food and reading my book.  It was relaxing and refreshing.  By the time I got back to the office after this break I felt lighter and refreshed.  I was also way more productive in the afternoon.  This is also not surprising, there are lots of studies out there that say this very thing. 

The effects from lunch followed me the rest of the day.  Lately as soon as I get home from work I want to snack and I have found more and more lately I have been giving in to that.  Logically I know it is a reaction to my day more than true hunger but logic doesn’t always make things change.  Yesterday when I got home there was no nagging desire to snack.  I’m sure some would argue that it’s because my lunch was probably bigger than normal (it wasn’t) but honestly the fact that I could focus on making dinner without snacking was simply because I was in a better frame of mind.  That feeling has actually last through the night and is in fat carrying me as I write this.  I’m excited to see how this feeling grows over the next 30 days because I know it will.

Sending all who are reading this much love and wishes for finding your own joy.

Day 1's Blog Entry

30 Days of Joy: Day 1/30

This blog entry and challenge might seem a little strange coming from me.  I generally consider myself to be a fairly happy and content person but I have decided that I need to bring more joy into my life.  I think that although similar, joy and happiness are actually two different things, although both definitely feed on each other.  To me joy is the stuff that really fills my soul.  It makes me happy to my very core and leaves me feeling lighter and more fulfilled.  In a world where we are inundated with images of negativity it is easy to forget and take for granted the things that fill your soul and bring you joy.  I want more joy in my life so why not spend some time focused on it.

About 7 months ago I started on a journey of self-development and learning.  It has been amazing and I will write more about it specifically in another entry at some point but for now I mention it because that is what has ultimately led me to this entry and the challenge I’m about to undertake.  As I have been working on growing myself I have come to realize that somewhere along the way I have lost touch with the things that really bring me joy.  I have moments where I glimpse it and feel it but I want to find more of it.  I want to not only find more joy but really appreciate the things that bring me that feeling.  I want to really embrace all the things that make me feel the most like myself.

With all of this in mind I have decided to set myself a 30 day challenge.  For the next 30 days I’m going to do something each day that brings me true joy.  I have come up with a list of things that include everything from a bubble bath to cuddling with my cat to trying something new and a bunch of things in between.  I also figured that as a way to get my blogging and writing going again regularly, I would post each day about what brought my joy (well most days anyway as there are some where I won’t have internet access).  The days I miss I will go old school and write the entries by hand and just post them after.  The plan is to post my daily joy the following morning, so for example today (Tuesday) I’m writing about Monday.

I am super excited for this challenge.  I suspect like most challenges that I set for myself I will learn a lot.  I also suspect that the list of things that bring me joy will also grow and change.  It is my hope that by the end of the month I will have a pretty good handle on the things I need and want to do that will bring more joy in my life.  I hope to feel the way I did when I finished that 10k race last month or the way I feel every year during the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.  Basically I’m going for a 30 ay mashup of all the things that make me feel on top of the world.

“The body heals with play, the mind heals with laughter and the spirit heals with joy.” a proverb

Day 1’s Joy – A Movie Night Double Feature with a Friend

Yesterday I went for an easy win to get me started on this challenge.  I have always loved movies.  They inspire me and entertain me and I love them all.  Not only that there is something that always feels a little decadent and self-indulgent and joyful about going to back to back movies especially on a work night.  hehehe

So yesterday, day of this challenge, I went with a friend and saw two movies after work.  The first was one I had seen before, Book Club, but I knew she really wanted to see it and I loved it the first time.  So we went and laughed our way through it.  It is a super cute movie that not only makes me laugh but triggers my sappy side as well.  Laughing for an hour and a half was a good start to finding joy.  We followed it up with the movie Hotel Artemis.  It was weird and quirky and super interesting.

I’m sure there are some who would say that a movie can make you happy while you are watching it but would question if it can actually bring you real joy.  Well for me the answer is yes it can bring joy.  Movies have always been something I love.  There is something special about being able to lose yourself in a movie.  For me especially when it comes to going to a theatre it is a chance for me to turn on my imagination and just let the emotions of the movie really flow through me.  When I leave a movie I always feel more creative and inspired.  I need that energy to support my writing.  So for me movies definitely bring me joy.  They fill my soul and my creative tank and when they are really good they stay with me for days and weeks and sometimes even months after.

I have to say day 1 was a success.  I’m super excited to see what day 2 has in store for me. 

May all who are reading this find your own little joy.