11 Simple Ways To Find More Joy In Your Life

11 Simple Ways To Find More Joy In Your Every Day Life

After what was one of the hardest weeks of my life, I thought how in the world am I supposed to be sharing with you the 11 Simple Ways To Find More Joy In Your Every Day Life because JOY was the furthest thing that I felt this past week. Yet, here we are and that is exactly what we are going to do! 11 simple ways to find more joy in your every day life! 11 ways to bring YOU more joy in order to INSPIRE you and to ENCOURAGE you to live a life with ABUNDANT JOY!

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The Reality of The Simple Ways To Find More Joy

Today is ALL about joy and to inspire you to live a life with abundant joy. The irony of all of this is that I am coming off of a week that was one of those weeks where everything felt like it was the furthest thing from joy possible! In fact, this past week has probably been one of my hardest weeks that I have had in a very, very long time. We were out of town the previous weekend for a wedding and had the BEST time. However, didn’t get home until super late Sunday night and were in a mad rush to get ALL the things ready for a new work week.

This past week was also my 30th birthday. My husband and I were going to go to Napa for my birthday. However, the past Sunday, as we arrived back home from Florida from the wedding, we did not have a good feeling about the trip to Napa. Fortunately, we were able to cancel everything with no penalty, but we just did not have a good feeling. I was definitely a little bummed as it would have been an amazing trip to Napa for my birthday, but in my gut, something just told me that was not what we were supposed to be doing!

BALANCING IT ALL (OR AT LEAST TRYING TO)

As many of you probably know it is A LOT traveling with a baby and we figured it probably wasn’t ideal traveling to San Francisco, then drive to Napa, all in the middle of the night with a baby. Well, sure enough, Tuesday afternoon, my actual birthday, I got the lovely call from daycare that my son, M, was sick, and I had to race home to take him to the pediatric urgent care. Sure enough, he had a double ear infection.

Last week was SO hard. I dealt with SO many emotions and feelings and felt like such a failure that my son kept getting sick. I felt defeated and just felt plain awful! Our sleep schedule had been off all week long, mainly due to the double ear infection. But goodness, the past week was an absolute struggle for me personally, and I felt so torn and pulled in so many different directions.

THE BEST DAY

Yet, through all of these struggles, I had scheduled for the next episode on The Best Day Podcast to be all about ALL things JOY! While imposter syndrome is definitely a thing, I believe in showing up here and being here, but I also know that I am human. Despite trying to live each day as truly the best day, I am determined to consistently show up in the good, the bad, and through the ugly. To remind you to keep showing up even on the hard days. Even on those days, the hardest of days, it is still possible to have a good day and in fact have the BEST day!

Despite all the hard I felt this past week and all the feelings of defeat, I couldn’t help but feel so incredibly blessed and fortunate to be Macrae’s mom. That no matter what, through the hard, through the crazy seasons, through the lack of sleep, I could not be more blessed to get the absolute honor and privilege to be his mama!

Definition of Joy

I love words. That really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone here! So of course, in planning out the 11 ways to find more joy in your everyday life, I thought what better way than to start with the actual definition of JOY! In order to dive into the ways to find more joy in your life we have to start with the definition. Joy came be a noun, but it can also be a verb. The noun of joy is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. On the other hand, joy as a verb is to rejoice.

I love that. The act of rejoicing. The act of celebration. To breathe in feelings of excitement, of acceptance, of JOY! If we can figure out how to live our daily life, our live in the middle of the hustle, in the middle of the chaos. Our lives in the middle of running late, struggling to gather all the things and still get out the door… if we can live THOSE moments in joy, then we are doing a HUGE service to ourselves. If we can work to find joy in the mundane, the joy in the everyday. If we can do that, it will open up a whole world of opportunity in our hearts.

To rest in a place of abundant joy can truly open up so many avenues of your heart for MORE. Avenues to thrive, to find more peace, to have better relationships, to have more moments of more purposeful meaning. All through the ability of being joyful. It won’t always be easy, but it is definitely possible.

