It was a perfectly glorious day. Fall has started to seep into the south and it is one of my favorite times of year. And on that particular day, I had the flexibility to stay at home to work on various projects that “I had to finish.” The sun was shining, I have a deck to sit on or a comfortable chair and a laptop. Fantastic, right?
I was feeling particularly frustrated with my work. I wasn’t going fast enough. There were more things I had hoped to complete. My body was starting to ache. And then. the chainsaws started (a large tree was coming down next door). What do you think happened?
A) I decided to use the chainsaws as a reminder of what is good in this world
B) I found a quiet place indoors where I couldn’t hear the noise.
C) Lost my focus. Got upset and got frustrated at how little was being completed.
If you guessed C….you are right. I lost my focus. And in fact I lost my peace and my joy. Today I can see that choosing A or B would have been better options, but on that day I choose C. To be honest, I kept choosing C for two days. TWO DAYS.
It wasn’t that long ago that I might beat myself up about how I’m supposed to know better- I practice yoga and meditation for goodness sake! Instead what I see is that today I choose JOY. J-O-Y. Not happiness because things are going a certain way or I like something but pure JOY. And you know what? I like the way it feels when I choose joy and I want to make it a habit.
So today I challenged myself (and a few other friends) to join me in a JOY challenge. There are lots of way to practice joy and I’m going the tried and true gratitude way. I believe we don’t need a certain *thing* (my favorite tea, food, pillow) to be joyful, but need to just live in JOY.
Maybe you saw my facebook post, but here’s what I’m embarking on for the next 21 days :
1) Find 3 gratitudes each day
2) Journal about 1 positive experience from the last 24 hours
3) Continue an exercise routine b/c my behavior matters
4) Continue a meditation practice…short and sweet but EVERY DAY
5) Conscious acts of kindness (open up my inbox to praise or thank someone in my network).
What do you think? Are you in for the JOY challenge?
Can’t wait to hear from you! Leave a comment below or hop on over to my facebook page and tell me about your JOY!!
In peace and joy,
Rebecca
