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Trying to find joy when life is hard is a battle of emotions. When we’re faced with tough decisions or difficult challenges, we can quickly become weighed down with heavy, disheartening feelings.
Emotions such as sadness, bitterness, stress, anxiety, and hopelessness are all quick to take over, dragging us down and making it even harder to climb out of the emotional trenches.
When depressive emotions like these pull us down, it’s easy to overlook the good things in our lives, the things that can bring us joy and lift our hearts.
Learning how to focus on what brings you joy is a mindset, but definitely one worth developing for your own happiness.
So how do you find and keep joy in your everyday life? Here are 8 ways to bring more joy and happiness into your life.
8 Ways to Find and Keep Joy in Your Life
1. Start and end your day on positive notes. Many people think that happiness is a long-term goal and something that is unattainable in the present. Who said you had to wait to feel joy, though? Start and end your day with joy to bring more happiness into your life. Maybe you enjoy sipping your first cup of coffee outside in the morning on the weekends. Or maybe you like to spend a few minutes doing yoga before bed. Make these blissful moments a more frequent occurrence in your life. Joyful, rewarding moments like these are ones that you should incorporate more into your day.
2. Redraw your picture of the world. So much of the time we unnecessarily distill our lives down to the point where we not only give ourselves nothing to look forward to, but we restrict ourselves to live within defined parameters. Think about it. When someone asks you what you do for a living, you might answer, “I work in banking.” This answer, although to the point, defines you merely as someone that works in banking, when in reality you are so much more than that. Redraw your picture of the world, and tell a new story that sheds light on your hopes and dreams, and not simply your occupation. For example, “I’m a banker by trade, but my true passions lie in travel and learning about the world and other cultures.” While you don’t always have to answer others in this way, internally adopting a larger, more colorful picture of yourself and the world shifts your perspective to focus on what brings you joy.
3. Clear away the negative thoughts and make room for the positive thoughts. How many times have your negative thoughts held you back from focusing on joyful thoughts? Declutter your mind and remove those negative thoughts by focusing on the positive thoughts instead. Maybe you’ve been having a bad day at work where nothing is going right, but tonight you have a get together with your closest friends at your favorite restaurant. Make the choice to focus more on the get together after work, rather than recycling the negative thoughts about work and going through them again and again in your mind. Shift your thought patterns to what brings you joy, and shed the unnecessary, pessimistic thoughts.
4. Identify the beliefs that are holding you back from feeling joy. Sometimes it’s not just the negative thoughts about our day that hold us back from feeling joy, but rather our system of beliefs. Check your belief system. How are you systematically holding yourself back? Is it the belief that you “can’t get anything right?” Or that, “I’ll be happy when I’m in another job?” Happiness is something that comes from within, and is not at all reliant on our current situation or the environment we’re in. Identify the beliefs that directly block you from feeling joy, and challenge them. Ask yourself, “Where is this belief coming from?” “What have I got to lose if I let go of this false belief?”
5. Do more of what makes you joyful. How many times have you kept yourself from doing something you love and enjoy because you couldn’t put you or your happiness first, or because you felt you hadn’t “earned” it? Let go of that belief, and start doing more of what you love. Maybe you’ve been wanting to go visit your friend in a city that you’ve never been to before. Maybe you’ve been wanting to enroll in an evening art class. Stop putting off what brings you joy. Happiness is not something you have to wait for.
6. Create a dream board. Set the intention to feel joy every day by creating a dream board. While it’s great to live joyfully in the present, plan for your joy and happiness by identifying what you want your life to look like in the long term, and what goals and sentiments you want your life to reflect. Post pictures of where you want to travel, people you want to visit, words and quotes that inspire you, and any other images or words that reflect joy for you.
7. Identify 5 items that you’re grateful for. On those days where it feels practically impossible to feel joy, choose instead to feel joy through gratitude. Identify 5 items that you already have in your life that bring you happiness. Maybe it’s the bond you have with your child, your family, or your supportive partner. Maybe you have a job that you’re extremely passionate about. Or maybe it’s something even simpler, like the very roof over your head or the warm bed you sleep in.
8. Fill your life with people that bring you joy. Emotions are highly contagious, and who we choose to surround ourselves with greatly influences how happy we are. Surround yourself with the people who bring you joy and happiness. When you can change your life influencers for the better, you’ll not only feel more joyful and happier, but you’ll also be giving yourself a better shot at a more successful, fulfilling life.
