72. How to get Joy and Happiness

We often hear about ‘joy’ and how to live it. We wonder how to get joy and happiness. Joy is an overused word that has lost its intended meaning. The phrase “live your joy” has become a cliché. The critical thing to remember is that your Joy depends upon your mindset.

Getting Joy and Happiness means improving your life by living purposefully. It’s about actively shaping your situation to make it more enjoyable, leading to a happier, more satisfying life. This includes living actively for Jesus Christ by doing things you enjoy. Such as helping others, spending time with loved ones, feeling joy and happiness, and valuing them.

A Joyful Journey

Joy and happiness are not just about the destination; it’s about the journey. Especially for Christians, it’s about the lifelong journey in faith, hope, and love. The source of our happiness is entirely supernatural and eternal.

The goal is to live a life of enjoyment and discovery, following your God-given passions. Hard work might have helped you achieve your desired lifestyle, but maintaining it requires daily bravery. You must try to support your best life and fulfil what God has in store for you.

Having a sense of joy is living a fulfilled life. Joy is the satisfaction and contentment that comes from aligning with one’s values. Achieving personal goals also contributes to joy.

Joy is a sense of inner peace, wellness, completeness and happiness. Sustained joy arises when individuals feel they are on the right path and progressing toward their life’s purpose. For Christians, joy comes from obeying Christ and all he offers.

Joy is deeply personal and varies from person to person. For some, it might be found in a successful career. For others, it might be in nurturing relationships, creative expression, or contributing to a cause greater than themselves.

It’s important to note that joy leads to fulfilment, but is not a destination, but a state of being. It is achieved through the journey of personal and spiritual development. As you continuously strive to live authentically, faithfully and meaningfully, your joy will be full.

Live Life on Purpose

Understanding and practising purposeful living is essential for a happy and successful life. This means deciding what is important to you, working towards those goals, and sticking to them until they manifest.

Reaching your goals won’t happen by itself. You must think and live intentionally. The key is to work diligently towards your goals. Keep your eye on the end game and go for it with all your heart and might.

Purposeful living involves achieving specific goals that lead to success while maintaining overall health and personal development.

Success in purposeful living requires reaching your goals and carefully planning the effort to get them. This determination and commitment to planning and effort will ensure you achieve your desired success.

Mental Benefits of Mindfulness

What is Mindfulness?

Professor Mark Williams, former director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, states that mindfulness means knowing, moment by moment, what is going on inside and outside ourselves. He further states…

“It’s easy to stop noticing the world around us. It’s also easy to lose touch with how our bodies feel and end up living ‘in our heads’. We get caught up in our thoughts without noticing how they drive our emotions and behaviour.

An important part of mindfulness is reconnecting with our bodies and the sensations they experience. This means waking up to the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the present moment. That might be something as simple as the feel of a bannister as we walk upstairs.

Another important part of mindfulness is an awareness of our thoughts and feelings as they happen, moment to moment. It’s about allowing us to see the present moment. When we do that, it can positively change the way we see ourselves and our lives.”

Mindfulness and Mental Well-Being

Becoming more aware of the present moment can help us enjoy the world around us more and better understand ourselves. Mindfulness helps your mental well-being. The benefits of mindfulness include increased present-moment awareness, more effective thought management, and reduced stress and anxiety.

Professor Williams explains how mindfulness helps individuals recognise unhelpful thought patterns and avoid becoming entangled in them. By stepping back and seeing thoughts as mere “mental events,” people can prevent these thoughts from taking control.

The practice also aids in identifying stress and anxiety earlier, leading to better coping strategies. Furthermore, mindfulness is recommended by NICE as a preventive measure for recurrent depression.

Are you interested in mindfulness techniques or how to incorporate them into daily life? The first step to mindfulness is reminding yourself to notice your thoughts, feelings, body sensations, and the world around you.

Be aware of and appreciate your surroundings

Even as we go about our daily lives, we can notice the sensations of things. We can appreciate the food we eat and the air moving past our bodies as we walk. We can appreciate our surroundings. Even if it is bleak, look for the positive. All this may sound very small. But it has enormous power to interrupt the ‘autopilot’ mode we often engage in daily. Mindfulness can give us new perspectives on life.

Consistency

It can be helpful to pick a regular time – the morning journey to work or a walk at lunchtime – during which you decide to be aware of the sensations created by the world around you.

See with New Eyes

Trying new things. Such as sitting in a different seat in meetings or going to a new place for lunch. You can also help you notice the world in a new way.

Watch your Thoughts

Some people find it very difficult to practice mindfulness. As soon as they stop, thoughts and worries crowd in. It might be helpful to remember that mindfulness isn’t about making these thoughts go away. But rather about seeing them as mental events.

Imagine standing at a bus station and seeing ‘thought buses’ coming and going without having to get on them and be taken away. This can be very hard at first, but with gentle persistence, it is possible.

Some people find it easier to cope with an over-busy mind if they exercise gently.

Be Aware of Thoughts and Feelings.

To develop an awareness of thoughts and feelings, some people find it helpful to name them silently: “Here’s the thought that I might fail that exam”. Or, “This is anxiety.

Free yourself from the Past and Future.

You can practice mindfulness anywhere. Mindfulness can be beneficial if you realise that you have been “trapped” for several minutes in reliving past problems or “pre-living” future worries.

Different Mindfulness Practices

In addition to practising mindfulness in daily life, setting aside time for more formal mindfulness practice can be helpful.

Mindfulness meditation involves sitting silently and paying attention to thoughts, sounds, breathing sensations, or parts of the body. It consists of returning one’s attention whenever the mind starts to wander.

Mindfulness isn’t the answer to everything; try what works for you. There’s encouraging evidence for its use in health, education, prisons, and workplaces. But it’s essential to realise that research is still ongoing in these fields.

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”- – Aristotle – –

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I’m Paula Rose Parish — a former atheist of 21 years, Protestant pastor for over 40 years, and now a Catholic convert. After a powerful encounter where Jesus audibly called me to follow Him, my life was forever changed. I’ve ministered across Australia, the USA, and the UK, and today, I share my journey of faith, hope, and transformation.

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