Cultivating joy is serious business! Joy has so many positive benefits. –
Promotes healthy lifestyle (happy people like to get outdoors, exercise, eat healthier) -Boosts your immune system -Lowers Stress and lowers pain- supports longevity- draws you closer to those you love (it’s easier to be around a happy person, right?) – Draws you closer to God, it promotes an attitude of gratitude
Here is a link to a JOY BLOSSOM, It is a coloring sheet I developed after talking with my friend who works helping First Responders with PTSD. When you suffer trauma, all the world seems to turn from vibrant color and happiness to a washed out grey. To reclaim your joy, list off 30 things that have brought you joy in the past. Think simple: sunshine on your face, standing barefoot in the grace or sand, etc. Write one joy moment on each leaf or petal. Then SCHEDULE ONE joy moment into your life each day! (Then color in the joy blossom. Your brain will focus on staying in the lines while you color and it will be a reprieve from thinking about problems!)
Here is a link to Infectious Joy!, an ebook I created so that EACH DAY you can process a verse from the Bible about JOY! The power to sustain life change is in GOD and in God’s Word, not in ourselves. This Infectious Joy! ebook is made so you can get away from the TV, and your tech devices and enJOY a few minutes of “Selah” with God. Selah is a tem from the Psalms, it is like a rest note in music, a selah moment is “a pause to ponder” So cozy up in a favorite chair, or get outside in the sunshine and process a verse a day about joy. Consider it your spiritual daily vitamin! For a deeper dive into JOY, you will also want to pick up a copy of Discovering Joy in Philippians: A Creative Bible Study Experience and you might also want the Joy Journal, record your own collection of verses, quotes and inspiring truths that are giving you hope, joy and peace during this Covid_19 shelter at Home hiatus.