A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22
I once read an article that said science has shown that smiling increases the happy hormones in your body. If you just physically smile 10x in a row, your happy hormones kick in and replace the negative ones.
Even Solomon tells us that a joyful heart is medicine to the bones.
Learning to be responsible for your own sense of well being, your sense of contentment and the ability to thrive is one of the most foundational aspects of flourishing over a lifetime.
In my mid-mothering life when several of my children were teens, I realized I had become a bit weary and dry and grumpy—not the legacy I wanted to leave. Joy, joyfulness or rejoice (be joyful) appears 430 times in scripture. Evidently, it is quite important from God’s point of view for us to cultivate it. When a person feels “good” about life and has a sense of centered purpose and well being, they are much more likely to thrive in life.
One time, I was teary eyed from pressures and messes in our house. My son said, “Mama, please just chill. When the house is messy, we will clean it and it will get messy again. No big deal—but when you are sad, we are sad. And when you are happy, we are on top of the world.
I have realized over the years that “guarding my heart, because it is the place the well springs of my life” are coming from is essential to my maturity and success in living by ideals that require such a cost. It is essential to those in my home so that I model contentment and joy in my every day life.
Planning for the year ahead, be sure to make specific plans for your own well-being and joy. Lighten up. plan joy, to laugh, to create some deeply pleasurable experiences because it is good for our health and it gives our children emotional health and strength as well.
Input is essential, considering all the output that goes on in your life.
*I regularly find time to meet a good friend for coffee once a week—the type who you laugh with, share all things, enjoy time together.
*My morning tea, candles and music start me off well every day. (and my 10:30 coffee, and 3 o’clock tea time), quiet time, and a good book to read. Regularly writing in a gratitude journal.
*Going hiking, walking in the mountains or in Oxford with a close friend or Darcy, often..
*Rocking one of my squishy, warm grandchildren.
Little things: Dancing to music for exercise when snowing outside, lipstick, big earrings, always music everywhere all the time. Saturday morning walks on the old Victorian house streets with a bestie, sleeping in later than normal at least once a week, favorite girlie movie nights, eating out so I don’t have to cook. Sitting outside by our fireplace at nights watching the sun go down, sharing it with a friend.
What makes you joyful?