HEALTHY LIFESTYLE · AUGUST 2018
WHY LIVING JOYFULLY IS SIMPLER THAN YOU THINK
We all want to be happy . I think we can pretty much agree on that , right ? Although , I actually wrote an entire blog post a few weeks ago about how I don ' t want to be happy ... I want to be joyful . If you haven ' t read that yet , go do that now . Don ' t worry , I ' ll wait .
So , now that we cleared up the difference between happiness and joy , I ' ll rephrase my original statement to " We all want to be joyful !"
But so often we complicate this idea and turn it into some mysterious , mystical state that can only be achieved by monks and yogis when the truth is actually quite the opposite .
Like I talked about in my blog , joy is not dependent upon your circumstances , which means you don ' t have to wait until you have more money , your health is better , you ' ve lost the weight , you ' ve gotten married , or you had the baby to be more joyful . You can be joyful NOW .
Even if your " now " consists of difficulties or what could be perceived as an unfortunate or troublesome situation , you can still experience joy . I should know because I ' ve been through a few such situations in my own life . What I found was that even in the midst of those unfortunate or troublesome circumstances , even when things appeared to be falling apart , I could still be joyful .
In fact , joyful living really is a lot simpler than we all make it out to be .
We already established that joyful living isn ' t about your circumstances , so let ' s talk about what it is about .
Gratitude
01 One of the easiest ways to start living with more joy is to be grateful for the blessings that you do have . Too much of our time and our thoughts are often spent on what we don ' t have , what we want , or what we wish we could get . While all the while , we are missing the blessings that are right there in front of us .
Even in your darkest days , there is still something to be grateful for . I know that in some of my toughest moments , it might be something as small as a comfortable bed to sleep in , the fact that I could sleep in when my adrenals were severely compromised , or that I have arms and legs that work . Some of those may seem a little silly at first , but when you think of them in terms of others who may not have those blessings in their lives , the value of them quickly becomes crystal clear .
Generosity
02 If you ' re struggling to make ends meet and barely have enough to get by , giving to others may be the last thing on your mind . But , when you do reach out to help meet their needs ( despite your own circumstances ), the joy you feel is invaluable .
Several years ago , I was living paycheck to paycheck with nothing to spare . But I started serving with a homeless ministry through some friends of mine . I wasn ' t able to offer as much as I would ' ve liked , but I would do what I could — taking about $ 20 of supplies with me like toothbrushes , combs , deodorant , and soaps that I had bought at the dollar store . I knew that even though things were tough for me , they were even tougher for the people on the other side of those tables . And the sheer amount of gratitude and joy that they got out of receiving those simple little items only magnified the joy that I felt in giving them .
22 HEALTHY MAGAZINE