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.