Counting Joy
Jamie Martin, ACC
Executive Coach for Women in STEM | Leading with Authenticity, Earning Equitable Recognition | Award Winning Coach | International Speaker | Author | Mom
You've all heard it before: Count your blessings!
What happens when those blessings are just a reminder of a tough year? You remember the struggles, the hardships and the things you have gotten through. You feel grateful but there is a melancholy quality to it. You wonder what could the year have been like, if only.
It's time to spend a bit of time counting your joy. Don't get me wrong. Gratitude is an incredibly strong act! But you may find that counting your joy lifts you in a way that gratitude won't. It's a reminder of all the amazing things, big and small, that brought a smile to your face or laughter to your belly.
Joy may simply be a feeling of great pleasure or happiness, but joy is so much more powerful than it's definition implies.
It's a feeling that can bring light to a dark time.
It's a feeling that can heal our pain.
It's a feeling that can spread to others.
It's a feeling that warms us on a cold day.
It's a feeling that brings a smile to our face and peace to our hearts.
Joy is a powerful emotion when we choose to embrace it.
Imagine spending a bit of time each day for the rest of the year counting the joy this year brought to you. Moments like:
- Your mother learning to use zoom, but having the camera upside down.
- Sleeping in for the first time because you didn't have to commute.
- Sitting in the sun on your deck as you work.
- Making coffee the way you love it every day.
- Being able to hug your partner at any point in the day.
- Learning a skill (learning French, playing a guitar, cooking) you never had time to learn before.
Before you know it, you will see that this year was filled with joyful moments. Moments that make you smile. Moments that make the whole year worth while.
Will you take the challenge? Write 10 ways joy was brought into your world this year each day for the rest of the year. Maybe you'll see just how beautiful a year it really was.
(Originally published on Medium)
Do you find it hard to get 10 things a day that brought you joy this year?
Do you want to bring more joy into your life next year?
Do you crave making next year the year you thrive instead of survive?
Schedule a discovery call to explore how working together can help you to embrace joy in your life regardless of what is happening in the world around you.