A Little Bit of Joy

One of my favorite Saturday activities is curling up with a big cup of sweet coffee and the Lifestyle section of the LA Times. I realize this makes me appear uncultured and superficial that the bits of the paper I like best are restaurant reviews and cute stories of how couples met but I'm old enough to not care so much what people think anymore. Freedom!

Anyway, last Saturday I came across an article that gave me something to think about. The purpose of the article was to point out small changes people can make to experience a more joyful life. No surprise one of those subtle changes was about gratitude:

"Practicing gratitude as little as once a week for up to 12 weeks increases happiness by as much as 25%, according to many studies, and participants remain happier for up to six months after experiments end."
http://www.latimes.com/health/mentalhealth/la-he-happy-20141101-story.html

So the more attention you focus on all the wonderful parts of your life, the happier you'll be? It's so simple. And so easy. The Secret was a phenomenon because it suggested that what you project you'll attract. There may be something to that. But that also seems entwined with the idea that what you attend to will be most abundant. So if you focus a lot of energy on being negative and defeatist and self-destructive then you're whole life will be a lot more of the same. And the opposite is true.

I am educated and I consider myself introspective, so why do I know this, yet revert to old patterns of critical thoughts and negative words. We can blame socialization somewhat. We certainly live in a misery loves company culture. But I think there is something kind of human about existing in a place of worry, pain and suffering. So to live in a place of peace, joy and gratitude you really have to give yourself a big kick in the ass to expect more. It is the realization that all that negative stuff robs me of the joy of today- a moment that is fleeting and beautiful. I want more for my life.

The other advice that resonated with me was to savor. This psychology teacher took her students to a coffee shop during class. They ordered hot chocolate and were instructed to take a few moments to wrap their hands around the mug and feel the warmth on their fingers and to let the sweet aroma waft into their noses. The professor noted, "It was the best thing we ever tasted because we stopped to savor it."

I find that incredibly insightful and such an important reminder. The pace that we live at is entirely too harried. That rhythm makes it very difficult to S L O W down and savor experiences. But ultimately we are responsible for ensuring that our days on this planet are fulfilling. Whether it is noticing a beautiful sunset on your bumper-to-bumper drive home or taking a few extra moments to feel the warm water rain down on you during an early morning shower; there are opportunities everywhere to savor this journey.

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