December Daily Practice: Joy

Because I’m off to Rome next week, I wanted to choose the Daily Practice, and get the daily updates done early. So I’ve been thinking and pondering and trying to come up with something that is appropriate for the season and the time of year and somehow fits in with a trip to Rome, birthdays, and Christmas…Hibernation was the one I wanted to do…becuase it’s dark and cold and wintry and I don’t want to leave the duvet right now. But that didn’t fit so well with the other, celebratory, joyous events of the month. I’d come up with a shortlist of 5…and as soon as I added this practice to the list, I got that little fizzy happy feeling in my chest – this was the one!

And it is: JOY. Simply, the Daily Practice for December is Joy. Even the word makes me smile. Joy. Something I really need in the dark, damp, cold days of December (well, when I’m not in Rome, celebrating my birhtday and Christmas I will anyway!). So many of us suffer from Seasonal Affected Disorder, and if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere and sensitive to the ways of nature, you will feel the energy diminishing. The natural world understands that in the cold, dark months, rest is the order of the day. What do we humans do? Park the party season right in the middle of that low energy! Crackers.

But still, ’tis the season to shop and party and have holiday and eat turkey. And for many of us it is a joyful time – once the stress of the endless shopping and partying is over! So I want the joy to last for the whole of December. I want us to really focus this month on enjoying life. On joy. What does the word ‘joy’ mean to you? To me, it is that feeling you get when you are doing something you love – whether it is watching the stars, a beautiful sunset, kissing your sweetheart, hugging your kids, cuddled up in bed with a good book, dancing madly at a gig, laughing with friends.

Joy is the feeling that says “it’s a great thing to be alive!” Joy is the feeling that makes this moment wonderful – and it can be found in the simplest of things. Most of the things that bring me the greatest joy are free (although shopping is in my top 50!). Many of the things that bring me the greatest joy are simple – the smell of freshly baked bread, a good book, a song I love, my dog getting excited about a walk. Sometimes I think people think of joy as some unattainable ‘huge’ thing, that falls in to place somehow when you have EVERYTHING you’ve ever wanted, but no. Joy is a habit, a moment, a philosophy, a focus.

The most joyful time in my life was the time when I had the least (possessions and money) – when I was travelling. Every day was an adventure, I saw lots of sunsets over the ocean, I was free to just enjoy life. If I didn’t like a place, I could move on. If I didn’t like a person, I didn’t have to talk to them. If I didn’t want to do something, I didn’t. The whole year I was travelling was all about doing what I wanted to do, and it opened my eyes to joy. To the simple joys of a letter from home, a starry night, a home-cooked meal, a good book. Before, I had not really ever stopped to appreciate these things, or to appreciate how much joy they gave me.

Now, for most of us, it is not possible to simply walk out on our life and bugger off to the other side of the world for a year (although, if it is possible for you, I cannot recommend it highly enough!), but for all of us it is possible to make joy a habit, a moment, a philosophy, a focus. For some obscure reason, many people have an inbuilt ‘joy stopper’ – all sorts of bizarre beliefs underpin this, like ‘once I’ve done everything on my to do list (that would take 7 people 12 years!), then I can enjoy myself’, like ‘life is not about joy’, like ‘I can’t enjoy life until I have X (a husband/child/great job/bank account overflowing with cash/thin body/perfection)’.

Let me ask you something. What is life about? What are we here for? To work hard, get stressed, be depressed, teach ‘hard work and no smiling’ to the next generation? Or to enjoy life? To be joyous? (Not in a selfish, raping the planet, booting other people in the head to get ahead way – by the way, those people are NOT enjoying their life. There is no joy in egotistical, narcissism, greed.) Imagine your life if you were loving it, in every moment. Now imagine your loved ones’ lives if they were enjoying it, every minute. Now imagine a world full of people who LOVED life. Who sang and danced and smiled and were generous of spirit and loving and joyful.

It gives me shivers just thinking about it. I can imagine that world. And it starts with us – me and you. Making joy a habit, a moment, a philosophy, a focus. A habit, because we do things every day that bring us joy, we habitually spend time with people who bring us joy. A moment, because we realise that every moment has the potential for joy if only we know how to look for it, experience it, feel it and repeat it! A philosophy, because joy is what life’s about. A focus because we pay attention to how joyful we feel and work on it consciously. So, have I made the case for a joyous December? Will you join me? (For
daily reminders, follow my facebook or Twitter
pages.)

– Something to Play With –

Take a moment to take 3 deep breaths into your heart. Now ask yourself “How much am I enjoying life right now on a scale of 1-10 (where 1 is ‘I’m not’ and 10 is “I LOVE MY LIFE!”.) Now, what can you do to move yourself up 1 point today? Make a ‘joy list’ of activities and people and places that bring you joy and add them to your life. I would love to hear from you if you are going to join in with this practice leave a comment below and tell me about the things that make you joyful, how much you’re enjoying life at the moment or just tell me ‘I’m joining in!’

Who do you know who would love this practice? Share this with them, let’s spread the joy!