We hear you. You — our community of clients, health-minded people, friends, family, and supporters — want to find JOY. Sometimes you don’t actually say that.
Sometimes you say …
- “I’m overwhelmed and I can’t find any motivation!” or possibly,
- “I am so anxious all the time” and occasionally plain and simple,
- “I want more JOY in my life and I don’t know how to do that!”
Are you hearing anything that sounds familiar to you?
So how can you find JOY? Start looking for trapped JOY. What the heck is that?
The joy we seek in our everyday lives is easily trapped by the expectations we have about our everyday lives.
To find joy, we have to find expectations. To find expectations, we LISTEN to our thoughts for little radar pings. Little radar pings that sound like the word SHOULD.
Here’s an example. One of my most consistent sources of everyday joy is watching my youngest, Molly, play soccer. Think that perfect temp, sunny day in early spring, watching your kid in the starting lineup, playing with passion and fierceness, other parents cheering her on, relaxed and enjoying the day, and building memories! Ahhhh.
Here’s where my expectations might trap my joy …
“We should have left earlier so we wouldn’t have had to rush to the game.”
“I should have packed a snack, now I’m cranky.”
“It should be warmer than this like the weather said it would.”
“She should be more grateful that I’m here.”
“Those other parents shouldn’t be screaming so loudly.”
“The ref definitely should have called a penalty on that.”
“I should be enjoying myself more instead of being distracted.”
When I allow my expectations of how “soccer-mom joy” should look (gorgeous day, great play, etc.) I trap any possible JOY that otherwise may be available to me in the moment.
Quick Tip — Begin to notice when you should on yourself and everybody else. That’s it. Just start there. We can cover the rest in a coaching session. 😉
Healthy Life Coaching and Therapy 
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