Joy is something we can always use. It brings lightness into our lives and invites other positive emotions to uplift & carry us through the day. In this post, I’ll share 10 ways you can infuse joy into your life through daily, intentional acts.
1. Create A Joy List.
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.
You can start by making a list of all the things that spark joy from within, uplift you, or put a smile on your face. They can be smells, sights, sounds, and activities that create moments of joy in your life.
Here are some examples:
- Drinking coffee.
- Eating chocolate.
- Watching a rom-com.
- Listening to a baby laugh.
- Blowing bubbles.
- Watching clouds float across the sky.
- Stopping to smell flowers.
- Doodling in a sketchbook.
- Playing a musical instrument.
- Taking a long, hot bath.
2. Practice Self-Awareness.
If you want to create more moments of joy in your life, you have to embrace all your feelings, not just the positive ones.
You can do this by practicing self-awareness. Here are 3 steps to increase it:
1. Acknowledge.
Acknowledging your feelings is the first step in building self-awareness. When you are aware of what you are thinking and feeling, you start to diminish its power over you and can choose to change limiting behavioral patterns.
2. Allow.
Allow yourself to think and feel your thoughts and emotions without filtering or judging them. It helps you detach them from each other so that you live with more ease and flow.
It also helps you process them so you can understand them and possibly discover their origins so you can start healing your life.
3. Breathe.
To help you through difficult thoughts and emotions, try slow, deep breathing. It helps you get through them and can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which activates relaxation.
3. Find Your People.
Surround yourself with people who support you and lift you up. These are people who you love to be around, make you laugh, and enjoy life.
Surrounding yourself with people you love, fosters feelings of joy, love, and happiness.
This could be talking to your neighbor, 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. This can add more joy to your life by recharging your batteries and replenishing your energy.
I spend Me time by giving myself breaks throughout the day, week, month, and year. I learned to give myself lots of mini breaks throughout the day, have a lunch hour, take a walk around the park (or do an exercise I enjoy), go to a monthly spa, and spend a day to unplug and unwind by myself once a year.
It’s not selfish to have time for yourself. It can actually improve your relationship with others because you’re filling your cup and giving them your best.
5. Be Intentional With Joy.
Sometimes you have to be intentional if you want to create moments of joy. Being intentional is choosing what you want to do with your life rather than letting chance do it for you.
Living a life that is more intentional creates opportunities for more joy to come into your life through awareness and action.
6. Express Gratitude.
Expressing gratitude, even for the smallest things, can make you feel more joyful. You can start a daily practice by gratitude journaling and writing down one thing you’re grateful for each day.
Or you can express gratitude every day through small acts of kindness, practicing self-compassion, or slowing down to appreciate the things that are around you.
7. Find Your Purpose In Life.
Finding your purpose in life can bring you more joy, by giving it 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. When I am doing something with a purpose, I’m filled with 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 spiritual bypass. The older I get, the less I want to fake it.
I think I’m also afraid of offending others who don’t feel the same way, so I tend to err on the side of caution. However, smiling because you are genuinely joyful is a great reason to smile more.
9. Celebrate Your Small Wins.
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 everyday life. For example, if you got up and made your bed in the morning, 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.
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 acts such as writing a joy list, surrounding yourself with people who uplift you, expressing gratitude, spending some time by yourself, finding your purpose in life, celebrating your accomplishments, 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 joyful? 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 Morning routine | 12 blissful ways to start your day.
If you want to add more joy to your life through acts of kindness, read: Acts of kindness | What they are and how they benefit.