Affirmation: “I make time for joy every day.”
Stress is an epidemic in our culture. Every day, people all over the world experience stress in myriad forms—everything from financial and relationship stress to survival stress. Weathering the storm again and again comes from within. If your heart is filled with love, joy, bliss, and happiness, you can let that carry you through the tougher times. Let that optimistic fuel help you navigate life’s ups and downs. But what if you don’t feel joyful in your heart all the time? What should you do? It sounds great in theory, but how do you practice it? It is very simple: you fake it till you make it.
Consciously commit to cultivating a happy heart. Find bliss wherever you can. Make it your mission to strengthen yourself—not in a bodybuilding way nor by being a tough cookie, but in a deeper way. Strengthen yourself in a way that focuses on love, joy, and the internal wellspring of good feelings that you possess. Everybody has that. It’s just a matter of discovering and uncovering it.
Some ways that you can strengthen your joyful heart, even in times of strife, are committing to joy every day, journaling something joyful every day, setting up fun outings for yourself, calling a friend and watching a hysterically funny comedy while on the phone together, and having a party! Or do something outrageous like take up an activity you’ve always been too nervous to do before. Spend time with positive, loving people; reach out for connection. Be sure to make time for whatever hobbies bring you joy.
Even in troubled times, those who prioritize balance feel the best. You can be present for yourself or someone else, but also give yourself time to find joy, even if it’s just for a few minutes every day. And when you are not in the stressful situation, don’t focus on it. Instead, choose to do something joyful. Choose to connect with your happy heart every day. When you do this, you dramatically decrease your propensity for anxiety. Anxiety disorder diagnoses are steadily on the rise. Give yourself the chance to feel as good as you can by giving yourself a daily prescription of joy. And be sure to seek help when you need it.
Exercise: Be Happy Every Day
Now it’s time to start filling up with that optimistic fuel I mentioned earlier.
Take out your journal and get ready to make a list. Title your list “Things I Can Do for a Jolt of Happiness.” Number the lines one through twenty and start brainstorming things you can do to bring yourself happiness, one per line.
When you reach number ten, stand, jump up, and give a cheer to celebrate reaching the halfway point and to do something physically enlivening. By acting out a feeling with your body and by using your voice, you can generate the feeling within you. This is a way you can influence your own emotions. Keep brainstorming until you reach the bottom of the list.
This will get you started. Every day pick one of these things and enact it, or every day come up with something else to bring yourself joy and happiness. The joy experience can take five minutes or five hours—your choice. But to really not worry and be happy, you must prize happiness and schedule time for joy amid the hectic world in which we live.
Making the effort to experience daily joy is a powerful mood enhancer. Find your bliss today!
#joyfulliving101