Joy-Seeking for Wellness
Last week, while I was watching television during a treadmill workout, a holiday commercial for a popular coffee came on. A shopper enters, orders a coffee at the counter, and then turns around to find the coffee shop full of people with no open seats to sit. After scanning for just a moment, another woman seated at a table creates a space by moving a backpack, gesturing to the shopper to join her with her coffee. It is a heartwarming moment of goodwill, compassion, and kindness, and at the end of the commercial, the words – spread joy – flash across the screen, reminding us that even the smallest gestures make a big impact.
Heading into the final weeks of the year, these types of commercials circulate often as holidays and celebrations are on the horizon. Regardless of the product being marketed, I find myself moved by each one – celebrating goodwill, compassion, kindness, and joy feels like such a fitting way to end a year! Yet, while on the treadmill watching this commercial, I also found myself reflecting that joy and the spreading of joy should not be restricted to this time of the year alone. While these concepts may currently have a particular focus, it is in creating more space for joy in the everyday that we stand to gain the greatest benefits.
An intriguing part of our human experience, joy is an awfully big emotion packed into a tiny package. For many of us, it tends to be one of those elusive emotions felt only with success or good fortune. However, in exploring definitions of joy, its true character is more internal than external. It occurs in even the simplest of everyday moments and can be felt when we are open to the world, connected with ourselves, or embracing moments as they unfold. Joy is a deep feeling of happiness or pleasure triggered through a sense of life satisfaction or contentment – it is a state of mind rather than merely a reaction to an event or experience.
Like all emotions, joy is also deeply personal and unique to each of us: what brings joy to one person may not bring great happiness or pleasure to another. But what is universal about joy is the incredible impact it has on wellness. Numerous studies correlate happiness with multiple benefits to our health; given that joy facilitates peace, happiness, and a sense of wellbeing, it is no wonder that cultivating joy is known as an antidote for stress and anxiety. In nurturing joy, we foster more positive states of mind that alter brain chemistry and the physical functioning of our bodies. With joy, we are ultimately led to being healthier and happier overall.
Despite how amazing this sounds, finding and cultivating joy are not always the easiest things to do. While the media may be full of tips on “finding joy,” most people looking for joy are not even sure what they are looking for let alone know how to use joy to boost wellness. Just as with wellness, there are no prescriptions that can be universally dispensed or taken to activate joy in our lives.
So, what can we do?
I find the idea of joy-seeking a powerful way to identify and expand the emotion of joy. Developed originally as a counseling strategy, the process of joy-seeking facilitates our ability to both recognize and nurture joy in our lives. It builds our capacity for knowing when and how we feel joy. It’s simple strategy is approachable and easy to use, and what’s more, its generative process provides us space to leverage joy for building our wellness in each and every day.
Curious to give it a try? Consider following these 3 simple steps to conduct your own joy-seeking:
First, identify your own personal joy factors. Perhaps it is connection to others, spending time outside, using creative energy, or experiencing the freedom in moments of focus or flow – regardless of what your personal joy factors are, their identification provides a foundation for creating opportunities to bring joy into every day.
Next, insert joy factors into daily life. With joy factors identified, inserting them into daily life and routines can become an everyday intention or goal. With the presence of joy factors, opportunities exist for joy to occur; the more opportunities available, the greater chance that joy will be felt.
Finally, affirm and reinforce joy. With joy factors identified and inserted as often as possible into daily life, we want to affirm and reinforce joy by recognizing when it arises and reminding ourselves of its benefits and importance. Essentially, through affirmation and reinforcement, we are creating patterns of recognition for joy that allow us to surface joy more easily over time.
While the slogan – spread joy – may be used this time of year to foster goodwill, compassion, and kindness to others, we do not have to be limited by time of year to seek, find, and affirm joy in our everyday lives. In doing so, we stand to gain an ability to experience joy more often and more fully, leading to boosts in our wellness and wellbeing as well as a happier life overall. Joy may be a tiny package, but it packs a powerful punch – we will all gain tremendously in spreading joy within and without all year long.
What steps will you take to identify and bring joy into your every day?