Do you experience joy to the fullest? Most don’t.
It breaks my heart to see so many people living without joy. Deep down, we all want it in our daily lives, yet it’s something that many of us are lacking.
What I’m about to share with you are a few simple steps toward experiencing more joy in your life. And it’s easy. You can do it, and you can begin to experience joy right now.
It starts with gratefulness.
5 things about Gratefulness
- Gratefulness is a choice. When we don’t choose it, we’re automatically ungrateful. There’s no way around it. You can’t be stuck in the middle. Sadly I think that the default is to be ungrateful by nature of not being grateful.
- Gratefulness changes the atmosphere around you. It allows you to see everything differently. In a spiritual sense, when you’re grateful, it’s hard for anything that would steal your joy to exist or to remain in your presence. If you’re overflowing with something, how could you possibly run out?
- Being grateful and expressing it to God helps to put your eyes on Him and not the problems or trials in your life. In other words, it redirects your focus.
- You can’t wallow in self pity or a victim mentality when you’re grateful. It changes your attitude about the tough things you experience and helps to drown them out and put them into the right perspective.
- Finally, with the right perspective, you can even become grateful for your trials because they are opportunities that help you to learn and grow. When you appreciate the experiences God is giving you and the lessons He’s teaching you through them, your struggles take on a whole new meaning.
Exercise for Experiencing Indescribable Joy
So when you find yourself lacking in joy—perhaps falling into the trap of self pity or just being ungrateful—I want to encourage you to stop and take some time to express what you’re thankful for. Speak it out verbally (no need to feel crazy or shameful), or write it down. Tell God everything that you’re grateful for. You’ll see there’s a whole lot to be thankful and the more you express, the more everything around you will begin to change. Joy is the emergent.
You may have to do this every day. Some of you who are in a really bad spot may have to do this more than that. It’s easy to do, you just have to commit to making it happen.
So here’s my list. Make it a goal to express gratefulness for 30 or more things each time you do this. Get your mind in the right place.
God, thank you for:
Now it’s your turn. What are you grateful for?
Blessings,
Steve
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PS: If you’re looking for support in changing your mindsets, you should check out the free Lifeonaire app. You can browse conversations about topics like discussed in this blog post or ask your questions to hundreds of likeminded people. You can even talk to Steve (he’s on the app A LOT!) about this very post! Check it out in your app store (look up “Lifeonaire”), or learn more here.
Copyright © 2020 by Steve Cook