Keep Choosing Joy

“Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in yourlife. If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continueto act how you have always acted. If you continue to act as you have alwaysacted, you will continue to get what you have always gotten. If you wantdifferent results in your life or your work, all you have to do is change yourmind” – Anonymous

I read that quote for the first time in, I believe, Januaryor February. It is the perfect introduction that sets you off on a journey ofchanging your mind set in the book 'Power Thoughts' by Joyce Meyer.  I had listened to messages and read bookwhere they touched on the topic, and I also have had my own thoughts on the topicchallenged and changed as I have grown and learned; the idea that wechoose our thoughts, and those thoughts can change our life, is a pretty hugething to wrap your head around.

In my journey so far, I have found I tend to focus on ‘Love’as an overall theme for everything I do. While it perhaps doesn’t always comeacross that way (yay for learning and growing!), it is the way I strive to actand conduct myself. I am aware that sometimes tough love is required, andloving people doesn’t always mean giving them answers they want to hear, butlove is an incredible thing and truly needs to be expressed as the sole motivebehind every single thing we do or say.

While choosing love can sometimes be difficult, choosing joycan sometimes be harder. I am the classic case of ‘I’m tired and hungry whichmeans I’m grumpy and I don’t want to be around people or do anything and I justwant to nap and play with a kitten and eat sweets and watch something cheesy’.Anyone else share these same oh-so lovely character traits? Choosing joy means,in the midst of whatever is happening, you are choosing to be positive—lookingon the bright side of things when every thing and perhaps every one around youis encouraging the more negative side to take centre stage.

Kittens and cupcakes-- instant joy.

Why do we do this? Why do we allow negativity at the forefrontof our minds? I think it’s probably because it’s easy. It’s a lot easier to bedown in the dumps when your paycheque isn’t as big as you want it to be, whenyou can’t afford the new clothes, new house, or vacation you want. When youcan’t see friends as often as you would like, when there’s no one physicallyaround when you want someone there, when your dreams aren’t becoming reality. Alesson which needs to be learned is being negative about these things isn’t goingto make them any better. Being negative isn’t going to improve thesituation—it’s going to do the opposite. You are going to focus so much on thenegative that any situation or circumstance that is less than ideal in yourlife is going to go from the size of a rain drop to the size of a tidal wave.

I’m not devaluing the importance of feeling emotions, orsaying when the worst things happen you have to pretend to be happy and likenothing bothers you. I’m actually kind of saying the opposite….

While bad things happen and situations may not be what youhoped, there are always so many reasons to choose joy. When I’m feeling down inthe dumps (and don’t have any kittens or candy around) I start to make a mentallist of things I am thankful for. Sometimes this list starts as simple asacknowledging the every day things I take for granted which sustain life as Iknow it:

‘I am thankful my body works in amazing ways I don’t evenunderstand.

I am thankful I have hands that allow me to create things.

I am thankful I have legs and feet that work so I can bikeand run.

I am thankful I have food in the fridge and a roof over myhead.

I am thankful I have clothing to wear that I got to pick outbecause I liked it.

I am thankful I breathe.

I am thankful I have a bed.

I am thankful for safety and protection.’

As soon as I start focusing on the things I am thankful for,I automatically start to feel a jump in my heart that spreads through my veinsand leaves a smile on my face. I can’t help but be blown away by the sheermagnitude of greatness of the daily things I take for granted. Thisgratefulness almost always turns into joy. If I am not feeling joyful yet, Icontinue my thankful list:

‘I am thankful for friends who I can reach out when I needthem.

I am thankful for a husband who encourages me, challenges meand supports me.

I am thankful for Love.

I am thankful for God who loves me and has more thoughtstoward me they outnumber the grains of sand!

I am thankful for my workplace.

I am thankful for passions.

I am thankful for joy.’

I am thankful for joy.

I become so in awe of the fact I can choose to be happy inthe midst of life, I can do a few things:

1. I can acknowledge how remaining negative anddwelling on things does nothing to improve the situation but actually makes itworse. Had I continued to be negative, the littlest things would have seemedcatastrophic and I would have left no room for joy to begin to grow again.
2. I can assess the situations with a clearerheadspace. I am no longer feeding the negativity. I am focusing on joy andbeing positive. This achieves a lovely balance for productive problem solving.
3. I can be positive. In the midst of what ishappening around me, I know that being positive is good for my mental, physicaland spiritual health. I will make better choices in all areas of life, I willsurround myself with positive influences, I will continue on a path ofpositivity.

I used to be confused when people would talk about choosingjoy. It seemed to me people were devaluing the things we, as human beings, feeland experience. It seemed so fake—like when we are having the worst day we aresupposed to just smile and say cheesy things like “Everything happens for areason!” (not true!) or “It’s in God’s hands!” (yes, God takes care ofsituations but we need to actively pursue the life His word tells us we shouldstrive to live!).  This, to me, is crazy.If I feel bad, I feel bad. But the bottom line is I don’t want to feel that wayso I’m going to change it—from the inside, not just the face I’m putting to theoutside. Too many approaches, like those previously mentioned, also remove from us our ability and responsibility tochange how we feel and think to ensure we live a happier life—they leave usthinking we need to learn to live in the midst of negativity. The truth is, weneed to learn to leave negativity behind and focus on positivity.

Power Thoughts by Joyce Meyer was an awesome book thatchallenged you every single week with a new power thought. From things like ‘Ilove people and I enjoy helping them’ to ‘I am difficult to offend’, ‘I live inthe present and enjoy each moment’, to ‘I put God first in my life’. There are12 power thoughts and I plan to put them all on my wall to remind me that lifedoesn’t have to be spent wondering how in the world you can make things right,be happy, and overcome the negativity in your life. You can actively choose how youthink to ensure you are continually choosing joy in the midst of what comes your way in life.

Images in body of blog courtesy of Pinterest