Hi!
Do you love to experiment? I love to experiment, try new things and see what happens. Sometimes, when we do this, it lands us on a new nugget for life.
Each day when I wake-up I choose and intention for my attention that day. It’s a frame for practicing mindfulness.
Sometimes I do well, and sometimes I fail miserably – yet each day teaches me something new, at minimum about myself, and most days about my kids, family and broader environment.
Today I choose Joy – actually, I think it chose me. I went to bed early last night and the kids slept through till 6.45 (unheard of in our household). I felt refreshed and energised, and ready to join the world. I did strengths training as well and that compounded the joy for me with all the amazing endorphins (feel good hormones) that are pumping through my body.
So, today Joy chose me – and I accepted. Throughout the day, I’m on the lookout for moments that bring me joy.
At the end of the day, I’ll reflect in my journal on those moments. If you do this regularly, you can start to look for patterns of what bring you joy and do those things more often…that is a blog and activity for another day!
As promised, here’s the experiment!
Self-Experiment: When you wake-up (or any moment through-out the day) you choose what emotion you would like to focus on finding that day. I believe, consciously or unconsciously, we do this anyway and we’re better off choosing a positive emotion, then a negative emotion.
- Wake-up
- Choose emotion
- Look for things that cultivate it
- Acknowledge those things through-out the day (I like to smile – more endorphins)
- Reflect on them at night (journal/story-telling with kids etc)
- What I don’t do often enough is reflect on them with Dave – so tonight I’ll do that.
- If you do it over time, look for patterns – do more of the things that bring you joy and see what happens!
Experiment with Kids: Important word in the title…(with). It’s important to do it with them, engage them in the conversation about it. Tell them about what you did and how it made you feel. You ‘wonder’ if they could do it to? When you get their agreements, talk about how you can help ‘remind’ them throughout the day, that the intention for their attention is ‘joy’. You could:
- Get them to write it on their hand in the morning
- Make a wrist bracelet out of paper with them over breakfast
- Put post-it notes in their lunch
Here are the steps you could take with your kids.
- Talk about joy (or another positive emotion) and the experiment you did
- What happened and why you liked doing it
- How much fun it was
- Would they like to try it too?
- Ways you can remind them to look for joy (above)
- What happened…conversation at the end of the day
- If there older, they could do a journal of this too.
Now, I know from experience that when we choose conversations that are positive around the dinner table/bench, dinner is much more exciting and fun. Also, when we’re reflecting on the moments of joy (or any other positive emotion) we are offering an opportunity to receive the health benefits of that emotion too which can increase our well-being and improve our coping skills in life.
I love this experiment for so many reasons, it can help with EQ (self-awareness and regulation of emotions), well-being when we experience the emotions, resilience and connection with self, friends and family.
I'll come back with a post-blog on what happened with Isa tomorrow.
Post Blog Update!
So Isa ran the experiment and in true spirit had fun. She decided to share her bracelets with her friends too. I printed a sheet of pink, I Choose Joy, in all different fonts. I had made her some surprise joke cards to read to her friends (she love Dad jokes) and she shared a joke or two and came back with some new one's for us! Love it. So what bought Isa Joy?
- The jokes
- Sharing jokes with Daddy (Dave). Strength of Humor!
- Sport at school - she particularly enjoyed the kicking skills they did. Zest at play.
- Maths (always a fav). She most enjoyed it that day because they were using shapes to make new shapes, she got to be creative!
- One I had expected came - she always enjoys playtime with her friends. Strengths of kindness and connection.
The big thing that shone for me, was the linkage between using her strengths and what bought her joy. The expression of her strengths brings her energy and joy. As your kids share, think about what strengths they might be expressing!
If you're interested in learning more about Strengths, click here.
Also, her cup often overflows with positive emotion - she has so much to share with others - this fills my heart too.
Happy experimenting! I’d love to hear how you go too.
Cheers
Sarah x