When was the last time I felt joy? That’s what I asked myself one morning when I felt frustration that seemingly came out of nowhere.
What led up to that moment was falling into the trap of keeping busy, being distracted by my phone, and putting other things first before joy.
Life happened and I neglected to notice even the littlest things in my life that made me feel happy inside.
Which is why I think it’s important to be intentional about joy because sometimes it’s hard to feel it when we’re just trying to make it through the day.
So in this post, I’ll show you 10 simple ways you can add more joy to your life. But before I do, I want you to know that adding joy doesn’t mean ignoring uncomfortable feelings like anger, resentment, or sadness.
Those emotions are important too. This is just a reminder that joy is always available to us when we’re ready to slow down, make time for it, and truly savor it.
1. Start Counting Your Joy.
“The only requirement is what you already have: an openness to discovering the joy that surrounds you.”
-Ingrid Fetell Lee, Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness
According to Ingrid Fetell Lee, author of Joyful, The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness, it’s the ordinary things in life that create the most joy.
If you think about the things that brought you joy in the past, are they the big moments? Or are they little things that brought a smile to your face?
The things that bring me the most joy are usually ordinary things that are hidden in plain sight. Things that I pass by every day without really noticing, like the cozy sound a creaky door makes, my bright yellow soap dispenser, or the satin ribbons I use to tie my curtains.
When you start counting your joy, you start noticing more joyful things that you didn’t notice before. It’s kind of like counting your blessings, or expressing gratitude.
The more you do them, the more you’ll start noticing them, and the more you’ll realize that it’s the little things in your life bring the most meaningful joy.
You can start counting your joy by making a list of all the things that spark joy, induce happiness, and put a smile on your face. They can be smells, sights, sounds, or cozy activities like:
- Drinking coffee.
- Eating chocolate.
- Watching favorite rom-coms.
- Hearing children laugh.
- Curling up on a couch to read a book.
- Watching clouds float across the sky.
- Stopping to smell flowers.
- Doodling in a notebook.
- Taking a slow walk around the neighborhood.
- Listening to bird chirps outside your kitchen window.
2. Practice Self-Awareness.
If you want to create more moments of joy in your life, you have to embrace all of your feelings, not just the positive ones.
This is important because it’s hard to feel good emotions and think joyful things when you’re feeling bad ones, too. With that being said, it’s also easy to perpetuate a cycle of bad emotions & thoughts when you’re unaware of them.
Self-awareness helps you recognize your emotions & thoughts for what they are without getting too caught up in them so you can appreciate & learn from them.
It takes practice, but you can do it with 3 simple steps:
I. Acknowledge.
Acknowledging your feelings is the first step in building self-awareness. When you are aware of your thoughts and feelings, you can start changing how you’ll react to them.
II. Allow.
Allow yourself to think and feel your thoughts and emotions without filtering or judging them. It helps you process them so you better understand where they’re coming from, and why you had them, later on.
III. Invite.
When I have a difficult emotion or thought, it helps to think of it like a friend. Inviting it in with this mindset helps you resist the urge to turn away from it.
Remind yourself that the emotion or thought is temporary. If you have to, set aside time in private to allow yourself to feel and think your emotion or thought.
3. Find Your People.
I’m an introvert but I understand that it’s important to surround yourself with people who support you and uplift you.
The good news is, if you’re like me, you can choose who you want to share joyful moments with. These are people who make you laugh and feel energized just by being around them.
Surrounding yourself with people you love, fosters feelings of joy, love, and happiness.
This could be a sibling, parent, bestie, favorite cousin, favorite aunt or uncle. It can look like having lunch with friends, going on a day trip with your loved ones, going to happy hour with coworkers, or going on a date night with your significant other.
4. Give Yourself “Me Time”.
“Me time” is spending time alone to care for yourself to recharge your batteries and replenish your energy. There’s a reason why they tell you in an airplane to put your mask on first before helping others.
