With this entry I have finally
caught myself back up to current again. It makes me so happy to be able to post
as I experience my joys. It’s a great
feeling as I slowly make my way through the back half of this 30 day challenge.
Day 15’s Joy – Scrapbooking and
Gift Anticipation (Monday Jul 2)
Today was filled with simple pleasures as I settled back into the real
world again. I enjoyed an afternoon nap in
my own bed, cuddling with Zoe, who is always extra needy when I’ve been away,
and just getting myself ready to head back to work. My joy for the day though came from something
I have written about before…scrapbooking.
I broke out all my Alaska memorabilia, postcards, patches, cruise
schedules and all the random stuff I gathered while I was travelling knowing it
would be put into two books – one for me and one for mom. I love this part of the scrapbooking
process. It’s when I start to really get
a vision for how the books will look. It
is also when I start to write the stories that go with the photos and extras. This in itself brings me a lot of joy. It is pretty amazing to get to lose yourself
in memories of a great trip.
There is some added joy though because in this case I know that I will
be giving one of the books I create to my mom.
This adds even more importance and meaning to creating the books. It stretches the joy because not only am I
getting a lot of it from using my creative side, but I also get it from imagining
mom’s reaction when she finally gets to look through it. Thinking about that reaction is what is bringing
me the most joy today. It excites me and
pushes me to work harder and faster on the books.
Day 16’s Joy – Dance Like No One
is Watching (Tuesday Jul 3)
I often find the most joy when I just give in to my whims. If something makes me feel silly or laugh I
often describe it as being ‘pure Jill’ and that was the case for my joy
today. Part of this challenge was to find
more ways to bring joy into my life and one area that has been in need of a
revamp for a while has been my exercise.
So I used today’s intentional joy to push myself to doing something I
haven’t done in ages but that always leaves me feeling amazing…dancing.
I decided to put on my favourite tank top, one that I never wear to the
gym because it makes me feel naked, but at the same time when I wear it I feel
like I could take on the world. Dressed
and ready to go I pulled off my socks, turned on my Wii and played a little
Just Dance. I had my volume up and threw
myself into the moves 100%. I am not
very graceful or coordinated but I have so much fun doing it. It was the perfect way to not only find a
little joy but to also get my sweat on for the night. It was a good reminder to myself that working
out doesn’t have to be work.
Day 17’s Joy – Stretch it Out (Wed
Jul 4)
Much like my joy from Tuesday, yesterday I also decided to continue to
try and bring the joy back to my workouts.
I actually spent much of yesterday trying to decide what I wanted to do
for my joy. I thought about going to the
gym, going for a walk but in the end I decided it was time to do something I
haven’t done in eons, yoga. I pulled out
my yoga mat and a dvd and got setup in my living room. It was a workout that made me sweat and smile
all at the same time.
I think the most interesting part of doing yoga last night was how
wonderful it felt mentally. I suspect
that all the work I have been doing the last 7 or so months working on
meditating had something to do with that.
I was able to really zone in to my body and really feel the energy
flowing through it. It was pretty
amazing. Of course my flexibility and
balance are lacking after such a big break from yoga but my ability to laugh at
myself is definitely still strong.
The calm and joy I found last night while pushing my body carried over
to this morning. I woke up feeling
great. Yoga will definitely end up on my
list of things that bring me joy. It is
something I plan to start regularly practicing again.
Looking at these couple of days,
I’m realizing how much I’m learning that sometimes the best way to find a
little joy is to just indulge yourself with the things you love, no matter what
they are. I challenge anyone reading
this to go out and do one thing today that you really love. Drop me a comment and let me know what you do
to find a little joy in your day. I
would love to hear what brings other people joy.
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