18 Jul 2022
Welcome to the final week of ‘Finding Joy'.
Thank you for being a part of this journey. If you are new here, find all information about this initiative here)
Last week, we focused on taking action on our “Reasons To Live” list. If you participated with full enthusiasm and dedication, I’m sure you must have noticed some positive impact in your life by now. It’s finally time to step into the most important phase of this entire series i.e. reflect.
How To Do It
On a piece of paper, write down a list of prompts to reflect on as mentioned below:
What tasks did I incorporate into my life for MY OWN happiness this week?
How often did I manage to engage in these tasks last week? (Be specific with the number of days and the hours/minutes devoted each day)
Did these tasks contribute to my mental peace in any way? If not, what other points I can try focusing on from my “Reasons To Live” list?
Did I struggle with being consistent in making them a part of my life? If yes, what other strategies can I experiment with to make a schedule that works for me?
Why This Activity?
The basic idea of this week is to devote some time to not just understanding what experiences make us happy but to also make them a constant in our lives and treat them as our priority.
I am proud of you if you have allowed room for intentionality in your lives by choosing to take part in this series. But to reap the fruits of what you’ve sown, you need to make a conscious choice to actively pursue these experiences in your life.
As James Clear mentioned in his book Atomic Habits, if you make small and consistent efforts each day to develop healthy habits (in this case, the ones that lead to happiness), this 1% effort will have a compounding effect and you will see a 37% growth in your life over a year.
While this idea is important to keep in mind, we also need to keep our mindset in check. Sometimes we need to change strategies in order to maintain change. If your action on the “Reasons To Live” list does not seem feasible in the long run and feels more like an obligation, it’s okay to find new ways to incorporate these activities into your life until you find a schedule that suits you. (Buy Mindset by Carol S. Dweck here to learn more)
It’s like showing up to work every day (most days :P), except that in this case, you will leave with a calmer mind that has positive thoughts because you are your own boss.
I hope you had fun joining me in this series because I did. Feel free to reply to this email to share your experience and any feedback that you have!
See you next month. :)
Books for your reference: