Inner Joy and Contentment: A wonderful theme for December and beyond

Let’s start with one of my favourite quotes here:

‘Joy is a return to the deep harmony of body, mind, and spirit that was yours at birth and that can be yours again. That openness to love, that capacity for wholeness with the world around you, is still within you’.
Deepak Chopra

All things joy and contentment something we might hear mentioned and even know what it means but what does it truly mean for us individually and collectively is a great question to get curious about and to further explore and play with.

For me this is a life journey and seeing what shows up on a day to day basis is key and I have found that so many things have energised my own journey which I now share within my practice both with individuals, organisations and community settings:

• One practice I use every day is gratitude and in its simplest form gratitude is associated with happiness. Gratitude comes in many forms which includes thanking others, ourselves, and the world.

• Embracing our inner joy, contentment and flow can come from the integration of our mind, body, and space seeing this come together. By becoming aware that our space is both internal and external we can let go. Then our body can guide us through an exploration of the very core of our being to showcase a world of possibilities. When my father passed away and after caring for both my beautiful parents I had an opportunity to further train in yoga, yoga therapy and somatic movement which has given me so much joy in the moment and to share with others.

• Within my wellbeing approach, I also focus on positive emotions and the notion that all of our emotions are data. Here I draw on Professor Barbara Fredrickson’s work, from the University of North Carolina, and the notion of injecting jolts of joy into your everyday. Bring in more jolts of joy through creative play, slowing things down, and connecting with your body and relationships. Slowing down and savouring your favourite healthy food. Connecting with nature, hobbies, and your creative side.

• One thing to mention here is having moved last December to Bath I made a conscious effort every day to connect with the newness of people, places, organisations, initiating conversations, and volunteering. Trying lots of new things has brought me so much joy and happiness every day.

The good news is we can create ‘a new us’ at any moment in time and at ‘any moment’ in our life to connect with our authentic self. Meeting you where you’re at is key with change and to realise that starting small can make things more accessible and I love BJ Fogg’s work and his latest book which I have mentioned previously so here’s a reminder ‘Tiny habits – why starting small makes lasting change easy’ definitely worth a read. Play with some of these ideas and perhaps create a new music playlist I did that yesterday and am looking forward to adding to it over the next months.

Getting curious and exploring joy in your life and that greater sense of inner contentment is a wonderful place to start in December. By creating space and time to connect with the present moment and what brings us joy we can then share with each other and the world.

To leave you with another favourite quote:

‘The past is gone, the future is not here, now I am free of both. Right now, I choose joy’.
Deepak Chopra

Wishing you all a joyful December.

with Love Helen xx