Years ago, I began exercising so that I could become stronger and more toned physically.
When I first started lifting, I could barely lift 5-pound dumbbells over my head. I’d go jogging and be exhausted within one minute. I could have gotten frustrated and given up. In fact, some days I really wanted to.
However, I persisted with the hopes that it would get easier, and I would see results. It did get easier and now, many years later, exercise has become a habit that keeps me healthy, but also brings me a lot of joy.
What about you?
- Do you want to cultivate more joy in your life?
- Are you tired of allowing sadness to dominate your life?
If so, understand that just like an athlete or bodybuilder takes time and energy to sculpt a toned body, so must you take time and energy to create thoughts that facilitate feelings of happiness.
The Benefits of Creating Good Habits
Exercise is beneficial in many ways.
It has helped me to learn about things like dedication, persistence, commitment, and patience.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about happiness.
How can we cultivate more joy in our lives?
I’ve concluded that cultivating joy is similar to exercising. Just like building muscles takes practice, cultivating joy also takes practice.
I wish we could all just experience joy automatically, but the reality is that we don’t. Some people are not naturally happy. Though some people are optimistic and happy much of the time, many people simply are not.
They have to work at it.
Decide to Cultivate More Joy in Your Life
Years ago, I decided that I wanted to be happier.
I wanted to say goodbye to sadness and depression and smile and laugh more. That sounds so easy, but it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Sometimes the thoughts in our minds get on this negative loop and it takes some effort to break them and replace them with positive thoughts.
I began thinking about happiness.
- What is true joy?
- What do we really have to do to feel more of it?
I started on a meditative journey to seek some answers and cultivate some joy in my life. Meditation has been quite helpful to me. I found that as I consistently spent time meditating, I became more at peace and happy on the inside.
Just like consistently lifting weights cultivated a toned, athletic body, meditation cultivated a sense of lightness and joy.
Meditation allowed me to learn how to take control over my thought life and entertain more positive thoughts than negative thoughts.
Feelings are directly associated with your thought life, so if you are feeling down, take a look at your thought life and make some changes there. Thoughts influence emotions and emotions influence behavior, so get to the thoughts in order to experience transformation.
Have a Grateful Heart
Learning how to have a grateful heart has helped me as well.
As I offer gratitude for all the things I am thankful for, I simply feel better emotionally. Often, I write down 10 things that I am grateful for.
For example, I write down things like my family, friends, health, home, career success, and anything else I am feeling grateful for at that moment. Even when I don’t feel like taking the time to do this practice, I do it anyway because I’ve learned that it helps.
It allows me to put my focus on the good in my life, which tends to attract more good things into my life.
Make Joy a Habit
Take some time consistently to sit quietly and meditate or go sit in nature and allow the beauty of creation to speak to you.
Read inspirational literature, hang around with happy people, make your own gratitude list each day, or do whatever works for you. The thing you must remember is to make these things habits, as the repetitive action may very well help you feel more happiness.
I assure you that you can cultivate a spirit of happiness no matter what your past has been or you’re your present looks like now. Take positive action consistently. Granted, feeling happy 100% of the time is unrealistic, so allow yourself to have some off days.
However, you can cultivate more joy in your life when you consistently build up your joy muscles, so-to-speak.
My hope for you is that you discover what it is for you that cultivates a happy spirit within you, and do more of those things.
Updated from Oct 1, 2022
