With the hustle and bustle of daily life, slowing down to notice the little things is not always on our minds. However, teaching your kids to look all around, can easily increase their happiness. Ingrid Fetell Lee, who wrote, Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness, reminds us how simple it can be.
*Feel the sun and spend time outside
*Notice vibrant colors and the feelings they elicit
*Stop and smell the flowers, literally
*Find ways to play-game of tag or basketball, cards, throw the ball for your pup, cornhole competition
*Develop hobbies
*Choose happy colors for paint, clothes, food
*Embrace quirkiness
*Listen to the sounds of nature
*Celebrate everything big and small
Find out what brings your family joy through Ingrid’s Joyful Toolkit. This is a fabulous dinner discussion and can be revisited as your family grows and develops in each season of life:
- Find your joy-Where are you happy? What is joyful about it? Who makes you happy and why? What do you have in your home that brings pure joy? What activities bring happiness to your family? What are your killjoys? What depletes all your happiness?
2. Actively make your joy-Redecorate or rearrange furniture in your home, hang photos/pictures of happy memories, keep useful objects that you adore, bring in plants and flowers, open the curtains for more sunlight. Home is where your heart and happiness are. Wear clothes that make you feel good! Plan activities that you have fun doing. Gracefully say, “No,” to outings, commitments, and afterschool activities that suck all your family’s joy.
“Joy is what makes life worth living” (297). Can you simply add more joy to your everyday life? Try!
the Essentialist Family 