***Do You Want More Joy?

Do you want more joy in life? Who doesn't!

Most of us have experienced moments of joy. Yet, there are many people are walking around habitually sad, depressed, anxious, stressed, worried, angry, burned out, shut off, or numb. Is it possible to have more joy in life? The answer is a resounding, "Yes!" No matter where you are on the continuum of joy, it is possible for you to improve your well-being and joy. By following these key seven steps, you can increase your level of joy in this complex experience we call life.

1. Choose Joy
Many religions and spiritual teachings instruct that joy is an inner quality. The belief is that at the core of each person lies calm, radiant joy. If indeed at the core of every person lies joy itself, then the process of experiencing joy is an inte
ally directed, self-allowed state. In other words, joy is a choice. There is no problem to be solved first. There is no event, person, or anything exte
al that can provide the joy that you are searching for. There is nothing to accomplish, achieve or attain before becoming worthy of feeling joy. Joy is not something you can earn. You do not have to be popular, thin, rich, good enough, nice enough, or even pretty enough to have this feeling of joy. Individually we allow, or disallow joy.

2. Focus on JoynIf joy is every person's birthright, why don't we all feel joy most of the time? For starters, we have taught ourselves, with much repetition, to focus on things that make us feel worse. We have become addicted and accustomed to feeling bad about ourselves. Sure, we may say we want to feel happy, but the behaviors we practice don't bring us any closer to joy. We tolerate stress and worry, cling to unhappy thoughts, and don't question our self-critical attitudes. The stickiness of feeling badly is quite interesting. Instead of quickly removing attention from something that feels painful, we remain there. It is like having our hand on a hot burner and not removing it. While our hand sizzles, our thoughts play with the pain. We question whose fault it is that our hand is currently on the burner, how to blame and hurt that person, or how to blame ourselves for having this experience. The simplest course of action seems to be removing the hand from the burner, thereby feeling better instantly.

3. Shift Your Attentio

When we encounter a difficult or unpleasant life experience, we naturally feel anxiety, frustration, anger, worry, or some other distressing emotion. Those emotions are a useful inner guidance system because they tell us quite clearly what we do not want to feel or experience. Emotional pain is a big clue to move on to something that feels better, looks better, and sounds better. However, instead of gaining the wisdom from our emotions and then moving toward creative life-enhancing solutions, we remain focused within the sticky negative emotion. We worry and stress about the issue, pick at the problem, and review it hundreds of times. We have a natural tendency to conjure up the worst-case scenario. Your responsibility is to consciously turn your attention toward what you want. Imagine a preferred outcome and dwell on that possibility with all your heart and love.

4. Think Better ThoughtsnYou can't control circumstances outside of yourself. Life is full of experiences. But you can, with practice, decide what goes on inside. In each moment you can choose what you want to think about, what you wish to imagine, and what you choose to feel. If you are not thinking self-supportive thoughts, you can choose again. You always have the "freedom to choose" a slightly better thought or imagine a better outcome. Ask yourself, "What can I think or do in this moment, while I'm feeling unhappy to allow myself to allow more joy then I am currently experiencing?

5. Practice, Practice, PracticenLea
ing to become joyful and feeling good takes time and practice. Joy is a decision, made repeatedly, and one that must be supported with thoughts and actions. It may be a daily, or even hourly, choice to remind yourself that increasing your joy is your primary conce
in life. You alone are responsible for creating your experience. Teaching yourself to stay in present time and to focus on what you want (instead of worrying) is a gradual process. Yet, it is possible to learn how to remove your attention away from disruption, anger, worries and stress, and instead place focused and excited attention on new desired outcomes. You determine how much time you spend playing in the land of feeling good or the land of feeling bad.

6. Keep a Jou
al of Joyful EventsnBegin an ongoing jou
al of every instance you feel joy. Be on the lookout for joy and write those experiences down in your jou
al. Remind yourself of the joy you feel when you notice the warmth of the sunshine upon your skin, your connection with your furry friends, a hot bath, an unexpected smile from a stranger. Research has shown that taking time to notice joy has powerful effects upon happiness.

7. Set Meaningful GoalsnA key to living a joyful life is being involved with personally important pursuits and goals that you hope to accomplish in the future. Setting meaningful long-term goals gives direction to your life. In addition, it helps guide your choices, decisions, and actions. When you decide where you are going and why you are going there, you feel more joyful knowing that your life is important.

If your life isn't joyful, recognize alte
ative potentials simply do not arrive on their own. You advance into greater joy by your own efforts, by self-motivated, and self-constructed ways and means. You are the master of your own destiny, free to shape your own evolution. It takes some determination, but you are capable of lifting your heart into greater possibilities, lifting yourself out of the stickiness of feeling bad and into more exciting imagined outcomes.nn