What is Giving You Joy?

I speak to a lot of people who don’t know the answer to this question ‘What is giving you joy?’, and I can comment on this one from my experience.

We don’t know what is giving us joy anymore. We are trained to aim for goals that are set by culture, education, and society. Get a grade, get a job, get married, get a house, and you will be happy.

That is the grind.

But what if.

What if…

…You are happy doing other stuff. Without a grade.

…You can support yourself and your family doing something you love?

…You don’t need to get married to be happy?

…You don’t want a stable home since a home feels like a prison to you, meaning you can’t travel freely without that mortgage to worry about…

…You do need a house. Because you long for a safe place to create?

Do you know what gives you joy?

I had to find out. Even though I told myself and others years ago that I loved my job, it was still a result of society ‘rules’ that I ended up having that job.

Quitting my job was something I never doubted for a second. As soon as I started my own business doing photography, my ideas started flowing again. I had so much creativity inside of me. It was liberating to think for myself again.

Every year, I learn more and more about what is giving me joy. This year, I started listening and acting upon it. With the help of my Desire Map session, I know that writing makes me feel happy.

Just writing that line makes me tear up because it is so obvious that I love doing this. It is a blissful feeling to be doing it regularly.

How to find out what is giving you joy

So how do you know what is giving you joy?

You start with practicing awareness.

Give yourself regular reminders during the day to become aware of how you feel.

You feel good? What are you doing that makes you feel good?

You feel low in energy? What are you doing at that moment?

A great (free) app for the iPhone that I use to become more aware of how I feel about what I do is called ‘Mindfulness Reminders’.

Add More Joy to Your Life

And as an extra incentive, you use this same awareness moment to add more joy in your life. Ask yourself at that moment: “What can I do right now to feel better?”.

Julie Arora taught me that in her Jedi Masters course and it’s been so insightful.

Sometimes you need food. Let’s be honest here, how many times you work way past lunch time only to discover you are suddenly cranky because you’re hungry. Sometimes you just have to pee! Or there can be times (many times) that you are in need of a nap.

Sometimes you just have to pee! Or there can be times (many times) that you are in need of a nap.

Or there can be times (many times) that you are in need of a nap.

Sometimes you become aware that hanging out on Facebook isn’t giving you joy, and you find out that when you decide to grab your camera to create something instead, you feel that spark of joy and passion again.

You will realize after a day or two;

…everything starts to go smoother.

Being Aware Makes You More Productive

You think in the beginning that all this napping and taking care of yourself is counter productive.

But you will find out that it makes you more productive. You will get stuff done in less time because you are happier and more focused.

Try it! And soon you are on your way to finding out what is giving you Joy. And you can incorporate more joy in your life.

Let me know how this goes for you!

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