12 ways to experience more JOY
There is no better way to start the new year than to become aware of ways to experience more joy. When you are in joy, life flows, challenges are overcome more easily, and you become a magnet for happy people and more joy.
So let's dive straight in:
1) Stop trying to look sophisticated
When I walk down the streets, I often notice how many people are diminishing joy by trying to look good, sexy, cool, fancy, or sophisticated.
The reason it diminishes joy is that you tame yourself, you put a certain bond onto yourself that takes away the joy of the moment. So even when it seems like no big deal, it is.
When you try to look, i.e., fancy, you have part of your attention on this. This makes you less present in the moment, and it reduces the spontaneous flow of energy.
2) Smile when you greet others
Super easy yet such a joy catalyzer: Greet someone with a smile. Not a fake one, a genuine smile.
If you are connected to joy, you should notice that a true, big smile comes naturally. It becomes hard not to smile even.
Deep-embedded joy is, for a great part, independent of your situation. Check out my article on joy escapism to read about how this works.
3) Speak your truth, or don't speak your truth
For some of us, it would be good to speak our truth more, while for others it would be good to do so less.
Everything you block inside of you clogs up your system. It literally stays stuck in your body. When you speak your truth when needed, you clog up your system less; therefore, joy can flow more freely through you.
However, if you speak your truth a bit too much, you may clog up the systems of people around you a bit too much, which makes it harder for joy to be present around you.
A good way to check whether it can help to speak your truth more or less often is to check the following:
This probably means it could be helpful to temper your truth a bit more, and instead, you may want to take more time feeling why you so often feel you need to be right and have others confirm you are.
If so, then maybe you would create more free flow of joyful energy if you'd speak out more.
4) Do what you promise
Another thing that clogs up your energetic system, is not doing what you promised.
Every time you don't do what you promise (to yourself or someone else), you are out of integrity. And even if you think about it lightly consciously, your subconscious takes note.
Every promise, no matter how small, you don't keep, gives a signal in your mind saying:
5) Stop manipulating
Manipulations require a lot of wiring in the mind. All unnecessary, or unconstructive wiring in your mind, reduces the flow of joy.
On top of that, manipulation creates a sort of edge inside of you that is continuously present. When manipulating you are paying attention to your surroundings to make sure you don't lose control.
It's almost a direct signal for joy not to come in unexpectedly. The more you try to control, the more you tame joy.
6) Give yourself slack
Did you make a mistake? Laugh about it, and try to do better next time. No need to hang on.
Busy and tired? Rest a little.
7) Move your body non-functionally
My favorite one on this list is the non-functional movement of the body.
Look at how you use your body:
Do you mostly use it for functional purposes? Like using your hands to do the dishes, your legs to walk to the grocery store, your eyes to see the laptop screen?
If so, you are missing out on a ton of joy.
Your body wants to move. Your body loves joy. We think joy and happiness are in the head. But really, joy flows through the body, and is especially triggered when you move your body non-functionally. So:
Dance like nobody is watching. Don't try to look good, let your body move itself.
Instead of meditating like a monk, see what happens if you meditate while letting your body make short, or long movements in the way it wants to. Don't force it, or anticipate the movements too much. Maybe you just move a finger, maybe your whole arms.
In general, let your body guide you more. Stretch it when you feel an urge to, massage a body part when it's hurting, walk for the sake of walking without a purpose, and make funny faces to release tension.
8) Slow down
Notice throughout the day when you rush. Rushing is never useful, all it does is put you into a stress mode. Most of the time you don't save a lot of time by doing it.
Slow down, become present, and breathe.
9) Don't save money on the wrong things
When you need to be mindful of how you spend your money, consider carefully what to prioritize.
Take time to define for yourself what brings you the most joy, and make a priority list. You might be surprised by what it is that truly bring you joy.
10) Go outside every day
Go outside every day, get new perspectives, and fresh air, exercise, remind yourself of how many beautiful people surround you outside of your circle, connect, say good day to the elder lady passing by, hear the birds, and feel fulfilled.
11) Release emotions
Make it a habit to, at least once a week, release emotions, thoughts, and experiences from your system.
You can do this in many ways, like shaking your body, making noises, exaggerating facial expressions, breathing exercises, dancing, walking, running, jumping, painting, being in nature, or punching some pillows.
12) Make joy one of your best friends
Try and make your relationship to joy less conditional. We tend to have many excuses for why we don't experience joy as much as we could.
We say we have a busy schedule, and therefore can't experience as much joy.
We say our partner is stressing us out and therefore we experience less joy.
We think we need to do something fun or have some special experience to be in joy.
We think others need to bring us joy.
It's all an excuse. Joy wants to be with us. It's like an invisible friend who's waiting for us to finally see it, and let it in.
Cherish joy within yourself, treat yourself as your best friend, and create space for joy to be present. Don't wait for others, or better circumstances to do that for you.