Welcome to the Small Steps Podcast. I'm your host, Amy Soon. I'm a nutritional therapy practitioner, blogger at Small Eats, author of Not At My Dastal Lunch, designer, and avid learner. In my nutrition practice, I help you cut through the health and wellness noise to find what works for you.
This podcast is here to educate, inspire, and empower you to grow, try new things, and live a life you truly feel good about one small step at a time. Each episode has small steps that you can try and see how they work for you. You can find all the show notes, small steps, and other episodes at small-eats.com slash podcast. Remember, the materials and content within this podcast are intended as general information only.
They are not to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Well, hello. Welcome back to another episode of the Small Steps Podcast. I am so glad you are here.
Thank you again for tuning in. It is episode 83, and we are talking all about noticing, feeling, and creating joy. Before we get into the podcast, I just wanted to say I really appreciate everyone's feedback about the podcast that have happened for probably like the last month and a half-ish. And no one has asked me about why we haven't done any interviews, but I really wanted to share and let you know what was going on behind the scenes.
I don't know, because it felt like something important to share. So if you are a regular listener of the podcast, the usual format has been solo show interviews, solo show interview, et cetera, et cetera, forever, except for this past January, which I focus on, intention setting. No one's been like, hey, what's going on? But I really thought it was important to share, because I actually wasn't planning to do too many more episodes for the next few months.
So I stopped requesting interviews to happen. I stopped reaching out to people, scheduling interviews, because I was trying to ramp things down to take a break ahead of getting married, which if you listen to one podcast with my friend Vanessa Chequio Lima, we talked about marriage and all that kind of stuff. So I was ramping down, because I was going to take a break and focus on that. Then Corona hit and everything changed.
So I felt the need to keep podcasting and keep sharing things, and also to provide resources that were helpful for people. Seemed a lot easier to do it myself, and because I could reach out to people fast enough. So it's just been me for a while. This is going to be the last episode of this big chunk of just me talking.
Next week, we are going to have guest interviews again, and we are going to get back to our normal alternating schedule. I didn't talk about it earlier, because I was just like, all right, we're doing it. And I don't know. I always go back and forth between how much I should, I should, and have your quotes share about behind the scenes kind of things and how much we're just like, yeah, this is what we're doing, because honestly, anyone said, where the hell are they?
No, like I said before. And as a structured person, as a person that likes patterns and routines and things like that, it felt to me very weird and strange. And I was letting you down, which I know I wasn't, by not following this format. And as this time has shown, we all have adjusted and pivoted and done our best.
And so that's what I did in the time. So this is a long intro to say, hey, next week we are going back to the alternating solo show and podcast format. Also, just so you know, some of the podcast episodes we'll talk about Corona, and some of them won't. I think we're all trying to figure out this balance is not the right word, but we're all trying to figure out this way of existing in the world during this time, in which we acknowledge what's going on.
But we don't spend literally every second of every day talking about it, because we all know. Like we all know we live in this time. We all know that things are different. And we are all still really trying to wrap our brains on what that means.
So next week's episode, you'll hear me and my guests talk more about it in more of a direct way. Then other interviews in the future, we may not talk about it very often, either because it wasn't relevant or because we felt like, why I brought that guest on in the first place, which was not to talk about Corona was more important. So there's this, I don't know, this weird balance. I wanted to share that with you just so that you know, and you might hear, because I've banked up a few episodes for the next month or so, you might hear some episodes later, like I don't know when this is gonna end.
So we may be talking about Corona after things have put lifted or changed. I don't know if that's really gonna happen, because I don't know when all of this, no one knows when this is all gonna shift. But I don't know, just felt like talking about more of the backend, housekeeping things in the podcast, for a little bit, in case you're curious. So I mentioned earlier, this is all about noticing, feeling, and creating joy.
Why would I talk about joy at this time? Like that might feel strange to some people. We're in the middle of Corona, lots of heart things are happening, lots of plans have changed. There probably is naturally a lot of grief, there's a lot of anxiety, there's a lot of stress.
