Episode 894 Ten Ways to Choose Joy
[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 894 of the inspired stewardship podcast.
[00:00:06]Wendy Gentry: [00:00:06] This is Wendy Gentry from baker university. I encourage you to live your life from the inside out. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this. The inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.
[00:00:24]Scott Maderer: [00:00:24] This isn't about faking happiness. This isn't about slapping a smile on your face and pretending everything is fine when it's not. It's okay to feel the emotion of sadness. It's okay to have something go wrong and to admit it. It's okay. To lament challenges. But overall, are you choosing gratitude and joy more often?
[00:00:48] Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, [00:01:00] your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you.
[00:01:12] Okay. Impact the work
[00:01:14]today's episode about impacting the world through stewarding your talent. I talk with you about 10 ways. You can actually choose joy. I talk about how this isn't the same thing is just faking happiness. And I also share how the practice of choosing joy can get easier over time. You've heard me talk about developing your talent.
[00:01:36] And what are the best ways to do that is through books. But if you're like most people today, it's hard to find the time to read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible. Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from.
[00:01:59] And you [00:02:00] can pick one and listen your way to developing your talents via audible. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast. So on Tuesday, I talked a little bit about Psalm 100 and the idea of choosing joy, but here I want to talk about.
[00:02:25] Some different ways that you can actually choose joy. I want to get a little bit more practical and talk about some of the techniques that you can use. But I also want to talk about why this isn't the same as quote, faking it till you make it. So when you think about choosing joy, think about it. Some people in life that at first glance appear to have everything and yet.
[00:02:53] Are constantly a victim, constantly sad, constantly upset, constantly seeming like they [00:03:00] have nothing at all. And then I know people that have had one of the most incredibly challenging experiences of their life or life, and yet they are still happy and joyful. No, the truth is that yes, sometimes it has to do with history and brain chemistry and how you were raised and all of these sorts of things.
[00:03:20] But choosing joy is also a choice and a skill that doesn't mean it's easy, but it is something that you can learn how to do. And there are actually some studies that show some practical ways that you can do this. Step one, you can actually talk. In the language of joy, you can talk to others about your joy.
[00:03:47] You can begin to train yourself, to look at and describe things in terms of satisfaction. Instead of complaint. Anytime you find yourself talking about something that's and [00:04:00] how bad it is instead, focus on finding something that you can, I can share that you are grateful about, which brings us to the second take technique, being more grateful, finding time at the beginning of the day.
[00:04:13] And at the end of the day that you can spend some time reflecting on something thing that you are grateful for today. Spend a few moments in the morning think and write about those things that you are thankful for. The things that you have gratitude for challenge yourself, to come up with different things as many days as you can, which brings us to the next one.
[00:04:39] I said, write about it. It turns out that journaling is a powerful tool for finding joy. When you write out the things that you are grateful for when you write the things that you are going to focus on, when you write the things that you have done and reflect on the successes that you've had, [00:05:00] you will find more joy.
[00:05:03] The next one is to begin a practice. That helps you reflect on joy, meditation and yoga are both examples, doing something with your mind and your body that teaches you to focus on your thoughts and your breath. We've talked about meditation before and how it's not really about quieting your mind. It's about learning to focus.
[00:05:28] You can also. Add in a practice of focusing on self-love and self-care recognizing that you are worthy and you are worth being taken care of is important. We talked about mental health yesterday. This is part of it, recognizing that you deserve to be taken care of is important, and then actually taking care of yourself.
[00:05:55] And the flip side of that is another technique. Doing good [00:06:00] deeds for others as well. Tail ping to take care of other people, serving in a volunteer capacity, going out of your way to help other people turns out that makes us feel good as well. Another technique, add something adventuresome to your life, do something different, do something that you've never done before.
[00:06:22] Get out of your rut. Go on a trip where you've never been before. Go see something you've never done before, instead of just doing the same cycle over and over again, challenge yourself to learn a new skill, go do something like an open mic activity, something that you would never believe you would do.
[00:06:44] And then one we've talked about over and over on this show. Get intentional about setting your life up for success, design your life and your day. So that instead of just going through the motions of [00:07:00] living, you actually are living out the things that you think are really important for you, because the truth is, as you get comfortable and recognize that you have a limited amount of time.
[00:07:17] You can begin to put that time into activity because that's another activity writing your own end of days, cycle writing your own obituary, saying where you want to be. What is the legacy that you want to do, and then surround yourself with positive people and mentors who can help you find the good. In yourself, in others and in your life, the truth is this isn't about faking happiness.
[00:07:50] This isn't about slapping a smile on your face and pretending everything is fine when it's not, it's okay to feel the emotion of sadness. It's okay [00:08:00] to have something go wrong and to admit it, it's okay to lament challenges. But overall, are you choosing gratitude and joy more often? Then you're not because the truth is it's a practice and a choice.
[00:08:17] It gets easier over time. The more you do it, the easier it gets until you'll find you come to a point where it comes naturally. And it's not about faking it. It's really about feeling it. Thanks for listening.
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