Find The Silver Linings

Are you feeling anxious or stressed about your health, employment status, financial uncertainty or even the persistent civil unrest in the world of today? Now more than ever, finding joy in your day-to-day experiences can have a significant impact on improving your quality of life and enhancing your mental well-being.

So how then, can we both individually and as a collective, spark joy to lift our own and each other's spirits to get through difficult times? 

Tips for finding joy in your own life

Find the “awe” moment every day:

Better known as the concept of experiencing wonder and amazement; researchers have found that if we take the time to notice the small, pleasurable moment in our day-to-day lives that we are more likely to increase our overall levels of optimism. Whether it’s watching the sun rise, reading a moving story or taking your treadmill outside for a change so that you can immerse yourself in nature; take the time to notice the things around you that you may have taken for granted. 

Develop a daily gratitude practice: 

It doesn’t have to be a big ordeal - simply think of 1 to 3 simple statements each day such as “I am grateful I have a bed to sleep in” or “I am grateful for my health.” Doing this, even during the most distressing times is a great way to help bring your circumstances into perspective, indirectly creating joy and keeping you grounded and optimistic. 

Tips for helping other experience joy

Volunteering:

Allowing you to connect with your community and make it a better place, even helping out with the smallest tasks can make a real difference to the quality of life for the people, animals and organisations in need. 

Compliment often:

You never know what someone else is going through, and what  difference a simple compliment or kind word could make to their day; so make an effort to give sincere admiration to the people around you. 

Be thoughtful online: 

Social media in particular, can be an especially removed and lonely place sometimes. Instead of falling into the trap of feeling bad about your life and yourself in comparison to others, focus on the ways in which you can spark joy online instead. Make an effort to be thoughtful in the content and messages you share, choosing to flood people’s feeds with inspiration and positivity instead. 

As you can see, experiencing joy, even in light of all the difficulties we are facing both personally and collectively, can be extremely powerful and should therefore be prioritised in as many of our daily activities as possible. 

Team Sudor