We've been talking about the stress, the anxiety, how to take care of yourself, and a really important part of taking care of yourself is also acknowledging the joy that is happening in your life right now. Life is a lot of aunts. It's not a binary. There are a lot of quote to good things, and a lot of quote bad things.
There are a lot of things in between. And I think it's really important to figure out how do we acknowledge that there are good things happening, there are joyous things happening in our lives, whether it's during Corona times, or during non-Coronant times, in the midst of stuff, like in the midst of things potentially being hard, in the midst of things being unknown, and unsettling. Yes, there is also joy. Joy is something that I've actually been working on as a focus personally for the past, I don't know, like five or six months, and it can be a really hard thing to notice, feel or create for longer than a few seconds in hard times, or if you come from a history of trauma, whatever trauma that is, or if you've been hardwired to live in a place of fear, or you're just in a sense of anxiety or something like that all the time.
If you're so used to living in that anxiety state, you're used to living there and feeling there, and not usually as used to feeling other things on the other side of the spectrum, or in order to make sure that you don't feel that fear as intensely, you kind of clip that off to a point, which also means you're clipping off all of the other extent that you can feel feelings as well. So noticing, feeling and creating our joy can be powerful at any time, especially now as a tool for our healing. And it can take work, like a lot of things, like I've been focusing on working on it for five or six months. Do I have some kind of like sense of completion or like achievement?
No to the completion. Yes to some feelings of like being better at it, but I am by no means a master at it. So it takes work, it takes time, it takes like awareness and retraining to see it, recognize it, and it also accepts that you are able to feel, access and have joy. Two of the most important things that I really wanna leave with you through the show, which I have seen in myself and with other people around me, is that you are allowed to feel joy.
Please give yourself the permission to feel joy. And that feeling and having joy is a right. You don't need to qualify it or earn it or squash it or hide it, it's yours. You're allowed to have it.
Some immediate thoughts or feelings can come up to those two statements that may feel really uncomfortable, like that's a bunch of lies, that's a bunch of bullshit, and that's not true. And know that that's totally okay. You could have spent most of your life not feeling joy or feeling it in a more consistent way. So it can be a really weak or pretty non-existent muscle that isn't used to getting attention.
There could be larger patterns or past experiences that are quote, trying to protect you from getting hurt. And those can actually be blocking you, like I said earlier, from feeling a full spectrum of feelings. Maybe you only are able to feel really intense, heavy feelings and you feel like feeling lighter feelings is a lot harder. And know that that's okay and normal.
And as we continue to focus on that and prioritize how do we feel all feelings, not just some feelings, that can be really helpful. Also, I wanna say that this episode is not to bypass any negative feelings. It's not just to be like, oh, well, let's just feel joy and let's fuck everything else. Like we just wanna feel joy.
All these negative feelings are bad or low energy or whatever. No, it's some food for thought and provides small steps on how to make joy happen or increase your awareness to know that it happens more often. How can we start to feel beyond the strong negative emotions that might run the show of our lives and how can we expand into feeling more than just that more often? Also know that depending on what time of life that you are having right now as a person and in the midst of Corona, if you don't feel like you are fully able to feel or access this right now with what's going on, I completely understand that.
Know that you're the expert on you. And if you just don't have the energy to do that right now, that is okay. This can be here for you whenever you want, whether you have a little bit or a lot more space to dedicate to it. So before we get into how to notice, feel and create joy, I wanna acknowledge the misconceptions about joy that I work through and have worked through all the time.
Number one, being that joy is this big thing that should just smack you upside the face. Like it should be so noticeable that you could feel it. It's big, it's overwhelming, it's wonderful. It reminds you of all those things that you've ever seen on any kind of movie or television program or YouTube video.
That's what it is. Yes, that can be what it is, but that is definitely not what joy looks like all the time. Joy can be smaller, Joy can be more subtle and can live in day-to-day moments and not just in these big moments that we've been socialized to associate with joy, like celebrations, winning something, going on a vacation. Joy shows up in all sorts of ways, spaces and places.
