Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home… it’s your responsibility to love it, or change it.
Chuck Palahniuk
Daily life doesn’t need to be boring, your work shouldn’t be dreadful, life is not meant to be lived in the future where ‘the next big thing’ or your holiday (escape from reality) is.
It’s the little things that matter and that includes knowing how to find joy in everything you do.
It’s every single action you take in the day, every small talk, every song you hear and picture you see, every cup of coffee you drink and free minute you have, that is the essence of life.
And your job is to find great pleasure in such activities.
Without trying to change them – instead, accept that they are the single most wonderful thing that can happen to you in this exact moment, without trying to interfere in the natural flow, or to wish for something better or compare it to something from the past.
The best way to live life is to be mindful of your current activity and what’s in front of your right now, and to fully appreciate it.
Yes, I believe that even drinking your tea in the morning can be turned into a special ritual, a praise of the silence and peace that can only be found in the early hours, a whole ceremony if you wish.
Without this attitude, it will be just another dull morning in a man’s ordinary life. But if you have that approach to little habits like this, you’ll find pure contentment and true gratitude in places you never imagined they existed.
Here’s how to find joy and implement it to everything in your daily life:
How to Find Joy in Everything We Do
1. Slow down.
Before you do anything else, you need to stop being in a rush, and just slow down and enjoy.
Most people are these days, and that only leads to a lot of stress. And nothing really gets done if you’re always in a hurry. You never do your best, often forget stuff and make mistakes because of this haste. And definitely have no chance to stop and enjoy life. Or to even live it.
But it should be lived slowly, one moment at a time. So that we can experience it, understand it, and find pleasure in it.
For a start, you can begin by driving more slowly, slowing down when walking, eating, even brushing your teeth or reading/writing.
But you’ll have to be mindful and focused while doing it, and to constantly remind yourself of your goal to do the activity more slowly. Because we’re so used to being in a hurry that it’s hard for us to take it slowly.
Meditation can help with that. If not, at least drink your coffee in the morning peacefully to find joy in the early hours.
2. Focus on what you have.
The more you think about the things you lack, the more you get of them.
So try to become aware of every single thing you have. Not just big things like being healthy, having people that love you, a good job, opportunities everywhere, or else. But each thing that’s in front of you in which you can find joy.
If someone annoying wants to chat with you in the office, don’t reject them. Instead, just listen, and think about how cool it is that someone wants your attention.
Another human being is spending some of his time (the most precious resource we all have and the only one we can’t get back) with you.
The least you can do is listen and just be there with your whole being.
That’s a random example but shows you what attitude you should have in order to be full of gratitude. That’s yet another powerful way how to find joy in daily life.
Wake up every day and thank for being given another opportunity to enjoy your time on Earth. After all, you haven’t really deserved it, it’s just given to you and you can do whatever you want with it.
It’s whole new 24 hours for you, in which you can change, learn and grow, do stuff you enjoy, or even indulge in unproductive activities that only give you instant gratification.
How awesome is that!
3. Be present.
One of the biggest and most important realizations in my life was when I truly understood that the present moment is all we have, it’s where life happens and where we can take action.
The past is gone, it can’t be changed. So I chose to learn from it, leave the regrets behind, and let it stay where it belongs – in the past.
If you don’t do that, you carry the burden of yesterday and bring it into today.
Also, the future is unpredictable. That may scare us every now and then, it makes us imagine the worst possible things that could happen.
But there’s something else – it doesn’t really matter right now.
The only thing we can do is look forward to what lies in store, and be prepared for it.
But whatever happens, it will be the best possible outcome for this stage of our lives. The next day, things will be different. But we’ll be okay with them too. That’s how we find joy and contentment in the now and experience this day.
It’s the only place where we can find happiness and peace.
Are you satisfied with your life? Do you often imagine being at a better place doing something more exciting?
Well, that’s a bad way of spending your precious time. It causes discomfort, and eventually leads to unhappiness.
Many people don’t enjoy life at all because they are never present, they either go back to the past and relive what was, or are somewhere in the future experiencing an ideal reality.
But they are missing out on the only thing they actually have – this moment.
The present moment is your only chance to enjoy life and to do something about a brighter future. If you miss it, together with the next ones, you let life pass by. Until you realize your best years are gone and you end up with regrets and in disappointment.
To stop doing that and be more mindful, to start living consciously and open your heart for the happiness and contentment in the present, live one moment at a time.
Don’t rush through life, don’t wish you were somewhere else, don’t complain about what you don’t have. Simply focus on what you do have, who’s around you and how you’re feeling. Enjoy it. Appreciate it. Love it.
If you do it a couple of times, you’ll find it easier and may even turn it into your attitude towards life, how you react to what happens.
That’s possible.
Then you’ll be happy, content and will have peace of mind.
Once you’re enjoying life without expecting certain things to happen, without going back to the past or creating ideals, you’ll want to share that knowledge and let others find out about it too.
Be here now.
Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is a mystery and it’s okay not to know what will happen. Stop imagining the worse, stop preparing for any outcome.
Just live today. Everything you need is given to you, you yourself have all it takes to spend this moment in the most productive and pleasant way possible.
Keep it positive.
Whatever happens, find the positive sides.
When nothing happens, stop to appreciate the things around you. Remind yourself of your good qualities, thank for the people in your life, feel happy about the opportunities that are coming your way.
Do things you like.
Last but not least, life’s too short to spend time doing things you don’t really enjoy. So ditch them.
Make time only for what you like, be only with people who lift you up and inspire you, read only books that grab your attention, talk only about what excites you.
That’s how you start enjoying life. Make a tiny change in your mindset today and start living one moment at a time.
These 3 ways how to find joy are super easy and simple. You don’t have to go somewhere, buy, say or do something.
In fact, you just need to keep doing what you do daily, just slower, consciously and with gratitude.
And that makes all the difference. It did for me, and it will for you.
What about you? Are you living a hectic lifestyle, wanting what you don’t have and thinking about the past and future? If yes, what can you do about it today to start living better and find joy in little things?
