Early Morning Inspiration

I love it when inspiration strikes first thing in the morning.  A little disclaimer for this post:  I've been reading what I discovered is a pirated edition of The Anti-Planner by Dani Donovan, and one of the tips for getting things done is to set a timer, and just work until the timer goes off.  Let go of perfectionism, and what is done at the end of the allotted time is just done.  So, I have to leave for work in 40 minutes, so 40 minutes is all I get.  If the ending is abrupt, or if certain sentences don't seem to go anywhere, it's because I ran out of my usual editing time.  I really just want to get my thoughts down on "paper" before I forget.

Starting over.  I love it when inspiration strikes first thing in the morning.  I was playing a game on my tablet while drinking my morning coffee, and thinking about my Joy Journal.  I started this on November 2, writing down at least one thing each day that brings me joy.  What brought me joy that day was finally getting a dresser cleaned off and organized, and how it looked after I got it done.  Thirteen days later, I still get a little thrill when I look at that dresser.  Since then, my Joy Journal has included:

• Joy is shredding junk mail, putting magazines in an organizer, and getting things off the couch!
• Joy is giving a Titanic book I don't need to a child who will enjoy it!
• Joy is spending the day celebrating my girls!
• Joy is cleaning the ideas out of my head and putting them on a blog.  :-)
• Joy is helping Lucy find the perfect birthday gift for a friend.
• Joy is seeing how much Lucy and her friends love each other
• Joy is having an adult conversation with my now-adult Su.
• Joy is bobbinating all the floss I got from Mom!
• Joy is getting ideas for making my life easier and more fun/enjoyable.
• Joy is starting a college-prep notebook for Su!
• Joy is getting bills paid!
• Joy is deleting hundreds of emails from my inbox!
• Joy is inspiration to write first thing in the morning!

Yes, all the exclamation points are from the journal.  Yes, some of these things seem like drudgery, and I'm sure there will be plenty of other "joys" that don't seem like they belong.  Here's the thing I learned in grad school:  reframing.  My eating habit coach and I talked a lot about reframing last year, as well.  Reframing is taking something that you see as a negative and turning it into a positive.  Now, before you accuse me of being disingenuous, or lying to myself, there's a little more to reframing than just saying, "Goody, I get to pay my bills today!"  What is reframed MUST be believable.  So I'm not thrilled about money going out of my bank account.  The joy is that I was unemployed earlier this year, and I'm not worried about money right now.  The joy is that I had this pile of "You-owe-us"es, and now I don't.  The joy is the satisfaction of finishing something.  Deleting hundreds of emails yesterday was kind of mind-numbing.  But looking at the number in my "Household" folder go from 1600 to 600 was a real dopamine hit.  Going shopping is generally not fun.  But seeing how excited Lucy was to be going to a birthday party for a dear friend and wanting to get something she would really love made my hatred for shopping bearable.

My quest for joy started in August with Courtney Carver's Be More With Less emails.  She "preaches" simplicity, and practices what she preaches.  I attended one of her free live-streams, and learned a lot about living simply (not minimalism--that's related, but not the same thing).  Her first rule is "Start with Joy."  She also is very big on "Simple Pleasures," little things that don't cost much but bring you joy or peace, things you can pepper throughout your day to make life more enjoyable.  But joy is the name of the game--we have so many things in life we have to do, but in the name of self-care, we need to be sure to schedule joy as well.  Sometimes joys come spontaneously, but we can't always rely on that.  We have to remember to leave space in our day to do things we know will bring us joy.  But then that takes me back to reframing:  recognizing unconventional sources of joy, like getting the bills paid or walking around Five Below with a teenager in search of a gift.  The more you do those two things, scheduling joy and recognizing joy, the easier it gets.  

What joy can you schedule in your life?  When I attended Courtney's live-stream, we all made a list.  My list includes enjoying a good cup of coffee, playing piano, cross-stitching, being outdoors, seeing something pretty, alone time, eating a good piece of fruit, reading something that inspires me, painting my nails, clearing away one pile, spending time with my girls, sipping a lovely gin, wearing something that makes me feel beautiful (BTW, I did that yesterday--a new long-sleeved T, my favorite jeans, and tan Clarks--a totally casual outfit, but I felt like a million bucks).  Your list may include some of these, or may be vastly different.  Notice, none of those things cost much.  But if I engage in them, focusing on the joy they bring, they make a huge difference in my day.

What joy can you notice in your life?  This one is a little harder--I can't necessarily brainstorm all the joys that come my way, except in the moment.  A few things from the top of my head:  colder weather so I can sleep under my favorite super-soft heavy blanket; getting everything done at work so I can clear off my desk at the end of the day (so satisfying); working on a hard project that will take hours and days and weeks and months, but with the idea that the finish will be worth all the time and energy.  There are more, but I'm almost out of time.

Friends, take one minute today to recognize a source of joy in your life.  Write it down, so it gets into your motor memory.  And schedule something that you know will bring you joy.  Five minutes of joy can make all the difference.