And so I think that is something that catches up people a lot, is that they only have one definition of what joy should look like. And so they're like, oh, well, if it doesn't hit that one definition, then like, this isn't joy. Not necessarily true. Another misconception is a feeling of joy should last forever or a really long time.
And that is not necessarily true. I think we think if we don't feel this big, overwhelming feeling of joy that just like carries throughout our whole day, that any ephemeral feelings of joy that maybe last a few seconds or a few minutes or maybe just a few hours don't matter that thing that you joy is as impactful, not necessarily true. Especially if you're working on expanding feeling this in the first place, it could take a little bit more work, time and attention to make that joy feel more real to you or for it to last longer. Because there could be deeper things, patterns, your personal history, other trauma, that could be blocking your joy and making it feel unsafe.
It could also be that joy because it's such a newer thing for you to recognize, your body might say that it's unsafe because it's not the usual thing that it's used to, which is a lot of fear, stress, panic or anxiety. Another misconception is that joy depends on my interactions with other people. That joy is something that I only do with other people, like I do something for someone else and they're happy there for that brings me joy. Again, not always the case.
You can definitely notice and feel joy from things that you do, things that you see, interactions that you take, that involve people, but they don't always need to involve someone. You can be engaged with something just with you or in nature or something else that brings you joy that does not require another person. Another misconception, which I work through all the time, is that feeling joy should be easy, right? Like it seems like it's easy.
It should quote in heavy air quotes be easy, like it's supposed to be happy and joyous. So why isn't easy? Because like I've said before, based on what you lived through, based on any patterns that you develop over your life to keep you safe, traumas you have experienced, also feeling joy could be outside of what you've been socialized in. And so that can feel really hard or fleeting to feel joy.
It could definitely take a little bit of extra attention, love and effort to work through these things to feel joy. And the more that you exercise it, the more that you're gonna be able to access joy a little bit easier. And please know that this is not your fault or something to beat yourself up for. Because this just happens.
Patterns happen, traumas happen, being always prepared to keep yourself safe. It's really important to keep yourself safe. Safety is the base thing that we all need to operate in some kind of way. So if safety overrides feeling joy, that's a little how that makes complete sense.
And as you recognize that things are maybe safer than you thought or safer than it was at the time that you created those patterns to keep you safe, how can you start to access that joy and work on really feeling it? And that takes work. And so feeling joy doesn't have to be super easy. Another thing that especially has come up a lot during this time, the Corona time, is that if I feel joy during hard times, that that's wrong, that I should feel guilty about that.
Like I said earlier, you're definitely allowed to feel joy at any and all times. This is not an either or binary situation. This can be an and situation. You can feel joy and things can be difficult for yourself or other people.
And you're also allowed to share that joy too. There's nothing that says you need to keep this joy all to yourself and if you share it, then all of a sudden like you're a shitty person. And it's also really important to consider where you're sharing that joy and who you share it with. But that doesn't mean it's not worth sharing at all.
I think it's just worth, it's taking a beat to yourself and saying, hey, is this the appropriate place for the appropriate person right now in this moment based on what's happening in their lives, to share this joy? It might be the right time, it might be fine, or it definitely may not be the right time. Maybe your joy unintentionally triggers them and may not be the thing that would be the most helpful for them right now. So it just takes a little bit of thought and a little bit of like, oh, is this what I wanna share right now?
Is this who I wanna share this with? Is this something that is appropriate for them to hear right now? Maybe they're going through a hard time. You know, there are all sorts of things to think about of like, is this the right time?
Not that it's wrong to feel your joy, but maybe just consider who you're sharing it with and why you're sharing it and see what happens. See what's the best thing to do with that person in that interaction at that time. So just thinking about context a little bit more, but knowing that you're still totally allowed to feel joy even during hard times. So now that I've talked about those misconceptions, it's important to ask where the hell do we start?