Significance of A Life Lived In Joy

When we try to find ways to incorporate more simple moments of joy in our life, one of the things that we have to do is we have to really have a mind adjustment. We have to reset. Reposition our thoughts in a place of higher thinking. We must reposition our thoughts in a place of encouragement. How are we talking to ourselves? Are we building ourselves up? Or are we tearing ourselves down? We have to position our minds in a place to where our thoughts can thrive and our bodies live in abundance.

11 Simple Ways To Find More Joy In Your Life

These are 11 simple things you can do. Try one a day, or you can do them all in a day. If you are feeling really down in the dumps and you need joy immediately, you can utilize this list as a SOS, let me do this right now because I need assistance. However you need to use this list, please do, and my honest hope is that it would bring encouragement to your heart!

1. Move for 30 minutes

The first simple way to find more joy in your life is to move for thirty minutes a day! There is so much importance in physically moving your body. Move, exercise, do something active for thirty minutes. If you are struggling to find joy, I promise, if you start by simply moving your body, for just 30 minutes, you will start to feel that joy from the bottom of your toes to the top of your head.

Walk, listen to music, listen to a podcast. Walk or run in quiet. Jump into an exercise class. For me personally, I love to get lost in a good run on trails. This helps me boost my mood and to find joy. Whatever your way is, in order to find more joy in your life simply, move for thirty minutes. That is what your body needs. We were made to move, to feel alive as our muscles engage and our bodies move the way they were designed to move!

2. Practice Mindfulness

Number two, the second way to find more joy in your life, practice mindfulness. I say this ALL the time, we live in a world that preaches, “go, go, and go” and don’t stop until you are sleeping, then wake up and do it all over again. We live in a world that prioritizes having seventeen thousand things on your plate. We need to stop. To embrace the art of mindfulness. Of finding your own way and through incorporating the practice of mindfulness.

As a world history teacher, I love learning about other cultures. Specifically, I love teaching about East Asia. I love teaching about the different cultural traditions and continuities, especially within China. There are areas of the world and cultures that prioritize mindfulness and being alone and quiet and fully present with your thoughts. Those cultures are doing something RIGHT. There is SO much benefit to being able to silence your mind, to sit, to rest, and to think! To focus on taking deep breaths, to feel deeply connected to all parts of your body. Furthermore, to feel so incredibly in tune with your body physically that it becomes a spiritual connection. That is becomes a mindfulness connection that has the ability to unlock the potential to your next step, to where YOU are wanting to go in your life.

Practice mindfulness. Start out by taking a few minutes each day and get your mind right. Think, process, think how you are really feeling and process how you can act on it. What can you improve on it? Start telling your mind positive things that you are capable, that you are worthy. That this mountain that you are climbing is totally conquerable and that you got this!

3. Start a new journal and have SO much fun picking it out!

For me, I always can count on an abundance of joy when I am picking out a new journal, new stationary, new pack of pens. There is something about that act that just brings me pure joy! As always, I am a big fan of Southworth Paper, my favorite paper company. If you have not yet checked out the Southworth journals you need to. You can purchase the Flex journals, in a pack of three, for less than $12.

To find more joy, start a new journal and have so much fun picking it out! Let your mind flow on the paper, or even if it is a journal of to-do lists or just random thoughts. This is definitely a way to bring more joy to your life!

Looking for another great read, sharing 5 ways you can use a journal to simplify your life on the blog!

4. Reminisce on the classics.

The fourth way to bring more joy to your life, reminisce on the classics. Do you have that movie that you loved watching when you were younger? Or maybe a television show? Or maybe an album that you can listen to and can be instantly transported to another time, another life, another version of you?

I am just going to throw myself out there and admit that something inside happens to me when I rock out to Hilary Duff’s original CD, or even Hannah Montana. There is music that you listen to that has the power to take you somewhere else and cultivate intense joy. Through listening or watching the classics, it can create a safe space for you, a place for comfort. A place of security for your heart and more!

5. Add a few new books to your library with the intention of actually reading them.

Okay, on to number five; the fifth way to incorporate more joy in your everyday life – add a few new books to your library with the intention of actually reading them. Okay, I LOVE following Book-stagram accounts. If you have not already done this – and you love to read, then you need to do this ASAP. One of my favorite Instagram accounts to follow is @emilybookedup. Emily is amazing. She posts reviews of books and I am obsessed. Any time I buy a new book, it is usually because she has recommended them!

