{"id":775,"date":"2023-09-22T17:33:21","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T22:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/?p=775"},"modified":"2024-06-19T06:13:43","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T11:13:43","slug":"are-you-struggling-to-experience-lasting-joy-in-your-lifes-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/22\/are-you-struggling-to-experience-lasting-joy-in-your-lifes-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Struggling to Experience Lasting Joy in Your Life’s Journey?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My husband and I have recently been on an incredible journey. We celebrated my youngest daughter’s birthday in Scottsdale and marked our 32nd wedding anniversary in Hawaii. These moments got me reflecting on the importance of celebration and appreciation in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attitude of Celebrating<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s go deeper than just talking about the big things we celebrate. Let\u2019s look at the attitude of celebrating the little things in our lives. Sometimes we get in such a big hurry to reach that next goal, or accomplish the next thing, that we don\u2019t pause and take the time to be grateful for all the wins we are currently experiencing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When was the last time you paused and thought:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7         I\u2019m proud of my progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7         I\u2019m happy about ______ (you fill in the blank).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7         A year ago, I couldn\u2019t have imagined being here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7         Wow, I\u2019ve really overcome some tough things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7         I am so grateful for _____ (you fill in the blank). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even right now, thinking about this topic and your little successes, how are you feeling? Are you feeling a little lighter, less heaviness, less dreading? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t it amazing how powerful our thoughts are? The crazy thing is, most of us are on autopilot and don\u2019t think about what we think about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s address the opposite of this thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is it so easy, when we get together with our friends, to talk about the things that are not going well: our aches and pains, about the people we are not happy with, etc.? Have you ever wondered why we go there so easily? It\u2019s probably because the easiest way to connect with other people is through talking about what\u2019s not going well! After all, we all have those stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to challenge you here: how often do you walk away from these conversations, and you feel worse not better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharing Celebration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s easier to share misery than it is to share celebration. I\u2019m not saying I don\u2019t fall into this trap from time to time. But what I want to address here is re-training our brain. Taking the time to evaluate our default thoughts and, if we don\u2019t like them, we can make a conscious effort to see them and redirect those thoughts and change them. We are creatures of habit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I fully believe we can change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok, so back to the topic of celebration and being grateful not only for our big accomplishments, but our mini accomplishments as well. You\u2019ll discover, the byproduct is that it becomes so much easier to celebrate others and their accomplishments. It starts with us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrating Yourself<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Is celebrating yourself an area in which you struggle? I\u2019m not talking about being prideful and arrogant. I\u2019m not suggesting comparing yourself to other people and thinking you\u2019re better than them. I want you to take the time to see your progress\u2014your mini-wins. Areas where you may not quite be where you want to be but you\u2019re making progress. Or, maybe you\u2019ve even made huge progress and hit some goal you\u2019ve set. I\u2019m talking about really appreciating yourself. Not taking yourself so seriously and being so driven that if it\u2019s not perfect you\u2019re not going to give yourself any credit. It\u2019s your life, and if you are being so hard on yourself and not taking the time to acknowledge progress, what\u2019s it all for? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t emphasize this enough. I struggle with this! I\u2019m also sharing this because if we\u2019re not careful, the way we treat ourselves will also be the way we treat other people. Not giving them a break and not giving them any credit either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what\u2019s the solution?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morning Routine<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I address this all the time on my podcast<\/a>. Your morning routine is important. It\u2019s going to be a tradeoff. You may need to give up that extra sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, I\u2019m a Christian and feel that spending time in the Word is crucial for me. So, I have the Abide app<\/a> downloaded on my phone. It\u2019s a two-minute meditation. I then have the app Our Daily Bread<\/a> on my I-pad and read that. I have a prayer journal and spend time praying for my family, those people who are struggling. I pray about the things I\u2019m struggling with. I then write in my grateful journal. This is where celebration comes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grateful Journal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When I write down who I\u2019m grateful for, what I\u2019m grateful for, I also write down the specific mini goals that I\u2019m grateful I\u2019ve accomplished. This is a form of celebrating my progress. I do this daily. When I leave writing in my \u201cgrateful journal\u201d or my \u201cI want journal\u201d out of my morning routine, I feel it. I\u2019m not as much on my game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I Want Journal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My \u201cI want journal\u201d is the place I write my mini goals and my big goals. I am sure you\u2019ve heard: \u201cWhere the mind goes, energy flows.\u201d If you want to celebrate and appreciate more, you have to train your brain. I, then, review my to do list and I\u2019m off for the day. I hear my friends say all the time, I don\u2019t have time for that. My thoughts are you don\u2019t have time not to. It doesn\u2019t have to be the exact morning routine I just laid out; you can tweak it to serve you. Create one that works for you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned about the importance of a morning routine back in my college days selling those books door to door on 100 percent commission. Getting your mind right before hitting the battlefield was crucial. I still feel that way today. The battle is different but if we don\u2019t have a game plan we will be pushed and pulled in every direction. We will not be proactive with our intentions; we will be reactive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t Forget Laughter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lately, I have been taking myself too darn seriously! Do you struggle with this? You get so driven in doing all your tasks; trying to fulfill your purpose. Going for it! Doing it all, being it all that you forget to laugh and have fun. So, I\u2019m going to share a funny mini story. I\u2019m all dressed up to go out to meet my friends for a surprise pre-wedding celebration for one of our really good friends. I see the trash can at the curb. It needs to be taken to the side of the house. My mind is in a million places (can you relate?). So, I head to the curb, grab the handle and pull it and the trash can falls over on its side. And no matter how I was trying to get it up right, it kept falling over. That was the moment I saw myself and thought: \u201cMonette this is absolutely ridiculous, you\u2019re in a fight with the trash can.\u201d I started looking around thinking someone is laughing right now\u2014like America\u2019s funniest videos. I\u2019m being plunked. Someone is filming me! At that moment I laughed at myself and thought: \u201cReally, Monette is this your life, you\u2019re so caught up in your brain right now.\u201d I had a good laugh. And, yes, I did get it upright and got it to the side of the house in my heels. But that moment was such a reminder: \u201cMonette, not only do you need to celebrate and appreciate you\u2019ve got to stay light and fun too! Be ok with laughing at yourself on this crazy journey of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summary, what one action step can you take towards celebration and appreciation? Is it creating a strong morning routine? Is it journaling your mini-successes and big successes and pausing to give yourself an atta-boy and pat yourself on the back? Is it making a conscious effort to re-direct the conversation with your friends and family to have them tell you how they\u2019re doing well in certain areas of their lives so you can celebrate with them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe the joy of life is in the journey, but if we\u2019re not careful we miss the celebrating and appreciating and those opportunities to laugh and have fun too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n
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Monette Sedberry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Monette hosts a weekly podcast:\u00a0Mornings with Monette<\/a>. She has been a life-long learner and and appreciates the opportunity to share what she has learned\u2013both through her podcast and here at The Best-Life Project (based on the content of her weekly podcast). Her messages are raw, honest and straight from the heart.She lives in Albuquerque, NM with her husband Leland. They have three adult children and are enjoying living their best lives filled with travel and adventure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think it\u2019s easier to share misery than it is to share celebration. I\u2019m not saying I don\u2019t fall into this trap from time to time. But what I want to address here is re-training our brain. Taking the time to evaluate our default thoughts and, if we don\u2019t like them, we can make a conscious effort to see them and redirect those thoughts and change them. We are creatures of habit. But I fully believe we can change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,15],"tags":[61],"class_list":["post-775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-wellness","category-soul","tag-best-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1366,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions\/1366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}