Sharing a new tool with you this week.

The tool of "Recording Joys, Happiness & New Experiences".

 

First - definitions:

'New Experience' is easy and obvious.

Whenever you attempt or do something new, never done before, it is a 'New Experience'. Going to an amusement park for the 1st time,

beginning to learn to knit or singing in the church choir;

all are examples of 'new experiences'

that we tend to overlook when they occur and certainly don't remember later.

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'Happiness' is often talked about, yet seldom defined.

I define it as experiencing a sense of contentment or amusement. It's not spectacular,

it's not big and yet it brings a smile to the face and a swelling of the heart.

 

'Joy' is the BIG, the SPECTACULAR. 'Joy is the feeling several levels above 'happiness'.

 

What's the difference between joy & happy?

When I go to dinner with a friend I am happy.

Going for a lobster dinner with my best friend Pam on my annual trip to Maine, that's 'joy'.

When my son Scott sends me a birthday present that's happiness.

When he remembers a casual remark I made months before and sends me a "White Castle" cookbook that is "Joy" with a capital J and a scream of delight as I open the package.

 

Now for the new tool.

Take a jar or box (I like a jar because it is see-thru) and label it.

I put all three on mine - joy, happiness & new experiences.

I then put a pen & pads of notes inside for use.

I use purple for joy, yellow for happiness & green for new experiences

(but you may not be as anal retentive, picky, as I am).

 

Now, throughout the year I record my events.

On down days I will pull one or two & lift myself up reliving the events.

Then back in the jar they go.

On my birthday I'll recall my entire year &

celebrate the wonderful experiences I've had.

I'll start over with those as stepping stones to even higher platforms.

You may want to use your birthday or anniversary or Jan. 1st of each year. You choose.

 

So go, don't sit here reading. Start your joy jar now. Share the idea with someone you love.

It's a great way to teach children how to capture the bright side

& not wait for others to make their lives better.

It's on each of us to do that for ourselves.

                      

Here's my floor - may the JOY be yours! Marta