Your Inventory of Joy

April 16, 2021

I love great food! The whole experience of even remembering a divine visit to a beach side restaurant on Prince Edward Island; ordering, anticipating and then sitting down to enjoy the aromas and tastes of a large bowl of fresh seafood chowder with a fresh baked biscuit brings me joy! I close my eyes and I can see and smell and taste it still. Mmmm! It has been 6 years since I had that bowl of seafood chowder and just the thought of it makes me want to return for another bowl of bliss!

And so it goes…

I wish for you, great gastronomic experiences. One of the ways I make sure I get these great experiences is that I plan for them. We make a monthly menu and include lots of items we love to eat, and a few dinners we would like to try. There are so many great recipes to try online, as well as your favourites from your childhood and young adulthood. What do you love to eat? Put it on your menu, and then put the ingredients for it on your shopping list – then schedule the time to make it. We choose more elaborate meals for weekends when we will have time to enjoy preparing them.

What else brings you joy?

Think of aromas that bring you joy, and not just food, though food is wonderful! If eating is the only activity that brings us joy we are all going to have difficulties keeping healthy, especially those of us who have difficulties losing the weight we gain. I love the smell of jasmine, lilacs, a cedar chest, the woods after a rain, autumn, cinnamon, baking bread, and clothes fresh off the clothesline. Close your eyes for a moment and think about what smells bring you joy.

One of the ways you can increase the joy in your life is to take the time to make a list of everything that brings you joy. To make this easier I have created an Inventory of Joy, which you can find in the Resources section of the dropdown menu. I encourage you to use this resource to create your own Inventory of Joy. Categories include: the smell of…, the taste of…, the feeling of…, the sight of…, the sound of…, as well as favourite things to do, and a list of activities that help you just Be. Another category you could include are books or blogs or magazines you like to read.

What do you do once you have finished your Inventory of Joy, you start living it! I challenge you to choose to do at least one item on your list each day so you are living with More Joy. It won’t take a lot of time, but it will take a little bit of effort each day to remember to do it. Link it to something you already do each day to help you remember. I usually do something from my Inventory of Joy after dinner, it is part of my winding down at the end of the day. Drinking hot chocolate, sitting by the fire and listening to great music are three things I do regularly to bring me joy when the weather is cold or rainy outside.

Please comment below to tell me how you are choosing to live with More Joy each day. I look forward to hearing from you!

Make it a great day!

Velvet

Living with More Joy