In one of my recent seminars, my professor told us about an important motto. It had to do with finding something, whatever it might be, that brings you joy each day. At first, I felt like it was maybe a bit cliché and unrealistic because, as a student, my daily life can often feel stressful and relatively mundane. As my professor elaborated though, I realized that I had kind of been missing the whole point. Joy doesn’t have to come from significant life changes or achievements that can seem few and far between in university. Joy can be found in the smallest things like a beautiful blue sky, a delicious meal, or a casual coffee date with someone you really cherish.
After the seminar, I started to reflect on how much (or really, how little) joy I let myself mindfully experience on a day-to-day basis. I realized that this practice can have a huge impact on our overall wealth and happiness, but at this point in many of our lives, constant stress and pressure tend to override all else. Personally, when I get extremely overwhelmed, I find myself going through the motions of my day somewhat emotionless. It’s easy to get so caught up in lengthy ‘To-Do’ lists and forget to feel gratitude for the small things that bring light and positivity into our lives. For this reason, I want to discuss how and why we should all start focusing more on joy and gratitude… even and especially during this time of year.
The “how” of practicing joy and gratitude is fairly simple. As I mentioned above, we generally find joy in things that are big or drastic because momentous events provoke strong emotions and are easier to remember. But what about the details?
Let’s start with joy. Walking outside to see the sun shining, biting into a juicy peach on a hot summer day, going for a walk with my dog, getting something done that’s really been weighing on me, and tucking into freshly made sheets are just of a few of the small things that bring me a lot of joy. It’s not so hard to come up with these things when you give yourself a few seconds to think about it. The real challenge is taking notice WHILE they’re happening because it can be far easier (and almost natural) to fixate on the things that are dragging you down.
So here’s my advice:
When you wake up, think of something that you want to do in your day that will bring you joy, no matter how small, and then do it! It can be as simple as eating your favourite lunch, wearing an outfit that makes you feel like a badass, or sipping on your coffee in some peace and quiet before you start studying.
Once you’ve mastered recognizing the joyful moments of your day, practicing gratitude should come a bit more easily. Each evening, try to think of one thing that happened during your day that you’re grateful for. It could be the fact that someone made you a warm meal, that you started learning about something mildly interesting in one of your classes, or that a good friend reached out to send you a nice message. You don’t need to buy a new journal or pull out your computer to do this. Just taking a few moments to reflect at the end of a long day can be enough to remind you of how loved and lucky you are.
Now for the “why” in all this. Why is it important to practice feeling joy and gratitude in our daily lives? What impacts can it really have? Studies have shown that integrating gratitude into your daily life can have positive health outcomes such as “[fewer] headaches, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory infections, and sleep disturbances.” A study done by psychologists Dr.Emmons and Dr.McCullough found that students who wrote in a gratitude journal for 10 weeks were more optimistic, felt better about their lives, and had less doctor visits than the group who kept a journal about their negative experiences.” Although there is still much research to be done surrounding gratitude and health outcomes, the very least it can do is promote more positivity in all of our lives…and can that EVER be a bad thing?
So, when you are starting to feel down or overwhelmed, take a second to think of something you’ve done today or something you can do that will bring you joy. Practice feeling gratitude for the small things, especially on the grey days. And finally, spread positivity to others by reminding your friends and family of how much they mean to you, greeting a stranger with a smile, or just taking a minute to listen to someone who really needs to vent. What takes less than a second for you can be a big deal for someone who hasn’t felt much joy in a while. I promise it will make you feel happier too.