With noticing, feeling, and creating joy. While there is no like particular linear process per se, you could enter this at any time, for my brain it's easier to start with a noticing. So when we start with noticing, we can start to basically increase our awareness around joy, where it could be, what it could look like, seeing where it is, where it's not, how it feels, also all the things. I think it can be really important to ask yourself, what are things that bring you joy?
If you're a journaler, maybe you wanna write this out, or maybe you just wanna mull this over in your minds, talk it out, whatever works for you. So what brings you joy? I'm gonna throw out a bunch of things. These might not resonate with you at all, but these are the things that came up in the time I had, like what could bring you joy?
Do flowers or plants bring you joy? Do hugs bring you joy? Getting real mail that's addressed to you that actually is for you and not some weird political ad or like fake advertisement. Talking with loved ones, drinking or eating certain foods, whether because you love them or because they're attached to certain memories with your family or your culture.
Going for a walk or moving your body in any way, dancing? Laughing over a funny joke, being with your pets, seeing other pets or animals in the world or on the internet or on your phone, watching a TV show or a movie, any kind of memento or possession that you have, a memory of a great time, looking at any photos, a certain holiday that's important to you or the people around you. Also, it's important to think about and reflect on have you had any moments of joy today or the last few days? Can you bring them up in your mind?
Like what was involved in that? It might be helpful to list out the things that bring you joy. One of the things that you've experienced in the past few days so that you have a reminder that one, you do actually know what joy is, and joy can be a slightly different definition for everyone, and that you have tangible examples of it to remind yourself that, hey, you do know what it is and that you can actually feel joy. If you're finding it hard to notice any joy from the past or any period of time, know that that's okay.
It's definitely also not a reason to beat up on yourself. You can view that as an invitation to start noticing now in the present moment, what brings you joy, and the more that you bring awareness and attention to it, the more likely you are to start finding and realizing the joy that you have in your life. Again, like I said before, this is another muscle that might not be used, so it might take a little bit more noticing at first and that's completely fine. And as we notice joy, then we can also see the opportunity of what it feels like to us.
So feeling joy, it's also really helpful to think about what does it physically feel like in your body? Joy probably has some kind of physical feeling for you, and to know that it can also feel different at different times with different situations. So when you feel it, does it feel warm? Is there a feeling of fullness?
Is it a swell in your chest? Is it like a buzzy feeling in your head? Is it a rush? Does it feel different at different times?
What were the differences? Was it a different physical feeling? Was it a different situation? Maybe reflect on that on a journal or just in your mind right now.
And again, if you can't recall them as much, know that it's okay and that we can view this as an invitation to notice more and see as it comes up in our day to day, what it looks like and how it looks in our body and how it looks in the world. So maybe for the next few days, start noticing where you're feeling positive feelings and what they feel like. And if you do feel them and when you feel them, can you start to feel them just a little bit more and savor them just a little bit more? As a personal note, I can feel joy.
I say this to hopefully resonates you as well. And sometimes because my own patterns and things that I work through, my automatic reaction, my patterns want to just squash or diminish it because it feels unsafe unfamiliar compared to all of this stress and anxiety muscles that are just like, are we running the show here? So know that if you have that reaction, figure out how you can feel those feelings a little bit more. Can you let yourself sit in them and enjoy them?
And can you notice what comes up? If anything comes up, if there's any diminishing or splashing, if there's any distrust or negative self-talk? And are there any other things that can help you feel joy more? If you notice that comes up for you, what could be helpful?
Could sharing it with other people that you trust to be helpful, like spreading the joy? Do you need to have a moment just all to yourself to really like block everything all that's going on right now? You know, phone notifications, emails, people talking to you and just really have a moment to savor it and enjoy it and maybe like replay it in your mind or just have a little bit more time? Would journaling about it be helpful?
