Hi Friends,

What brings you joy?

Some of you may know immediately. For others, you may have no idea… and that’s ok. I would start by giving yourself some grace, but then I would start to brainstorm and reflect on what brings you joy! Joy is such an important part of life and I feel it all too easily gets pushed to the waste side for the “more important things.” And especially with everything going on in the world right now… now is the perfect time to find the JOY!

I really appreciate other peoples’ experiences and recommendations on what works for them, so I’m going to offer a couple different avenues to assist you in generating more joy. Brendon Burchard gives a great analogy of an energy plant… just as an energy plant doesn’t have energy, it generates energy. I would like to take this analogy and apply it to joy as well: Just like you have to generate energy, you have to generate joy.

MAKE A JOY LIST

This can be a list in your phone, in your calendar book, wherever you can look at it daily. This is a simple list of all the things that bring you joy.

My Joy List:

• utilizing essential oils, herbs, and tea
• blasting some upbeat music
• dancing to said music
• moving– walking, yoga, tai chi
• calling a friend or family member
• going for a walk
• saying out loud all the things I appreciate
• cuddling my dog or cat (they aren’t necessarily besties to allow both at once…yet)
• reading about faith and mindset

MAKE A “MAKE ME LAUGH” PHOTO ALBUM

This is recommended by Brendon Burchard and with today’s smart phones I think this is such a brilliant idea! Go through your photos and videos and create a separate album purely to make you smile and laugh.

My Make Me Laugh Album Includes:

• our dog, Zeus
• our cat, Chip
• all our nieces & nephews
• my sisters, besties, and road trips 
• of course my husband

MAKE A “PUMP ME UP” PLAYLIST

This is a recommendation from Rachel Hollis. She suggests creating a musical playlist of your favorite music to get you pumped up for your day. She mentions she’ll be listening to her playlist before she goes onstage at one of her many events.

While listening to exciting music is awesome, I prefer to take it one step further and dance/ move/ sing along. I’ve danced the majority of my life, and while I may not dance in a studio or on a dance team anymore, you just can’t stop dancing. Marie Forleo also says, “movement is magic” and dancing to music is so healing- for the entire mind, body, and spirit. I would have to say, I 100% agree with her.

My Pump Me Up Playlist Includes:

• Andy Grammar- Honey, I’m Good
• Ariana Grande- 7 Rings
• George Ezra- a variety
• Girl Talk- a variety
• Songs from The Greatest Showman
• Gusttavo Lima, Lenny, Dyland- Balada 
• Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull- Dance Again
• Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, Justin Bieber- Despacito- Remix 
• Maroon 5- a variety 
• Shakira- Waka Waka
• Tiesto, Icona Pop- Let’s Go
• And a bunch more… 

I love how every person could do these three suggestions and have something completely different! You can make these lists work for you, and only you! I encourage you to reflect on what helps you generate joy in your life. And I know the more you incorporate external avenues to help bring joy to you, it’ll be easier to generate the joy yourself.

It is however, completely possible, sometimes you may need to mix and match items from your lists. Sometimes one thing from my joy list may just not cut it… I’m human, with human emotions. But if you layer up on a couple different avenues or items, the joy has a better chance of increasing and snowballing. Hoping you can Bring The Joy this season.

With faith, hope, and love,

Emily Kappelman

*Photo Credit: Amanda Sengbusch