🌿 10 Very Small, Simple, Easy Joys - Try This When You Just Can’t Anymore
A list to keep at your fingertips in these trying times.
🌿 Hello, lovely! I’m Nospheratt and this is Joy Every Week - a weekly quest to find joy in everyday things. You’re receiving this either because you subscribed or someone forwarded it to you. Enjoy! :) 🌿
Like many, many people, I’m having a hard time lately.
With everything.
Tired, overwhelmed, scared.
I’m guessing you may be going through the hard too. So today, we’re looking for the smallest, easiest joys we can find.
Because honestly, I can’t deal with anything else right now.
🌿 10 Very Small, Simple, Easy Joys
Doing nothing. Just sitting with the quiet, staring out the window and not thinking about anything for 10 minutes. The mere idea of it feels like the ultimate luxury, doesn’t it?
Staying in bed — 10 extra minutes. This also feels like such a decadent indulgence.
Listening to a song that makes you feel calm. I have a playlist for this, and I really recommend you make one for yourself. It really, really helps.
Writing yourself a tiny note that says It will be okay. And putting it somewhere were you’ll see it every day — ideally, several times a day.
Wearing something very soft and comforting.
Watering the plants. Looking for new leaves and sprouts. Smiling every time you find one.
The smell and feel of a fresh load of laundry. I know, this means you’d need to do laundry; but it has to be done anyway, you may as well enjoy it.
Reading a page of two of the book you’re currently reading. Or enjoying again a favorite scene from a comfort book.
Taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon. Or just snuggling in bed, if you can’t or don’t want to sleep. The transgression of allowing yourself to rest when you “should” be doing things is a giant, joyful fuck you to all the things that are stressing you right now.
Journaling about a happy memory. This won’t work when you’re deep in the pit of despair, but it’s an easy thing to do when you’re tired or overwhelmed — it will take your mind off your troubles for a bit, and help you connect with your joy.
🌿 This Week’s Quest - The Smallest Joys
Ideas & inspiration to find your joy.
1 - What are your 10 smallest joys?
Make a list of your small, simple, easy joys. The objective of this list is to serve as a guide when you’re lost, tired, overwhelmed; when you can’t deal with anything else and wish the world would stop for 10 minutes.
List at least 10 options, and be specific, if you can. Things you can do without much fuss, without much effort, without having to think a lot about it.
Remember that joy can take many forms. Quiet, simple things (like most of my list above) that fill your heart with contentment or help you feel calm can be part of your joy, too.
Finding ways to soften sadness or ease anxiety are also a form of joy, for me. As the painful thing I’m feeling diminishes, there is a part of me that connects with my joy. See if you can find that connection within yourself.
Keep the list where you can easily access it. Use it when you’re down, tired, overwhelmed.
2 - Create a playlist
Think about songs that calm you down, make you feel more centered, less jittery.
It can be difficult at first, but once you find a couple of options, it will be easier to remember others, or even look for similar songs that are new to you.
3 - Journal about a happy memory
Write about it, or write a poem inspired by it. Make a collage with photos. Draw or paint the scene.
My favorite method is creating a spread inspired by it, using images, text, quotes and color.
I’m making a video to show you how to do it — how easy it is, and how you can really take a break from everything while doing it. I’ll post it soon. 😊
📚Reads
➡️Despite Everything, We Are Still Here
Microjoys are accessible to us when we are present. But the paradox is that they can also occur as insights made clear only by looking backward. Microjoys ask that we find beauty in the seemingly mundane, but they also require us to hone the ability to accept life as it is and still find beauty wherever we are*.* These tiny joys live in the ordinary space of accepting and holding both this . . . and that; both past and present as truth. Like deep grief and brief moments of pure joy, or overwhelming chaos punctuated by intermittent points of calm. Tragic and peaceful. Large and small. This and that*,* at any time, can both be true.
Unavoidably, in life we will face difficulties. And when we do, the occasional moments of observing microjoys are profound gifts that allow us the respite we need to briefly come home to ourselves. The time to recognize that though we may be broken, we will become whole once again. Sometimes it is within the confines of two opposite truths that we find the deepest acts of grace. And when that time comes, because inevitably it will, we must learn to be in that middle space and still allow ourselves moments of reflection and reprieve.
I’m reading this book and loving it. Very recommended if you’re interested in finding joy everywhere.
🌿 That’s It For Today!
I am tired, the deep bone-tired that comes from existential crisis and can’t be solved with a night or twenty of sleep. Or rest. Or anything, really.
The world is burning, but we are still here.
The only way is through.
So we keep going.
Getting up every morning and doing it all over again.
Looking for the smallest, easiest joys.
Until next time. —Nospheratt 💚🌿
LovU. TXS
Exactly what I needed x