Would putting a hand over the place that you feel joy in your body help you feel it more? Maybe taking some deep breaths, maybe staying in that moment if it's happening like right now, maybe you're connecting with something or someone and you just want to stay in that moment just a little bit longer as much as you can before, like everything else comes. Is there any internal dialogue that you need to say to yourself to give yourself permission to feel that, to maybe talk it through to stay in the present moment? If you are a writer or recorder, I think writing a recording or joy whether it's in the moment or after, depending how it works for you, could be really helpful, especially this is a newer thing to notice or a harder thing to feel.
Also consider sharing the joy with people that you love and see if they want to share that too. Sharing joy is really infectious and if you're like, hey, I want to feel joy and maybe like, hey, that feels really awesome. Maybe we should do this together. Sharing in other people's joy and holding space for that and being excited to share your joy with someone else and hearing them and hearing their joy as well can be another way to really help you grow this by doing this in community with people that you love and that you trust.
Another thing that's really important to mention and can be very challenging is to feel the joy and also not judge it. So not judge it for not living up to expectations on how long it lasts or how short it is. Joy does not need to last a million years and it won't be the only time that you feel joy. It comes in many different shapes, and sizes and lasts different amounts of time and that's okay.
I think there's a lot of scarcity that can come up and be like, oh, I feel like joy and you just squeeze it for all that's worth. That's based on the idea that joy may not come again so I need to enjoy it as much as I can. And that's not necessarily true. You've felt so much joy over your life or have had experience where joy could be more accessible to you in your life based on interactions with friends or family members or the things that you like that create joy from the big things and the small things.
You have had more opportunities and those opportunities will still continue. So as much as you can prolong a little bit of the joy when you feel it, basically like don't diminish it, but if it doesn't last 10 minutes and it may only last like five minutes, that's okay. Because it's going to happen again, it might look different or feel different or again last a different amount of time, but no, that's okay. And it can also take up time to build some trust around feeling it and appreciating it and noticing it and that's okay.
So like I mentioned earlier, noticing feeling and creating joy isn't always a linear process. I feel like this progression can be something that logically makes more sense but in the real life practical applications, it may not work like this all the time for you. And no, that is okay. I think that the basis of becoming more aware to then feel stuff and to notice stuff can be really helpful.
And I think that helps build on how you can create joy. Creating joy is a really important part of it because noticing is really helpful. Feeling it is another thing that's really helpful. And when we create joy, we make this a more active process and we fold that into the ways in which we take care of ourselves and the way that we also help heal ourselves, which is extremely important.
And know that creating joy can feel hard. It can feel hard at times, especially if there are things going on in your day-to-day life in your family unit, your people around you, or things going on in the world, like Corona, how you are the people around you are affected by oppression related to Corona, just in general. It can feel really hard to connect with or make space for that. And that's okay, it could be right now.
We're gonna talk about how to create joy. And know that like with everything, creating joy can mean different things to different people and can feel different in different times and circumstances. It's definitely a personal act or practice and it also can involve others. Another thing that I didn't talk about, another joy misconception that I wanna mention here is the misconception that joy is something that happens to you, rather than something that you can create.
And that you're just kind of waiting for the joy to like come to you somehow. And while external things or people or other actions can definitely bring you joy, I think creating joy can be super healing and very helpful as we move through life. We kind of built this foundation, right? We've noticed joy, we have felt joy, and now the next level is how can we create joy?
So were there any other things that you listed on your joy list that were things that you do, that were active things or things that you're more involved in rather than things that you're receiving? If there isn't anything that you wrote on that previous list, consider writing a list of things you already enjoy doing that you have in the past and remember that those can be big or small things. So examples of ways to create joy. Is it having a cup of tea or your favorite beverage at a certain time of day?
Is it making a meal that you enjoy? Is it being with people that you love in any way during this time? Again, isn't it moving your body, going for a walk with a loved one or a pet? Is it reading a book?
Is it creating anything to whatever level of creativity and skill that you like and enjoy? Is it gardening or taking care of plants? Is it giving back somehow? Is it being in nature?
