The Practice of Joy

If the first thing you do
after you wake every day,
is to empty your mind
and focus on joy,
how long can you keep joy
flowing throughout your day?

3 ideas + 3 questions on joy, from me.
When you decide to bring joy into your life as a deliberate daily practice, you may find in making a habit out of experiencing more joy, more frequently, you experience more of an enjoyable life.

Three action-oriented ideas on bringing more joy into your life:

1. Make a list of 10 things to remind you of where joy arrives in your life. Read the list before you go to bed each night.  

2. Over 5 days, make a list of daily experiences and thoughts that take you away from your joy. On the 6th day, invert everything on the list. Keep the list near you each day. When you have run out of your joy, look at the list to remind you of your power to choose the opposite.

3. List 20 local places you can walk to that bring joy to your life when you visit them. Plan to visit at least one in the next week and one a week for the next month. Before each departure, leave your cell phone at home and bring a journal or a book.

To refine your practice of joy:

1. What do you feel when you think about making joy a daily practice?

2. Will you have to let go of anything to bring joy into your life every day?

3. How will this practice of joy help your daily life?

3 insights on joy, from others.

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