You won’t be of any help to anyone if you are struggling yourself and the same goes if you’re not filling up your cup and taking good care of yourself.
I have to take my own advice all the time because I find that I put others first more often than not and pay the price later on.
I learned over time that “me time” is crucial if I want to show up better for others and enjoy my life. “Me time” looks like giving myself lots of breaks, like taking a walk outside, eating lunch for a full hour, going to a monthly spa, or spending part of the day to unplug and unwind.
It’s not selfish to have time for yourself. It can actually improve your relationship with yourself and others because you’re giving to others by giving to yourself, too.
5. Be Intentional With Joy.
I mentioned in the beginning that it’s important to make time for joy because life happens, we get busy, and there’s distraction all around us.
Simply noticing that you need to have more joyful moments is enough to be more intentional with it. When you create more opportunities for joy, you’ll start to notice that it doesn’t take much to invite more of it into your life, and it will come from a place of appreciation rather than necessity.
6. Express Gratitude.
I discovered that expressing gratitude, even for the smallest things, can add more joy to your life. You can start a daily practice bygratitude journaling and writing down one thing you’re grateful for each day.
Or you can express gratitude by saying thank you to someone, practicing self-compassion by thanking yourself, or slowing down to be thankful for and appreciate the things that are around you.
7. Find Your Purpose In Life.
Finding your purpose in life can bring more joy to it, by giving your life more meaning. In his TED talk, James Goebel explained how doing something meaningful and with purpose can bring joy, even to the most mundane task.
His daughter struggled in math. So he had her build a house, which involved complex math skills. She was able to enjoy learning math because it became more meaningful to her by giving her a purpose. Your purpose in life can help motivate and inspire you, even when it feels like you’re struggling.
I find this to be true because when I am doing something with purpose, I’m filled with more joy & contentment when I finish it because it has a special meaning to me.
8. Smile More.
Smiling has been shown to help lower heart rate, which helps in recovery during stressful periods. I’m on the fence with this one because smiling while you’re emotionally low can feel like a spiritual bypass. The older I get, the less I want to fake it.
I ‘m also afraid of offending others if, for example, I walk into a room smiling and failed to “read the room” correctly. However, smiling because you are genuinely joyful is a great reason to smile more and can light you up from the inside.
9. Celebrate Your Small Wins.
the best way to motivate people, day in and day out, is by facilitating progress—even small wins.
Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, The Progress Principle
Celebrate your accomplishments, no matter how small. In the book, The Progress Principle, authors Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer conducted a study that demonstrated the power of celebrating small wins while doing meaningful work. It had a positive effect on employee outlook and performance.
The same principle can be applied to adding more joy into your daily life. For example, if brushed your teeth in the morning after breakfast, give yourself a pat on the back.
Celebrating small wins like this keeps you motivated and helps you stay focused on the process rather than the outcome.
10. Help Others.
“An effort made for the happiness of others lifts us above ourselves.” – Lydia M. Child
One of the best ways to bring joy into your life is by helping out another human being. Helping someone out just feels good inside.
Studies have even shown that helping others can reduce stress, increase longevity, and improve overall health & wellbeing.
Just remember that when you help others, make sure you’re there to lend a hand without expecting something in return. You want to make sure that the exchange is uplifting and not draining.
Final Thoughts On Joy.
Joy is all around us and all we have to do is to simply become aware of it to feel more of it. Add more joy to your life through small things like counting your joys, finding joyful people, expressing gratitude, spending some time by yourself, finding your purpose in life, celebrating small wins, helping others, and even smiling more.
I hope you found these tips to create more joy in your life helpful. When was the last time you felt joy? Please share in the comments!
More Ways To Boost Joy.
If you want more intentional and practical ways to add more joy to your life, check out: Self Care Sunday Ideas To Help You Relax, Indulge, and Enjoy. and An Easy Mindful Morning Routing You Will Stick To.
If you want to add more joy to your life through acts of kindness, read: What I Learned After My 40 Days Of Kindness Challenge.