Is it just letting yourself loose and do something fun and silly that the little version of you would have loved? What are those things? Maybe take a moment to general or fuck down that or think on that. And again, I want to say like if you're feeling stuck or this list of things doesn't resonate with you, know that that's totally okay.
When I was going through this process of figuring out like how could I create joy? I was feeling really stuck because of things that I was like, oh yeah, these are my go to things or these you say my go to things. They didn't feel like joy anymore. An important thing to note is for some people out there, this might resonate and I really want to mention it.
Based on deeply internalized capitalism, there's also can always be this impulse of basically taking something that you love that makes you joyful and turning it into a thing that makes money and commodifying it and figuring out a way to fold it into your business or make it into a business or something like that. While that can be some level of joy, it can also suck the joy out of it. I think I mentioned it on the show before, but when I started small eats, it started as a food blog because I loved making food. That was something that I was doing to create joy in my life.
I was making food, I was making recipes, I was photographing them, I was having so much fun. Probably about five years into doing that, I started to get pretty burnt out because it didn't feel as joy as anymore. It felt like a job. I wanted it to be a job, so I did that kind of on purpose, but I didn't realize at the time by doing that, I was basically sucking a lot of fun out of something that I really enjoyed and was creative and really helped me process and think about things and was like fun and happy and joyful.
I sucked a lot of joy out of it. And while cooking is still fun and interesting to me on some level, for a long time, it has not been the same level of joy that I had when I first started to cook for fun and figure that out and like if you had a fun challenge or something that I really enjoyed and found cathartic. With anything that you find joyous, I do wanna add a side note that I highly recommend that you find something that you just keep as a personal thing for you. Like yeah, if you do something like you love knitting and you make scarves for your friends and you give them to them, that's if that brings you joy, go for it.
But please don't think like, oh yeah, I'm gonna start, and then I'm gonna start my own Etsy shop and blah blah blah. That can totally suck the joy out of certain things. It could not, like some people really love what they do and do what they love and they live that life. And that's great.
And there are also people that if they commodify the thing that they love, it starts to feel as fun. So I just wanna also put that out there that please start with you and keep it with you first. As far as like, yes, you can do stuff for other people, but like keep it as a personal practice that you do for yourself that can help other people as well. Please don't commodify it.
Please don't put any capitalist stuff on it right now. Just focus on the healing that you need for you to focus on that first. Cause that's gonna be really, really helpful. Especially if you are someone that struggles with joy because the more that you commodify stuff but less joy you're gonna be able to feel.
Cause you're like, oh well, I turned that into a job that kind of stuck the fun out of it. Or I turned that into a skill that kind of stuck the fun out of it. So how can it stay something creative and fun and for you and with lower stakes? Whatever that is.
That was all to say. If you didn't have anything on a list that really resonated with you, maybe consider creating a new list of things to try. And knowing that if you try stuff and like things may not work, that's okay. Like this is all an experiment.
It can also be the whole process of trying to figure stuff out. Could be really fun. And know that it can take some time to reconnect as you're experimenting to figure out what really creates joy for you right now. And that's okay.
Also, I think it's important to know that creating joy can be pretty subtle. Sometimes it happens where when we do consistent acts of self care for us that are really supportive in whatever ways that those look like, that things can just start to feel easier. Things can feel a little bit less like difficult or like we're pushing through this big slog and things can just open up a little bit more. And then when things open up a little bit more, then it can be easier to feel joy, whether that's conscious or subconscious.
Also creating joy could mean some really hashtag adult shit of making deliberate decisions to make more time to create the joy. So that could be shifting your schedule, creating more boundaries around things that may be taking a lot of time, getting help to do that and to clear up space and saying no to certain things. It could also mean investing in things or learning more things that could make you feel uncomfortable at the time. And know that it might not always feel super joyous to make space for joy, and that's okay.
Another misconception that probably comes up is that creating joy and we're creating space for joy should inhabit air quotes, should feel joyous, and if it doesn't, there's something wrong with you. Sometimes it bullshit is not always the most fun or what Dr. T says a lot. Sometimes creating liberation doesn't always look liberatory in the moment, but it actually is.
