We all know that life is hard sometimes, harder for some people, and harder in some areas than others. There are challenges, diseases, fights with friends and/or relatives, bills, deaths, heartbreak, rejection, etc, but in between all those dark moments, there are many moments of happiness, of accomplishment, of joy: a healthy baby, a fun family gathering, partying with friends, a wonderful hike, traveling to new places and many more.

Because we have no way of knowing what life has in store for us, this article will give you a few tips for you to enjoy those “good moments” more. Let’s start by clarifying what JOY is.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, joy is defined as “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires”. This means that JOY is found only in the good moments, when something positive is happening in our loves. It’s also said to be connected with meaning and purpose in one’s life, which makes it different than HAPPINESS, that is an outward expression.

One of our missions as humans is then to find our purpose in life and try to live it. Because this can be easier said than done, we can do the next best thing: create moments that are good, by achieving goals (big or small) or by being completely in the moment and accepting all aspects of our present reality. For me, this feeling of joy can be consciously felt when we raise our awareness of what we have, who we are in the moment, and where we are in our journey.

Here are some tips to add a little more JOY to the good moments of your life:

• Prioritize joy consciously. If we have the pure intention to just have more joy, make a list of everything that brings you joy and make a decision do one of those a week. If you can do more, do more.
• Talk about what brings joy to others so you all share ideas.
• Do not take any negative comments personally. Some people may bring you down, even without intending to do so. But whatever the intention, just know that is just an opinion and not the truth.
• Stay away from heavy or repetitive news. Once you heard it once, it’s not news anymore.
• Surround yourself with people that enjoy life, that have good things happening in their lives, or people who just bring something positive to you.
• Block negative thoughts about something, as frequent as you can. Focusing your mind on something specific, is a superpower that all humans have. So the same way we have developed habits like criticizing others or focusing on negative things, we can shift and do the opposite: focus on the good.

I truly hope you can find JOY in your life more frequently and deeply. Life is short and there is only one…so why not do the best we can to live it to the max?