How to Bring More Joy Into 2022
There are in fact a few good Christmas songs, but you won’t hear them when you’re shopping. Our favourite is the Chieftains Bells of Dublin. There’s a lot more I could say about Christmas music, but it’s a personal taste thing and in the interests of peace and good will I’ll stop right there.
Christmas and joy traditionally go together, and that got me thinking about joy (I’m getting to the point now). It’s an old word, not one we use much in daily conversation. Delight is probably a more modern term.
For children, joy is (or ought to be) natural and innocent – moments of delight that aren’t connected to anything but the moment. We lose that as we grow up and have to Deal with Things. So where and how do we find joy as adults?
Here’s a game for the early part of your team Christmas party: name three things that bring you joy.
Here’s a few I can think of for myself:
The first few moment of dancing with my wife in the kitchen to Muchacho’s tune before my ineptitude overtakes my enthusiasm
That moment with my band when it sounds perfect to my ear and I get goosebumps
Getting behind the wheel of the motorhome, getting out on to our street and singing the only words we know to “On the road again”, namely “on the road again, na na na na on the road again” etc
Joy is more than fun or entertainment, which I think is mostly a sensory thing. It’s more than pleasure – it starts there but it goes deeper, has more meaning, more feeling and it’s more fleeting. My moments of joy recede to pleasure with the next part of the song, the final “on the road again”. Our delight fades like water in sand.
Of course many aspects of my life bring me enduring pleasure and meaning. And moments of joy build on those foundations – it’s my relationship with my wife that makes the dance and the motorhome such a joy, it’s my life of music that makes the special moment of delight with the band. As adults, perhaps our joy comes from moments of deep reconnection with the familiar. And those familiar foundations are built and kept strong with our energy and commitment.
Here’s another language thing, the prefix en-, which means to give. I always like the idea of encouraging someone, to give them courage. Enjoy obviously means to give joy.
So how will you give yourself joy this Christmas? Do you know what would delight your loved ones this Christmas? Joy and delight sit on top of effort and commitment. Make the effort to bring joy to your home this Christmas.
Thanks for reading in 2021. Here’s to a better year for the world in 2022.
From the team here at The Breakthrough, we wish you a happy and, yes, joyous Christmas.
PS: share your three joys with us in the comments section below