FINDING JOY IN THE MUNDANE

While here in Costa Rica, I’ve been experiencing many moments of PURE JOY. Joy while watching the sunset, joy while listening to the birds sing, joy while being so tired every night that my new bedtime is 8:30pm (no joke) and joy while sitting around doing nothing with my family.

I know, I know…you’re all thinking “that’s easy, you’re on vacation!”

But hear me out:)

Brené Brown puts it well in her book The Gifts of Imperfection

“Joy is not a constant. It comes to us in moments—often ordinary moments. Sometimes we miss out on the bursts of joy because we’re too busy chasing down extraordinary moments.”

I believe that when we move into alignment with our core values and start putting energy towards the things that build us up instead of drag us down, we open ourselves up to more joy in the mundane.

Joy is not a final destination or goal to be reached, it’s found in the journey, in the moments that tie together our life.

So how do we find those moments within our own lives and ensure we can get more of them to create a life full of happiness? (even if you’re not on vacation….lol)

1. BE PRESENT. How can you experience joy if you are worrying about the past or future. Don’t be the kind of person who waits until Friday or your next trip to be happy. Don’t put off the things you love until X>Y>Z happens. The joy is to be found RIGHT NOW.

2. EXPRESS GRATITUDE. Practicing gratitude attract more joy into your life. I believe that saying thanks and expressing gratitude in the mundane moments is the language of JOY. Like being grateful that the traffic was light on your commute, or being grateful when someone complimented your work.

SO while yes, I am better able to experience many moments of PURE JOY down here in Costa Rica for all the obvious reasons, it’s definitely something I want to cultivate more of when I get home to Vancouver. We have only a few more days until this wonderful trip comes to an end!

xoxo Rebecca