Last week we looked at why you should be on the joy wagon. I want to give you 6 practical things you can do to increase joy every day of your life. I’ll give you the first 3 this week.
Here we go…
1. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR JOY
Have you ever found yourself blaming your lack of joy on someone else?
“If I just had a different boss or a better job, then I would be more joyful. If I just had a more attentive spouse then I could experience joy. If I just had better behaved children then I could be joyful.”
But what if you being a joyful person is the primary way to change all of those relationships? I believe if you start being more joyful your relationship with your boss, your spouse, and your children would start to improve.
It’s too easy to blame someone else instead of taking responsibility for our own attitude. Blaming never changes anything.
Not only do we blame people but we also blame our circumstances.
You are going to face lots of things in life that aren’t pleasant. Why? Because this is earth, it’s not Heaven. If you wait for things to be perfect you’ll never experience joy. But you don’t have to wait for things to be perfect. Because right along with your difficult circumstances are many things to be joyful about. You just have to choose which you’re going to focus on.
Once you realize you are the only person who holds the power over your joy you can jump on the joy wagon. As long as you are counting on someone else you’ll fall off the wagon with the first bump.
Joy is my responsibility.
Write that on a card or a sticky note and put it some place where you’ll see it every day. No one else can do it for you.
2. SMILE
Try an experiment with me…where ever you’re reading this right now look up and smile at someone.
What happened?
They smiled back!
I’m writing this while my wife’s car is getting a small repair and I smiled at someone in the waiting room and you know what…they smiled back. (Since I was waiting for awhile I choose my target carefully…I didn’t want to seem creepy!) You know what else happened? After I looked back down at my computer I kept smiling and felt more joyful.
A smile is contagious and it doesn’t cost you anything.
I love what Proverbs 15:30 says “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart;” The Good News Translation says, “Smiling faces make you happy.”
Our feelings often follow our actions. Act joyful and you’ll start to feel joyful.
Sometimes the problem is the opposite…we feel joyful but our face doesn’t adequately reflect what’s in our heart.
People can’t see what’s in your heart, but they can see what’s on your face.
People can’t see what’s in your heart, but they can see what’s on your face.
I took our staff through a short little book a couple of years ago called “How to Wow.” One of the chapters told a story about a train company in Japan that installed cameras on each car, not to monitor the passengers but to monitor their employees. One of the specific things they were monitoring was their employees’ smile. When performance review rolled around they rolled the footage to see how well they smiled. They were literally graded on their smile.
If you were to be graded on your smile what grade would you get?
Think of the gift a smile is to your team! I recently told my team one of the gifts we can give each other on a Sunday morning is a smile. Sundays are game day for us and we each have tons of stuff happening and not all of it is exciting. Maybe they just took the full brunt of an irate (& immature) parent for something that wasn’t their fault. A smile from a teammate (because there isn’t time for more) says we are in this together. Maybe technology just failed in the last service…maybe they just had to clean up puke…maybe they just found out a key leader is moving…a smile says you’re not alone, I see you, and we’re in this together!
“A cheerful look brings joy to the heart”
3. INCREASE YOUR THANKFULNESS
Study after study shows that joy and happiness are proportionately linked to your thankfulness.
The more thankful you are the happier you are.
I’ve made a list on my phone to remind me what I’m grateful for about right now and right here. When I’m feeling discontent or down I pull it out and my mood starts to change. I have to mentally change my playlist.
When you find yourself comparing your life to someone else’s and it’s left you down pull out your list and you’ll find joy starting to break through like warm sunshine.
The more you recognize the good things the more joyful you’ll be.
What if you opened up the notes app and started jotting down a few things you are thankful for? Keep adding to it.
I believe your most joyful days are still ahead of you! Why? Because you’ve kept reading which means you are taking responsibility for your joy! When you take responsibility for any area of your life it begins to improve.
Next week I’ll share the last 3 with you. Till then…
- Make a sticky note that says, “Joy is MY responsibility.”
- Smile at everyone you meet.
- Make a note on your phone called “Thankful” and start adding to it.
