Practice Intentional Joy Every Day and Change the World.
Remember it, Name it, & Claim it. Start your Joy practice now.
Hi! I am really excited to kick off the summer with this blog! It’s a three part process to uncover and discover how to cultivate intentional joy. It’s the perfect leap into summer. You can listen to the audio. Read the transcript. Or both! Enjoy.
Today, I want to focus on the importance of cultivating our intentional joy.
—remembering it, naming it, and claiming it.
Sometimes we need to dig into the oddly difficult question of what brings us joy. We have a vague idea. We know it in the moment, when we taste our favorite ice cream or catch a gentle breeze.
But what about intentional joy?
Summer surroundings are ready to rekindle child-like wonderment and awe in simple summer joys. It’s in the nightly dancing of the fireflies, the fantastic flutter of hummingbird wings, and the rhythmic crash of waves on the beach.
The luscious taste of ripe peaches, the sweet drip of melting popsicles, and the sounds of a crackling bonfire. These pure pleasures are the precious gems of summertime, inviting us to step into the light with renewed vitality and connection.
It’s funny that we would even need to PRACTICE joy, but as pressures and responsibilities grow - we lose our connection. We forget that it’s even part of our range of human experience. I mean, we all go chasing happiness. But happiness is different.
There's this false belief about achieving happiness, —where you just get to a state of being and reside there. Forever. Poof, now you’re happy. But happiness can be fleeting because we often pin it to something outside of ourselves. But ,once we attain that thing or goal, we realize we're not necessarily in that feeling of happiness anymore; it tends to fade. And it doesn’t always inspire a deeper connection to anyone or anything.
Joy, however, roots us into our humanity. It’s the under-current we tap into in moments of awe. We can feel a deep interconnection between ourselves and the world around us- And we feel that we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves.
According to Brené Brown, JOY is a - "swirl of connection, pleasure, and appreciation."
It's in these overwhelming moments we get this unprompted gratitude. It overwhelms us, at times - moving us to tears. And in the end, we’re not just grateful for the specific thing that swells us full of joy - -We’re moved by the opportunity to feel joy itself.
To be reminded of our connection to everything around us. That is Joy.
Life’s little elements of surprise that draw us into an undeniable state of presence. Juiced on inspiration, we tap into a greater sense of aliveness.
Foreboding Joy. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Now, I want to touch on the human tendency of foreboding joy—
You know, where we want to keep joy at a distance because it feels emotionally safer . Instead it feels a little easier to have some control. Joy feels really vulnerable and we can get into this place where we're waiting for the other shoe to drop.
We want to downplay the pleasures of life because we fear that once they're lost, we will suffer. However, both joy and suffering are part of what strengthens our human fabric. Joy and suffering build empathy and compassion. And to push away or deny this unbridled joy for fear of loss only blocks us from our humanity.
To overcome foreboding joy, we have to trust ourselves and anchor into a confidence in our own capacity. We need to believe we can move through loss and trust it’s part of our growth.
What if we’ve forgotten how to access joy, how to choose joy, what can we do to recover joy in the midst of these challenging times? What can we do to call it in?
Celebrate Your Feelings: Allow yourself to fully celebrate feelings of joy and happiness without downplaying them. We were taught as children to keep it all low key. To be quiet and to control any kind of outburst…including laughter.
Remember Yourself: When experiencing joy, remember you don't lose yourself; you become more fully yourself.
Be Grateful: Be grateful for your capacity to feel joy and appreciate what sparked it.
Practice Intentional Joy: A 3 part process of remembering, naming, and claiming.
How can we bring our joy to the surface? How can we create a balance in our schedule that leaves space for our joys? How can we choose joy to recover a part of ourselves in the midst of these challenging times …Practice Intentional Joy.
I've created this process to inspire you to find some time to claim and name your joys. Making sure it is part of your every day. Folding intentional joy into your life because it is your divine right. Because it is a golden thread of our human fabric. Because it keeps our nervous system in check. Not least of all, because you deserve it.
So grab your journal or a notebook and let’s get started.