How to feel more joy every day
Have you wanted to do something for a while? Maybe it's trip to Machu Picchu. Maybe it's writing a play or learning to speak French.
These nudges that you have mean that you can do this.
You may come up with a long list of excuses on why it's impossible or highly problematic, but... If you have the notion of doing something, that means that you have everything you need within you to make it happen.
For a very long time, I've wanted to write a book. I phrased it out loud back in 2014 to my coach. I said that I wanted to write. Nothing stopped me from writing: I had a laptop, and I had Internet. I didn't even need the Internet to write unless I wanted to do some research. But yet, it took me so long to finally start working on my book.
I now can see two mistakes I've made.
Mistake #1
First, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to write about, and I didn't even try to write. When I went through a 30-day challenge and had to publish a piece of content every day for thirty days, I found what I was interested in writing and what wasn't that interesting, even though I thought it could be. Writing my morning pages also helped me to explore what I enjoyed and what I didn't.
Mistake #2
Then later (second mistake), I was trying to write a book that I thought I was supposed to write: about productivity and running freelance businesses. I hired a book writing coach, and we developed a thorough outline. All I had to do was just write everything that I already knew. Yet, I couldn't. It didn't flow. I was looking at the outline and made a few attempts at writing, but I felt like I was squeezing every sentence.
What I did instead
I let it go for some time, and instead, I decided to do nothing. I went to Estonia to visit my family in April and spent almost 4 months there and then another month in Bali.
I did my bookkeeping work and property management while being away, but other than that... I didn't post anything, I didn't promote anything, and I didn't try to create yet another product or program.
But I did sign up for a Tiny Book Course that was due to start in August. I thought that a tiny book sounded like something I could definitely do. As we got closer to the start, I decided I wanted to write about joy. It's been on my mind for a while. I realised all I wanted was to feel joyous. Often. Every day.
I was able to bring a few things, rituals and activities into my life that felt joyful, and that is what my book is about: 10 ways to bring more joy and creativity to your day - every day.
The biggest aha moment was, of course, that I could be joyful now. Not when I publish my book, when I produce my movie or when I finally visit Santorini (I did finally visit Santorini in May last year, and it was even more amazing and picturesque than I thought it would be!) but today.
I can feel joyful today when I light up a candle, put on my favourite coffee shop ambience YouTube video and write my morning pages. I can feel joyful when I paint in watercolours. I enjoy watching an episode of Friends during the day while making my lunch. I enjoy walking in nature or on the beach.
All these things may seem small and insignificant, but these things make my day. The same way as small things that you enjoy are making your day brighter and happier.
It's about paying attention to what you enjoy and then doing these things intentionally and consistently.
Small things do matter.
So what do you enjoy? Can you do this today? Notice how it feels during and after you've done them.
Our life is made up of small moments. It's up to us to fill our lives with more joyful moments.
Remember, you can feel joyful today.
“We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”
~ Carlos Castaneda