This past week, in the midst of my crazy, I was very intentional with setting aside time to read. It was SO good to get lost in a good book each night, before falling asleep. So good to get lost in the story of someone else and to escape my own little world for a minute. In order to find more joy in your everyday life, be sure to add a few new books to your library with the intention of actually reading them!

6. Turn off your phone!

The sixth way to incorporate more joy in your life is to turn off your phone! This should probably be number one! Turn off your phone. If you need more joy, turn off your phone. Ignore it for a day, or even just a few hours. If you absolutely must have access to your phone because your life requires you to be able to be instantly reachable, then delete some apps off your phone temporarily. But, get rid of the things that are not going to bring you joy! If you are searching for more joy in your life, I can assure you that you are not going to find it by mindlessly scrolling through social media. Instead, you are going to feel worse and more awful. Therefore, turn off your phone to find more joy in your life.

7. Spend time in the kitchen.

Number seven, spend time in the kitchen in hopes of bringing more joy to your life. This past week, I felt tremendously blah. Knowing that I was struggling, I knew that one way to bring myself joy throughout the week was to cook in the kitchen. I am obsessed with Half Baked Harvest and I love the Pasta al Vodka. I make this with the Always Pan, which I am also completely obsessed with and it is so, SO good.

Spend time in the kitchen. It is good for your heart. I knew that if I made a good meal, that not only would nourish my body and satisfy my heart, but it would put me in a really good mind space.

8. Cultivate relationships!

Personally, for me, this one is hard. I am a big introvert and when I am struggling to find joy, I retreat to my inward, alone happy place. And a good indicator of this is the number of unread text messages on my phone! However, it is so important to cultivate relationships, cultivate friendships. Spend time with the people who encourage you, uplift you, and pour into you!

A relationship that can see you on your dark day, see you in your weakness, and help you get to your strength! That is so incredibly important. Take this the next step further by finding the time to connect with these people in person. Grab a bite to eat, go sit at a local coffee shop. Take the time to really talk to someone that you call friend and check in with their heart and see how they really are doing!

9. Plan your dream trip!

The ninth way to find more joy in your every day life is to plan your dream trip! Think of a destination, a place you would love to go. Plan out the whole thing. Where would you stay? Where would you go? What would you do? I LOVE to plan out dream vacations and type out the rough draft itinerary into a Word document. When you take the time to plan it out, not only are you dreaming big, but you also are manifesting that dream trip into reality.

The couple of dream trips I have taken the time to plan out ahead of time, simply for fun, simply to bring more joy; we actually have ended up going on them. You already have done the hard stuff in the planning, and then you can just simply ENJOY! So absolutely be sure to plan your dream trip the next time you are in need of finding more joy in your life!

10. Write hand-written letters!

This instantly can boost your mood and cultivate great, abundant joy! Write hand-written letters. Hold the pen in your hand and use your words to encourage and inspire. Written words, specifically written to another person, have the ability to completely produce immense joy! Take whatever it is that YOU are feeling, and come to a place where you are pouring out and giving encouragement to another human being. That will for sure bring more joy to your heart and life.

11. Organize, simplify, and declutter!

Finally, the 11th simple way to find more joy in your everyday life – organize, simplify, and declutter! Find an area in your home that is causing you a little stress. Find just one area, one little space and go throw it. Set a timer for 10 minutes and declutter and organize that space. Start out with throwing away any trash. Move unnecessary items to somewhere else. Reposition items and set the space up in a way that better supports you and your life. Is there something that you can donate?

This physical process of organizing, simplifying, and decluttering is a beautiful way of doing something physically to sort your mind out mentally, spiritually. By physically sorting through clutter, it allows me to be able to do the same with myself and my internal thoughts, as well!

11 Ways To Bring More Joy To Your Daily Life

There you have it. The 11 ways to bring more joy in your life, every single day! I truly hope this brought you joy. Sincerely wishing you the absolute best day and week, friends!