Whether you call it happiness, jubilance, elatedness, or bliss, joy seems to be something that so many people are on an eternal quest to find and ultimately hold on to. Interestingly, the path to this seemingly elusive nirvana-like place often involves chasing things outside of ourself.
Unaware, we buy into modern-day societal programming and tell ourselves things like:
“Once I get that promotion, I’ll finally feel triumphant and make some time for fun.”
“Once I lose weight, I’ll finally feel worthy and deserving of happiness.”
“Once I’m rich, I’ll finally be able to relax and enjoy life.”
Little do we realize how unnecessary it is to place conditions on our ability to experience joy.
Happiness and joy are meant to be our natural state of being. Just observe a child tapped into their imagination and happily at play, a cat contentedly basking in the sun, a dog exuberantly chasing a ball, or a group of humans in complete awe watching the sky morph into radiant colors at sunset and you’ll know deep in your soul that you are meant to live joyfully.
Yes, you! Joy is meant for everyone including you. And not just sometimes. Joy is meant to be a regular and daily part of your experience here in this lifetime. That is why you have a human body and human senses plus the entire world as your spectacularly amazing playground with which to experience exhilaration, merriment, and full-on joy.
Now, if your life currently entails settling for mundane mediocrity or you’re facing seemingly never-ending struggles, it may be challenging to envision your life being consistently lit up with joy.
If that is the case for you, you can either resign yourself to staying stuck on that proverbial joy-sucking hamster wheel of misery or you can re-empower yourself to create a newfound life of joy.
If you’ve chosen the latter, here are some actionable ways that you can dial up the joy in your life:
1. Prepare a Joy List
You are the only one who knows what makes you giddy with happiness and feeds your soul. Spend some time reflecting upon and jotting down with no limitations whatsoever all of the various things and/or experiences in life that bring you pure joy.
Perhaps that involves engaging in a favorite hobby or using one of your special talents. Maybe it’s creating something, playing music, or going for a run or a hike. Or spending time by the ocean, playing with a beloved pet, or gazing up at the stars.
Once you’ve reconnected with what really lights you up and fills you with joy, create your very own joy list by writing down five or more things that you are committed to incorporating into your daily life that bring you joy.
Keep this list somewhere that will be highly visible to you throughout the day. Carve out some time daily, if even for just a few minutes, to enjoy doing something on your personal joy list. By prioritizing joy, it becomes a regular part of your life.
2. Intentionally Create Opportunities for Joy
Rather than sitting passively on the sidelines waiting for joy to fall out of the sky and into your life, be intentional about designing a life where fun, laughter, and joyfulness play a prominent part in your experience here on this earth. You can do this by:
- Giving yourself permission to have adventures and trying fun stuff that interests you
- Revisiting fun activities that you enjoy but haven’t done for some time
- Indulging your inner child and doing things you loved when you were younger
By cultivating a life that you love, you exponentially increase the amount of joy in your life and build lots of happy memories in the process.
3. Choose to Live Joyfully in the Present Moment
Far too often there are beautiful blessings all around us that we overlook or tell ourselves that we’ll indulge in later. Because we never know what tomorrow will bring, the very best time to enjoy the abundant gifts of life is in the here and now.
Stop and smell the flowers. Pause and marvel at the sunrise. Turn up the volume when you hear your favorite song. Wear your favorite outfit. Use the fancy dishes. Light the bougie candle. Give hugs. Share smiles. Eat the decadent dessert. Take the vacation. Say yes to life.
Bringing It All Together
Know that experiencing a life of true joy is an intentional choice that is made day in and day out.
You get to choose to partake in experiences that light you up and feed your soul. You get to make a place in your life for joy to reside. You get to embrace and savor the deliciousness of life. And you get to write yourself a non-negotiable permission slip to live a life of infinite and effervescent joy!
In doing so, the Universe, your co-conspirator in joyful and abundant living, will applaud you.
