Choose Joy
Firstly a big welcome to Pockets of Joy, a monthly blog where my hope is you leave feeling encouraged and experience a pocket of joy. For the first Pocket of Joy, it felt only fitting to write about a saying I often say: Choose Joy.
A couple years ago I was sitting in a friend’s home at the kitchen island when they asked a very common question: “How’s your week been?”. What was a common question that I’ve often answered was in this moment a question that caught me off guard, and I didn’t have an answer for. Have you ever had those weeks which you just can’t describe, maybe because everything that could’ve gone wrong did or so many crazy things happen that you don’t know how to put it into words? Yup, I had just experienced a week like that. Truthfully, it had felt like an awful week to the point I didn’t know how to describe it.
Next thing I know, all that’s coming out of my mouth is “after the week I’ve had, I’m choosing joy”. This made my friend laugh and in turn made me laugh, and something shifted in me. As I laughed and chose joy, the heaviness from the week started to lift and I felt lighter. The joy I felt didn’t make sense in relation to the week I had. How is it possible to feel joy when all we’re feeling is pain, grief, low, anxious, depressed, etc? Does it even make sense? It was a moment that stayed with me and after finding myself saying the expression more, I started to explore what was it about choosing joy that lifted my mood and shifted my mindset. I used to think it was either joy or pain, joy or grief, joy or sadness, like I had to pick one or the other. But I learnt joy is different to happiness and both can be true; I can have joy while in pain or have joy while grieving. Happiness is external, it’s the result of words or actions. Joy is internal and it will give you the strength to keep going, to enjoy life even when it’s hard, smile, laugh, and so much more.
Since that moment, I have made a conscious effort to choose joy and although this blog isn’t long enough to share all I’ve learnt, realised, etc, there are two things in particular I want to share I realised as a result of choosing joy;
Your words are powerful.
What you think affects who you are and the direction you go in
There’s a phrase I often quote, which is “life and death is in the power of the tongue”. It’s strong, I know, but it’s true. Your words have the ability to bring life, encouragement, love, joy, etc into yours or someone else’s life, but they also have the power to bring death, pain, destruction, hurt, brokenness, etc. Words are powerful and choosing joy doesn’t take away what you’re going through but it changes how you talk about it and approach what you’re going through. I’ve noticed that a lot more time can be spent talking about the bad things that are happening in life rather than the good things. It sometimes sounds like a badge is given to those who go through the worst as if they’re the most impressive, but the reality of going through pain and trauma is hard and painful and doesn’t feel impressive at all. Choosing joy doesn’t mean you ignore the bad things but more so you shift your perspective and celebrate, enjoy and share the good things. If you constantly speak negatively, your body and mind will be filled with more cortisol (stress hormone), which lowers your mood and weakens your thinking. But if you speak positively and life-giving words, such as choosing joy, your mind and body will be filled with more oxytocin and serotonin (happy hormones), which will boost your mood, motivation and strengthen your thinking.
WHAT YOU THINK AFFECTS YOU ARE & THE DIRECTION YOU GO IN
Here’s another cracking quote, “as a man thinks in his heart, so he is”. I don’t know about you but this one hit me hard. Sometimes we get so consumed by our circumstances that they end up defining us and becoming who we are, which can make it really difficult to see beyond what you’re going through. When you choose joy, you shift your focus from your circumstances and towards the direction you want to go in. When you focus only on your circumstances, it can be difficult to stay hopeful as all your thoughts are about your circumstances, which becomes all you can see and it can be difficult to see beyond them. By choosing joy, as simple as it sounds, your thinking and focus shifts from being focused on your circumstances to what could be beyond them or even surrounding them. You have an amazing purpose for your life, I’d love to encourage you to not let the words and actions of others stop you from going in the direction you’re meant to go in.
It may sound simple to “choose joy” each day and sometimes it is or sometimes it isn’t, it can depend on how we feel but these two si
mple words will have a big impact as words affect your thinking and thinking affect the direction you go in.
So give it a go today, whether you feel like it or not, say aloud “I’m choosing joy” and get in touch to let me know how it goes and I hope these monthly pockets of joy bring you joy itself, along with some hope and encouragement.
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