So that's what I think about when I think like sometimes creating joy may not look liberatory or joyous in the moment, but it's going to be joyous. So creating boundaries could feel super fucking uncomfortable, but creating that boundary to have more time for yourself or have more space to think or have more help or something could bring you a lot of joy and is super adult and can be really uncomfortable. So something to think about as well. Also know that you don't have to create joy on a schedule.
Like I'm talking about this in a very systematic way, like clearing up your schedule for time to create joy. If you're not like a scheduled person, you're like, oh, every Monday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. This is my joy time.
If that doesn't work for you, please recognize that for yourself and figure out other ways that you can create joy. Maybe if you recognize your enjoy in the moment, how can you lean into that moment or lean a little bit further so that you can access that joy that's very close and prioritize that? How can you stay focused in that moment in that time and not get distracted by all the other stuff out there that can take you out of that joy? Things to consider.
So do what works for you as always, however it works for you, and make space for joy and hold onto it as you can as it comes up. Also wanted to mention that I'm not an expert on joy at all. I'm still definitely working through and learning to feel it, notice it, access it, and there's an awesome person who I've talked to you on the podcast before who really embodies joy and sharing joy in talking about joy. So if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about Shorin Eskandani.
She was on episode 30, that will be in the show notes, and since we recorded that episode, she has her own podcast that talks about all of the cool stuff that she talks about on her Instagram and in her coaching, which is called the Whole Hearted Coaching, The Podcast, but I highly recommend that you check out Shorin because Shorin will also talk about one joy because that's her jam and she's awesome and amazing and listening to her, you feel so joyous and happy listening to her and she talks to you, talk about other things around that in particular. So if you want additional resources, I would highly recommend Shorin Eskandani of Whole Hearted Coaching, all of her information will be in the show notes. Small steps for noticing, feeling, and creating joy. I think the first thing before you even start any noticing, feeling, or creating, is checking with yourself on how your joy is.
How do you feel about it? Do you feel like you can access it? Do you feel like it's a struggle? Do you feel like you really need it a lot?
Do you feel like you are good with it right now? Like where is, what's the status for you in your life right now? When you have that baseline, start noticing the joy in your life and whatever ways, shapes, forms, things that come then. What can it look like to you?
And when it happens, check in to see how and where you feel it. So we're moving on to the feeling part. Notice when you're in the joy and see if you can savor it just a little bit longer. And know that if this something that you're working on, even, yeah, it's a tiny bit, is better than nothing.
Consider ways you can create more joy in your day to day and try to make more space for joy. This can be making lists that I mentioned, lists that you haven't tried and you wanna try. And if you want something that's more day to day, consider setting daily intentions to create more joy or opening the day with this question. How can I create more joy in my day to day?
I would also invite you to record the joy in your day so that you can see that it's more places and more shapes and sizes than you thought before. And also, as always, with all of these shows, please extend yourself so much kindness and compassion as you are figuring out, noticing, feeling, and creating joy and the feelings that come up around maybe any difficulties or hard times or other things that make it feel hard to notice or feel joy on a regular basis. You are doing the best that you can and the past versions of you also doing the best that you can. And if it's difficult to notice, feel, or create joy, know that you are not alone.
This is a conversation I have with friends all the time about how it's really difficult to do this. So know that this isn't, for all people, this isn't always the easiest thing to do. And that is totally okay. That is it for this episode.
I would love to know what you thought about the show. If noticing, feeling, or creating joy is easy for you, fun for you, maybe if there's something that you do that helps you create joy and you wanna share it, let me know. Have you have on Instagram at small undercore-eats? And if you enjoyed the show, please consider leaving a rating and review on iTunes or sharing the show any episode you want on Instagram and tag me at small understore-eats.
So I can say thank you and love to know what you thought. So next week, reminder, we will be back with another interview show and then we'll go back to our normal format. So I'm excited to share all those fun conversations with you too. Until next week, remember, you can do this once more subject time.