Tandem Health 2020 Project # 4: Month of Joy
20 Jul 2020 11:51 AMTandem Health
Source: Adapted from RACGP’s Wellbeing Support Calendar Joyful July
A Month of Joy
“Joy is a decision, a really brave one about how you are going to respond to life” Wess Stafford
Now more than ever, our responses to life, events and circumstances matter. 2020 will be remembered for many things, many sad and challenging things, however it’s also a time of great significance, a wake-up call to think carefully about “how we respond to life”.
Joy = a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. A month of joy = a month of feelings of great pleasure and happiness. At the Labrador Medical Centre, we’re choosing joy wherever possible and we invite you to choose joy too. We’re starting with a month of joy, a choice that can be repeated, adjusted and enhanced every month.
Life's full of joyful activities, relationships, sensory experiences and habits that have the ability to turn stressful times into periods of valuable reflection and growth. Joy can be found in small things every day, all you need to do is seek it, choose it and en’joy’ it!
So here we go, here’s 31 days of joyful ideas:
Day 1: Throughout the day, think about what ‘joy’ means to you. What regularly brings you joy? Notice the snippets of joy already present in your life.
Day 2: Write down 3 things that bring joy to your life now or have brought joy to your life in the past.
Day 3: Find out what brings joys to those closest to you. Discuss and reflect together. Do you find joy in same or similar things?
Day 4: After learning about what brings others joy, is there something kind or simple you could do for your friend or loved one to enhance that joy or bring that joy to their life more often? Hint: giving cultivates joy.
Day 5: Note 3 things that happen today that gave you unexpected feelings of joy. If you couldn’t find, 3, set a goal to notice a few more tomorrow.
Day 6: Think about how you feel after spending time on social media, watching or reading the news and/or how you spend your free time. Do these things bring you joy? If not, try allocating some of that time to something you have identified that does bring joy.
Day 7: Think and reflect - Did spending time and attention turning your attention to joy and things that bring you joy impact your experiences this week?
Day 8: Allocate all your attention for a period of time today to interact with an animal. If you don’t have a pet, step into nature and see if you can notice joy within the natural environment.
Day 9: Get creative in your environment, start a new project, repurpose items you own, try a new hobby.
Day 10: Try a game you’ve never played before and play it with your family/friends. Notice joy in learning and interaction with others.
Day 11: Try a mindful, quiet activity such as meditation, yoga, mindful colouring, knitting, gardening etc.
Day 12: Have a think about how your body moves and what type of movements bring you joy. It might be walking, stretching or something more strenuous. Set a goal to try and move each day, engaging in movement activities that foster joy.
Day 13: Savour your favourite hot drink and read a whole chapter of a book. If it brings you joy, repeat daily or a few times a week.
Day 14: Look through old photos and memories, take note of any that bring you joy. Display these memories so they can offer regular reminders of joy.
Day 15: Plan a catch up with someone who brings you joy.
Day 16: Notice when you are the recipient of small acts of kindness and love, share your appreciation and joy with the person responsible.
Day 17: Think about a way you could connect with a group of people in a joyful activity or pastime, such as an online signing or language group.
Day 18: Today, notice how joy shows up in the interactions you have with those around you and how others are experiencing joy via connection with one another.
Day 19: Take note of anytime someone shares joy with you today.
Day 20: Identify someone in your life who could benefit from an act of kindness and make an effort to do this for them today. Did it bring joy to them, you, or both?
Day 21: Share with your team something that brings you joy in your workplace or share with your family something that brings you joy in your home.
Day 22: Find a song that brings you joy. Listen to it each day in preparation of a great day ahead.
Day 23: Photograph one thing that brings you joy and set it as your background on a device you use regularly. No device, no problems, put it on the fridge, a mirror or somewhere you look at or pass regularly.
Day 24: Find something that smells joyful. A fragrance, food, or something in nature. Smell it and smile. Take a moment to notice the joy you are experiencing.
Day 25: Eat something that brings joy via taste. A tropical fruit, a sip of hot coffee, a warm bowl of soup maybe?
Day 26: Find an object that fosters joy when you connect physically with it. Maybe it’s your comfortable bed or your favourite armchair. Notice the sense of joy you experience when touching it.
Day 27: Wear a piece of clothing that brings you joy. Hello tracksuit pants!
Day 28: Venture into nature, tune into each sense and notice something that is joyful within each sense.
Day 29: Allocate time in your schedule to regularly do something that brings you joy.
Day 30: Create time where you can reflect on whether you were able to create more space for joy in your life.
Day 31: Make joy easy by finding one act of joy small enough that you could continue to do each day for the months ahead.
By attempting to find joy in the journey of each day, each experience and each circumstance, we are actively choosing a positive and proactive response to life - The response is joy and the best part is...we can choose it again tomorrow.
