Spreading Joy

Making a Difference One Person At a Time One Day At a Time

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10 Ways to Have More Joy in Each Day

10 Ways to Have more Joy in Each day

10 Ways to have more JOY in Each Day

Everyone wants more joy don’t we? We do. I mean seriously, who doesn’t?  In  a day and age where everything coming at you is negative, horrific and downright depressing, it seems everyone is looking to add things that will bring joy to their world.

I’m with you! I get it! As someone who struggles with depression I understand the desire for more JOY.

So, what can we average, ordinary people do to fill our day with more joy?

Here are 10 things that will bring joy to your world – in random order because I’m a random kind of gal.

  1. Spread Joy Daily – I am a living testament that if you are making a difference for others your heart will absolutely be flooded with joy. F L O O D E D! Seriously, get yourself in the habit of doing one thing for someone else each day.  Do not expect anything back from them.  No…don’t do it. Not even a thank you. Make a difference because you can.
  2. Focus on the Positive Things – There is a saying that goes something like change your thinking and you change your world. Positive thinking will not erase the bad memories or keep bad things from happening, but it will make your day much better and fill it with joy. There is joy in each day.  It’s always waiting for you to discover it. Let me challenge you to write one joyful thing each day on your Facebook wall or your twitter feed. Just one.
  3. Be Thankful – Gratitude is so powerful. Say thank you often and mean it. We all tend to think of the large things we are thankful for like family, home, cars, jobs etc but what about those daily little things that have such a huge impact on our hearts? How about the sticky note from a co-worker? What about being thankful for the easier commute when school is out? What about being thankful for all green lights? What little things fill up your world with great joy? Do you keep Gratitude Journals
  4. Do not compare – There is a popular quote – Comparison is the thief of joy and it’s so true. When you compare what you have to what others have you are allowing what you do not have to steal your joy.  Our children grew up in a school that had a lot of wealthy families. We were not one of them.  I know our kids would have loved to have had homes like their friends. Their homes were gorgeous. I told them then, (and still believe it now) I wouldn’t trade their beautiful home for the love in our home for anything. Nothing. We have never had much by way of material things but a home of great love and wonderful memories is worth so much more than a huge house.
  5. Do not waste time with worry – If you can change it, do. If you can’t move on. Worry literally steals your joy and your health. It’s not worth it. Don’t do it. (See what I did there? Didn’t waste a lot of time on worry. )
  6. Look for the good in people – There is video after video of people doing good things for others. I love these.  There are also videos of people giving money to homeless people and then filming them wondering what they would do with the money. Let me say right here – this is wrong. If you help someone, do so without attaching strings. Don’t judge what they do with the gift you give them. If you think they will spend it on something you don’t approve of, give them a blessing bag or something other than money.  There is bad in all of us and it’s easy to see it.  There is GOOD in everyone – look for it.
  7. Be kind to yourself – We are so down on ourselves. We didn’t lose the weight we wanted, we didn’t exercise 5 out of 7 days, we didn’t…. blah blah blah. I could go on and on and on. We are kinder to complete strangers than we are to ourselves sometimes. Forgive yourself and move on. Love yourself, be kind to yourself because you are amazing and you matter.  Here is an article about being kind to you.
  8. Don’t wait on happiness – Happiness comes from those things happening around you. Be happy now. Don’t wait until you have a new car, money in the bank, new boyfriend. Don’t wait to be happy until you have the new job or live beside the ocean. Be happy right now.  Celebrate the life you have right now. Will I be extremely happy when I live beside the ocean? Well, yes I will be but until then I’m going to enjoy every single day I can.
  9. Experience New Things – Visit a local small town near you. Find a trail you’ve never walked. Check out a new restaurant.  Plan out new things to experience. You plan to pay your bills, you plan doctor visits, plan to experience new things!  Where do you want to go? What local restaurant is in your area that you’ve never eaten in?
  10. Surround yourself with amazing people – You lay down with the dogs you’ll get fleas…right? Well, surrounding yourself with amazing people will help to fill your day with joy. Don’t follow negative people on Social Media, don’t join groups that bash people or dwell on the negative.  Make time to physically get together with these great people too.  Only being connected via Social Media can be a bit of a downer, so get together over coffee or dinner.  It doesn’t have to be expensive.

How about you? How do you bring more Joy to your day?

 

 

I’d love to hear about it in the comments below or share with me on Twitter using the hashtag #spreadingJOY

no joy like spreading joy

 

© 2016 – 2020, Spreading Joy. All rights reserved.

Comments

  2. 3

    These are great ideas for having more joy! Definitely will share this post!

    Some other ways I experience joy:
    -Putting my focus in the right place, which kind of ties into some of the ways you mentioned. When my focus is on Jesus, I can’t help but be joyful! 🙂
    -Self-care. When I start my day right by getting a good amount of sleep, waking up at a decent hour, exercising, and having a healthy breakfast, I have so much more energy for my day, which makes it ten times harder to get in the kind of funk that tries to kill your joy.
    -Creating. I find so much joy in using my creative abilities (writing, drawing, imagining, etc.), especially when I use it to encourage or brighten someone’s day.

    Reply
    • 4

      These are great Anna! People forget about how their strengths and passion bring joy. Sometimes they feel guilty for enjoying them but it’s such a great thing

      Reply
  4. 7

    Lovely post. I needed this in double doses. Life can get so hectic I have to literally tell myself to calm down and take it easy. I love the idea of not following negative people on social media. I had to learn not to quickly follow back. Now, I check each follower tweets before following. I thought because they follow me I must follow them. I’m new to social media. I have some ways to go. God bless you. Thanks for sharing

    Reply
    • 10

      Demelza, this is such a wonderful thing. When we take time to write down things we are grateful for then our hearts will be in tune with small, wonderful yet amazing things each day!

