Joy List

Happy Tuesday!!

I have since decided that for the next 13 weeks, or how many at this point, is some of my blog posts will be in conjunction with the lessons Rachel Hollis is giving during the next 90 days lessons and my reflection or homework as she has stated to go along with it. 

This weeks topic is finding Joy

CHOOSING JOY.

Joy

Noun: A feeling of great pleasure and happiness.

Read that again...

A feeling of great pleasure and happiness. 

How many of us search for that every day or go out and try to support that in our ever day lifestyles with family and friends and even strangers. She explained finding Joy in this particular season can be troublesome, it can be hard to find that moment of happiness when we are feed some of the darkest thoughts we have ever encountered. 

Maybe it is from the news, givings us the countless death counts, or friends and family members who are personally troubled with what is happening, either they have the virus, or know someone. Or maybe it is the lack of social interaction, lost of job, or lost of wages, or maybe just all of this really sucks and doing the same thing over and over again, is wearing thin for most.

Whatever the case may be, finding Joy in a season like this, can be like finding a needle in a hay stack. BUT when you Choose to seek out Joy, you would be surprised how the littlest things can bring you Joy and ultimately bring you a sense of my love cup is full and then Gratitude.

I practice Daily Gratitude. 

I have a Start Today Journal and every day I write 5 things I am grateful for that I have experienced in the last 24 hours, or even in that moment. They are simple and meaningful and most of the time, something that speaks just to me and only me. I don't over think it, I just write 5 things I am thankful for.

But the funny thing is, those 5 things are often things that brought me Joy. See how it all ties in together...

I am Grateful for the great pleasure and happiness those moments or things brought me. I find it easy to seek Joy and find Joy in my every day. I look at the world through the perspective of happiness. I have been called being Naive for this practice, or silly, or even annoying, BUT I can tell you I am the most positive person in the room, most of the time, and I am proud of that.

Okay, so now that we have a little history on Choosing Joy...Why Choose Joy??!! 

Simply...why the heck not??? 

Why not just seek something that makes you happy. 

Happiness brightness. up your day, it brings a smile to your face, it gives you good feelings, that with happiness can over power those dark images. Rachel brought up making a Joy list this week, to also use as a list to read when things just Suck. When the world is pounding us down, look at your Joy list and find some things you can do right now, to bring a little bit of happiness to your life.

That concept is amazing. 

Sometimes just reading about the things that can bring you Joy, BRINGS YOU JOY!! For me, some of the items on my list, are a lot of social things, things I can do right in the season of my life, but reading them, gives me a Hope that soon, I will be able to do them again. It then brings me Gratitude, that those are things I am grateful to do in my life, and it gives me the sense of appreciation I will have when I experience them again.

For example, a pedicure. 

And I am not talking just the typical pedicure. 

I am talking the whole nine yards, pedicure, the one with the really warm or hot water, picking out the best color, the HOT PINK WITH SPARKLES, the seat with the massage, the hot rocks of my calves, having an Iced Coffee in my hand and a book on my lap and for 45 minutes, I am enjoying and just relaxing. That brings me Joy, it also has to fall on a Saturday, when I am off of work and after I am going to get lunch and do retail therapy.

I just created a whole Joy picture in my head, a whole picture, that typing it right now, I can see it, I am feel it and can experience it. Man I can not wait to do that again. Maybe it won't be the same, but man those moments bring me Joy. Rachel also brought up the idea, which I mentioned that maybe you can adjust your joy to fit it right now. And I came up with the idea that I am going to use some of my million Bath and Body Works products I have and I am going to give myself my own pedicure. I have a foot scrub, foot lotion, a fancy nail polish, I bought forever ago, I have a heating pad and a massage thing I use for my legs for working out and I will bring myself some joy. Pour my coffee over ice and pull out my book and create a little bit of Joy right now. 

I challenge you to do the same thing...

As homework, we were to make a Joy list of 15 items, mine is more than 15 because I just couldn't stop writing of all the things that I find Joy, pure pleasure and happiness in.

Maybe reading my Joy List, just might bring you some Joy also...

1. A slow, sip, quite, sitting down cup of coffee ( I do this one a lot these days, since I am not running on my way to work)

2. Laughing, big, hard laughs with James, where tears come down my cheeks.

3. Sitting curled up with a blanket and a book ( I try to do this every day)

4. Browsing the inside of a library.

5. Walking through the book aisle of Target, taking pictures of books I want to read, so I can request them from the library.

6. A big, Bouquet of Sunflowers

7. Petting a Dog

8. Seeing a Dog when I am running

9. Dog Sitting Sherman ( I have been able to do this every week and it makes my life full)

10. Nashville, TN- The whole dang city and atmosphere just makes me so happy

11. Crossing a Finish Line during a Race

12. Completing a training program for a race

13. Cleaning the house while listening to John Mayer

14. John Mayer singing Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

15. Hipster Coffee shops, that make cool drinks that are Instagram worthy pictures.

16. Ordering an Iced Coffee and going for a walk.

17. Farmers Markets

18. Afternoon Naps under the comforters.

19. Big, Fluffy Blankets and Pillows

20. Sleeping in hotel rooms on vacations

21. Swimming in a Creek

22. Watching the waves crash, while sitting in a chair with my feet in the sand.

23. Christmas Lights, all kinds, always

24. Having my boyfriend being Sober

25. Playing Scrabble with my Poppy

26. Playing 500 Rummy with my Poppy

27. Going to the racetrack with my Poppy

28. Running in downtown St. Pete along the water at Sunrise.

29. Sunsets on the beach

30. Cotton Candy skies

31. Running in my neighborhood and smelling houses cooking breakfast

32. Key Lime Pie

33. Pistachio Iced Coffee from Dunkin Donuts

34. Getting Ice Cream from a Boardwalk, Ice Cream Shop

35. Crossing off items from my To Do List

36. Making Lists every day of things to get done

37. Sweating at Orange Theory Fitness

38. Going for a walk with James

39. James and I talking about what kind of house we want to live in together and get

40. Training a new associate and they really understanding and growing

41. The smell of fall

42. Going to a pumpkin patch

43. Having a hot apple cider in the fall, in Upstate New York with a apple Cider Donut

44. Seeing the Tree with Rockefeller Center at Christmas

45. A cool, brisk day, where all you need is a light sweatshirt

46. Warm, sheets from the dryer

47. Going out to breakfast with James

48. Using Stickers to decorate my Planner

49. Watching It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve

50. Slow dancing with James to a song on the radio, on a random day

51. Lighting candles 

52. Rain storms

53. The smell of candles burning after you have finished cleaning

54. Lavender Vanilla on bed sheets

55. Cleaning my car in the car wash
56. Watching FRIENDS at night on the couch with James before we go to bed
57. Forehead kisses
58. Squeezing our hands to do 1-2-3, which means I LOVE YOU
59. Classic Rock stations that make me think of my Dad
60. Records