How to cultivate everyday joy in 2022!

Hi Parents,

     I truly hope that you enjoyed a healthy and joyful holiday season. As we wrap up the season of joy I keep wondering, how can we cultivate joy all year long, hold it as a value and teach it to our kids? 
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In our achievement-oriented culture it is easy to get trapped into only feeling joy when our kids
have accomplished something monumental like baby’s first steps, good grades or success on the sports field.

But joy doesn’t have to be sidelined just because a big moment isn't happening.  We can actually cultivate joy on a daily basis through awareness and practice.
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To get started here is a list of ways to cultivate everyday joy:

• Find Joy in Your Daily Interactions: The more we attend to the joy in the ordinary moments with our kids, the more we experience it, and the more our capacity for joy grows. 
• Slow Down: Pause, take a breath and look around for something joyful. Strung together 3-4 times a day means raising your joy quotient. Savor a sweet moment with your child or the smile of your teen watching a funny Tik Tok video. And then share it out loud with your kids.
• Appreciate Neutral: As a parent, sometimes finding joy is as simple as noticing what’s not wrong. Increase appreciation and gratitude for the fact that there isn’t a crisis.  Find joy when the tenor in your house is even, in life’s more neutral moments.

• Engage with Awe and Gratitude:  When you are feeling a negative emotion, try counter-balancing it with a positive one. Both awe and gratitude can help bring you out of a negative state.  Take a walk to admire something beautiful outside.  Think of something you are grateful for in your immediate presence like good health or a full belly. 

I can’t help but think that if we are all able to tap into more joy in our everyday lives, that we can lift the collective spirit of our communities that are challenged right now in so many ways.

Happy New Year!  May you have as much ease, peace and joy as you can cultivate in 2022!

Warmly,

Jenny

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