      Reply
  6. 11

    What a great post on cultivating joy in our lives daily! One of the things I try is to do something that I enjoy on most days, which for me is doing nature photography, writing or worshiping God at my keyboard. 🙂

    Another thing I do, which probably only applies to introverts, is to be sure to schedule adequate time alone to be refreshed. I tend to be more moody otherwise, particularly if I’ve gone many days without this time.

    Reply
    • 12

      Time alone to recharge is a must Amanda! Thanks for reminding people to look at what they love to do and do it with great zeal!

      Reply
  9. 17

    I can feel the joy flying off the page in your words. At the end I was left smiling and feeling inspired to pass that joy on. So many truths in there…focus on the positive, don’t compare…love them all and thank you for the reminder that there are ways to increase and then share our joy!

    Reply
  10. 19

    There is power in music! Playing uplifting music and singing at the top of my lungs is a huge mood booster for me and it helps shift my focus from my anxiety to God’s greatness. Also, if I’m having a difficult time being positive or thankful, I force myself to write down things I’m grateful for and things that are positive.

    Reply
    • 20

      I’m with you Maria! I love listening to music – and singing loudly! even though I’m a horrible singing kind of gal. and I wish more people would realize the power of writing things down – positive things and things you are grateful for! it is like it “releases” the negativity from your heart!
      marie recently posted..10 Ways to Have More Joy in Each Day

      Reply
  12. 23

    THIS. IS. AWESOME. I’m super obsessed with Joyce Meyers teaching and she often says that if we want to stop thinking about ourselves and our own situations, the best thing we can do is go help someone else. You took that same kind of concept and elaborated it in wonderful, practical steps to joy. Thank you! God bless 🙂

    Reply
    • 24

      Spreading Joy to others helps to clearly see that things are not as horrible as we sometimes let our hearts think they are. I love having kids tht come and help because they get to see that there are people their own age who don’t have the things they have. it’s a huge eye opener for them.
      marie recently posted..10 Ways to Have More Joy in Each Day

      Reply
  14. 27

    What a great list! Giving thanks in every circumstance plants joy in our hearts so that we can spread it around wherever we go.

    Blessings to you!

    Reply
  15. 29

    Great reminders. The only way to get through life is to try to focus on the joy. There will always be things we can get upset about if we let ourselves.

    Reply
    • 34

      thanks Florence! Spreading JOY to others does wonders for the soul! You’ll love it. We found a new little town this last weekend, just a short drive away and spent the day exploring. Was so much fun sitting by a creek and listening to a couple older gentlemen sing.

      Have fun infusing more joy into your day!!
      marie recently posted..10 Ways to Have More Joy in Each Day

      Reply
  18. 35

    Joy is a choice. Definitely. It’s up to us to make our lives joyful. No excuses.
    These are wise and effective ways to do just that. I find surrounding myself with joyful people as the most effective so far. Joy is contagious.

    Reply
    • 36

      JOY is contagious! and I agree about being surrounded with joyful people Lux. Negative people just suck the joy right out of us. 🙂 I know we all are negative sometimes, but really being positive and choosing joy helps.

      Reply
  19. 37

    Fantastic article! To answer your question, I love to share the beauty and graces of life with others via photography, writing, and encouraging others in their creative joy. I too agree that the beauty and wonder of joy are in the giving. Thank you for the great suggestions.

    Reply
  21. 41

    Thank you for this reminder. I love the one on not comparing. We have to know that God has a great purpose for us and we can’t compare ourselves to others.

    Reply
    • 44

      experiencing new things is such fun! It could be small, like a new recipe or larger like a day roaming a new place not so far away or larger still – like a day roaming around a new place a few hours away.
      Marie recently posted..10 Twitter Musts

      Reply
  25. 49

    Thanks for this! I think my biggest two are I compare and I’m very critical of myself. I have been really trying to focus on doing what I can and letting God work everything else out. When I and strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, it all works together.

    Reply
  29. 57

    Awesome post!
    #6 was my favorite. Giving can be a very special gift to have and to receive. God looks at our heart motive in either way that we participate.

    Reply
  30. 59

    The comparing thing is what opens the crack in the door that negates the rest of the list. So I have to concentrate really hard on that. I go through the “it’s not fair” phase. So that’s a struggle right now. Great list!

    Reply
  33. 65

    I have to get outside of myself. If I stop to think about me the joy gets sucked out of me. But you’re right, doing for others . . . even if they’re just little things. Wow, that gives me joy! Blessings and thanks for linking up at Faith ‘n Friends!!

    Reply
  35. 69

    These are wonderful, Marie! I love the idea of sharing one positive thing on Facebook. There is always so much negativity coming through the newsfeed, it’s about time others start sharing positive things. I’m starting that today. Thank you for sharing with Thankful Thursdays. I hope to see you again next week.

    Reply
  37. 73

    I love the list you have comprised here! Each of these is a great way to have more joy in our day to day life. One of the biggest ones is remembering not to compare yourself with others! We have to remember to just be who God made us to be and to be thankful for what He does in our lives. It’s that simple. Thanks for sharing!

    God bless,
    Patty

    Reply

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  1. […] To Follow or not to Follow – This is simple. If you like someone, follow them. If they don’t follow back… oh well, their loss. Will Oprah follow you back? Not likely but if you like her tweets follow her anyway. Don’t stress over this.  Worry steals your joy! More on that here. […]

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