Make joy your default.
Someone I admire shared this simple thought she came across before the holidays, and she was wholeheartedly embracing the wisdom in this.
I love the idea. It’s like building muscle memory for joy. The more you exercise it, and the more you seek out joy as your baseline, the more developed it becomes. The more you find it in your day to day life.
Instead of all that striving that comes with New Year’s resolutions (and research suggests resolutions are usually unsuccessful), how much more satisfying might it be to consider what our default might be in 2024? To focus on being intentional about what we want to be organized around or recover to when daily life gets challenging. Or how we want to course correct when our thinking, attitude or behaviors strays from what is important to us.
Delight? Compassion? Kindness?
Gratitude? Connection? Mindfulness? Curiosity? Generosity?
I’m not suggesting our default is where we are going to be every moment, or that we should even strive for that. We need the bad with the good, difficulty and ease. We benefit from the discomfort of our wide range of sloppy, and sometimes undesirable, emotions to help us be clear about what we value, how we want to show up for ourselves and others, and what is most important to safeguard.
So what might your default be? What value would you most like to consistently embrace?There will be moments – likely many – when it will be hard to get there. But the optimism that comes with a new year is a good time to reflect on what we want to be attentive to and what we want to create more of.
• What helps you cultivate what you value?
• What compromises what is important to you?
• Who are the people who access and bring out the best of you?
• What are the meaningful connections that nurture what matters most to you?
• How do you recover from setbacks or disappointment? What aids your course correction?
• What habits or rituals reinforce how you want to engage with the world around you? To live in a way that best reflects your values?
However imperfectly, choose your default and lean in. Being clear about what you want to be oriented to will help you recover as you navigate the trials and tribulations you’ll inevitably face. And create moments that reveal what is most important to you.
Happy new year and warmest wishes for 2024
may you find more of what is most important to you in the year ahead