Joy Planning
If you recall the previous blog post, You Are Responsible for Your Joy, it includes the necessary reminder that your personal joy is your responsibility. Finding joy throughout the journey can be the hardest thing to do when you are experiencing loss, depression, tribulations, rock bottom, etc. Recently I experienced a period of sadness that was not only impacting my joy but also my peace of mind. At the peak of the experience I started to resist it and tried my hardest to make logical sense of it. Until I realized it was a phase that I needed to sit with and go through to understand the work that needed to be done internally. Part of it was that I was going through an internal transition that pushed things to the surface that needed to be examined in a healthier way. Because joy is my natural disposition and one of the things I value most, I started to fight for it in the midst of this challenge by doing Joy Planning.
Joy Planning is when you make an extensive list of things that bring you joy then you choose 1 thing from your list to do each week. Yes, each week! I had to get more intentional about focusing on my joy and planning is one of my favorite gifts. Using a whiteboard, I created a joy plan for the month of May by writing down the starting date of each week and one thing I planned to partake in. Actual example: Sunday 5/1 - Hot Stone Massage on 5/7 at 10am. I left the day within the week open to freely choose which day I want to enjoy the item from my list, but committed to ensuring that it had to be done that week. In no way is this a cure all for hard circumstances. Joy Planning is simply an exercise to help you take full responsibility for your joy and a declaration of sorts that you will choose to see the light within the tunnel.
Joy Gem: “Mindfulness is an elevated state of being that enables you to rise above your circumstances and experience a sense of joy. As you experience joy, you attract health, finances, abundance and a slew of other wonderful things into your life.” - Yesenia Chavan
