3 ways to bring more joy into your life

In this article we share 3 ways to bring more joy into your life.

There’s mounting scientific evidence that a focus on gratitude and finding ways to bring more joy into your life improves mental health and wellbeing, life expectancy and your overall health[1][2]. Yet around 20% of people[3] can be said to be ‘flourishing’.

This is why The Gut-Mind Collective advocates for making time to bring more joy into your life and compiled a handy list of ways to cultivate joy daily.

Carve out time and space to connect with your intuition

When you learn to follow your intuition’s cues, you will enhance your confidence and reclaim your self-trust.

Create a sacred place that you can visit to connect with your inner voice and intuition. Then take yourself on a date. Bring a fresh new journal and a pen or pencil to complete the first of many exercises you will work through this year.

If it helps you relax, light a candle or play some music. Enjoy a warm beverage. Eliminate potential sources of distraction by turning off your phone or other devices.

Open your journal to a clean page and center yourself by writing this affirmation on the page: I honour progress over perfection.

Spend a few minutes writing down what this phrase means to you in the current moment.

Consciously focus on gratitude

Frame the beginning of a day with gratitude:

Before getting out of bed, consider three things—however small—that you are grateful for. Even on a really hard day, make yourself do this, even if your internal voice is one of sarcasm: just three things.

You may like to tune into our meditation “Starting the Day With Gratitude”

Before you go to sleep, think of the positive things that happened during the day.

Take a moment to do this every night and write what you’re grateful for and why in your journal. Here’s a few prompts to get you started:

What’s one kind or thoughtful thing someone did for you today? Why?
What’s the best thing that happened today? Why?
What made you smile today? And why?

You may like to end your day with our meditation “The Power of Gratitude for Sleep”

Put up gratitude “stop signs” in your life.

Write “What are you grateful for right now?” on a post-it note and stick it in a place where you go regularly. The refrigerator or pantry door is a good starting place! Then reflect on one thing you’re grateful for in that moment.

Create a joy list and use it daily

Write down the top 10 things that nourish you and bring you joy. Big or small, you can refer to this list daily to cultivate happiness.

Your activities can be anything that bring you joy and happiness: from gardening, eating a peach, walking in nature, drawing, painting, dancing in your lounge room, writing, reading, meditating, or talking with a friend and so many more.

Never stop adding to your list and go do something that fills your cup!

We encourage you to experiment with one practice for a week and make a note of any subtle changes that occur in your life.

REFERENCES:

[1] Harvard Health. Unknown. (2012). The Happiness-Health Connection. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/the-happiness-health-connection

[2] Greater Good Magazine. Newman, K. (2015). Six Ways Happiness is Good for Your Health. Retrieved from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_happiness_is_good_for_your_health

[3] McKee, L. G., Algoe, S. B., Faro, A. L., O'Leary, J. L., & O'Neal, C. W. (2019). Picture This! Bringing joy into Focus and Developing Healthy Habits of Mind: Rationale, design, and implementation of a randomized control trial for young adults. Contemporary clinical trials communications, 15, 100391. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conctc.2019.100391

Categories: Personal Growth, Intuition, Mental Health, Self-care