Search Results for: help you feel happier

Feel Happier In Only Five Minutes A Day

April 23, 2018 |

Feel Happier In Only Five Minutes A Day!!!

Every month in the Chasing Joy’s Joy Chasers Facebook Group we do a challenge. The goal of the challenges are to challenge us to do things that will help us to have more happiness in our day-to-day lives. Happiness is not always something that comes natural. Sometimes you have to work for it, hence the challenges. So far this year we’ve done challenges related to goal-setting, gratitude, and self care.

This month’s challenge seems to be a little harder than past months. So I decided to write a little blog post to help everyone out. Our April challenge is called 5 minutes for me. The goal is to learn how to feel happier in only five minutes a day. To participate in the challenge simply take 5 minutes each day and spend it doing something for yourself. The five minutes should be spent doing things that make you happy, help you feel less stressed, help you feel at peace, or make your life easier. It should be things that you enjoy. Most of us spend so much time doing things like working and taking care of our families that even taking 5 minutes is a challenge.

To help everyone out I’ve made a quick list of 12 things that you can do for 5 minutes to help you feel more joyful. I hope this list gives you some ideas of quick things to do to finish out our challenge strong.

1. Pray
2. Read a book
3. Draw
4. Color
5. Meditate
5. Visualization
6. Play with your pet
7. Sit in the sun
8. Go for a walk
9. Have a dance party
10. Journal
11. Slowly savor and indulge in a cup of coffee or tea, glass of wine, or cocktail
12. Call a friend and actually talk

What do you do to help yourself have a little joy that only takes a few minutes each day? Do you do any of the things already on my list? Or can you give us some cool ideas to add to the list? Let me know in the comments below.

If this sounds like things that you can do to help yourself feel happier in only five minutes a day and you’d like to join our challenge head over to the Facebook page and join us. Here’s a little added incentive each month there are challenge winners who get a prize also anyone who has signed up for chasing joy membership gets a prize just for participating in the challenge. I hope to see you in the group.

Four Things To Do To Feel Happier Now

March 20, 2018 |

Other than today being the first day of spring (not that it feels like it in Philadelphia) it is also International Day of Happiness. In honor of International Day of Happiness I am giving you four things to do to feel happier now.

Be kind to yourself. This actually makes the list of some of the best advice I’ve ever received. We are really hard on ourselves. Most of us engage in negative self-talk. We rehash conversations where we said the wrong thing or didn’t say what we should have over and over again. We make mistakes and then beat ourselves up over it. I bet right now most of us are upset with ourselves over something. Give yourself a break. You are not perfect and no one expects you to be. You messed up. Decide you’ll do better next time and let it go. Be kind to yourself instead of your own worst critic.
Help or do something nice for someone. I know your busy and overwhelmed with your life and to do list. Just trust me. Take a few minutes and do something for someone else. Buy someone a cup of coffee. Give someone a complement. Help someone with a task that is overwhelming them. This will get your mind off of things that may be weighing you down. You will brighten someone else’s day which will in turn brighten yours. Also helping someone else will remind you that you bring value to the world and we all need to feel valued.
Practice Gratitude. Sometimes we feel like nothing is going right or our way. It’s simply not true. While you could be having a really rough time I guarantee there are a few things that are still going right in your life. Take a few minutes and write down 3 or 4 things that are going good. This won’t necessarily make the tough things easier but it will help you with your perspective to remember that other things are going well.
Re-frame it! Sometimes there could be something that is really overwhelming and brining you down. You may have to make an effort to change how you view it and what you choose to focus on. I will use my current situation as an example. I am 38, overweight, 34 weeks pregnant and diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Recently my doctors have started to order a bunch of tests and monitoring of me and my baby and it has been really upsetting. It made me feel super anxious and afraid to the point of crying in my car after two different doctor’s appointments. To get out of that sad space I decided to reframe this. The situation itself has not changed and it is still scary. However instead of focusing on the scary part I am focusing on the fact that my doctors are being super attentive, I get to see the baby more often and I am not getting to hear his heart beat every few days. Those things make me smile. Like is said the situation hasn’t changed but I’m re-framing it to change my focus.

Put these tips into action whenever you need a Joy pick me up to feel happier. Which ones will you focus for International Day of Happiness.

Six Pillars of Joy To Help You Become or Stay Happy

March 7, 2016 |

I want to be happy. I am happy and want to stay that way. I want to be happier. Do any of these sentences resonate with you? Have you had any of these thoughts? If so there are a few things that you can focus on that will help get you where you want to be. I call them the Pillars of Joy.

I have been Chasing Joy for over six years now. In that time I have gone from being down right depressed to pretty content and happy. There will always be things that I am working on but I am a long way from where I started. Over the years I have focused on positive things and tried new things. In doing so I have identified six things to focus on that can help you feel more joyful and happy. Six Pillars of Joy! I call them Pillars because they act as the support system for the Joyful life you want to create for yourself. These pillars strengthen you to bear the load that comes with this thing called life.

So what are these six Pillars of Joy? I am listing them below in alphabetical order:

Faith
Giving Back
Goals
Gratitude
Relationships
Self Care

Work on these areas of your life and I guarantee you will feel more optimistic, more valued, more focused, more connected, more cared for and therefore more joyful. For ideas on things you can do to work on the Pillars of Joy take the Joy quiz. The quiz will give you specific ideas based on your lifestyle and the way you answer the questions.

Which of the Pillars of Joy do you want to work on first? Which one do you think will be the most challenging? Which will be the easiest to tackle?

Chasing Joy’s Top 5 Posts to Help You Focus On Gratitude

November 11, 2015 |

Yesterday at work I overheard a lady say we were only two weeks away from Thanksgiving. That is just crazy to me. Where has this year gone??? With time moving so quickly I’m glad that we are taking time this month to focus on gratitude. I’ll be counting my blessings for my Thursday NaBloPoMo posts and participating in the November Gratitude Challenge in the Chasing Joy FB Group (feel free to join the group).

To help you stay focused along with me here are Chasing Joy’s Top 5 Posts on Gratitude:

4 Ways to Practice Gratitude

Having an Attitude of Gratitude

Gratitude! The answer to Chasing Joy’s most frequently asked question.

1000 Reasons To Be Joyful

Counting Blessings, A Great Way To Feel More Joyful During Tough Times

How are you making an effort to stay focused on Gratitude this month?

7 Ways To Keep Your Cat Happy & Joyful

July 13, 2015 |

Finally! My person left the room long enough for me to take over her laptop and get a good blog post written. Not that her posts aren’t good but I know mine will be so much better. My name is Peanut. I am a 10 year old, male, black and white short hair cat. I actually prefer to be described as a tuxedo cat as my appearance is very important to me. I spend a considerable amount of my waking hours grooming.

It is my understanding that my person writes about being happier and having more joy. I guess I will stick to her topic and give you people some tips on how to keep your cats happy and joyful. My dog pal Hurt (may he pee on infinite hydrants in doggy heaven) wrote a similar post a while ago that you humans seemed to like. So here are my tips.

Keep the crunchies coming and the wet food too. Cat’s are independent creatures who take care of themselves but one thing we cannot do is open cans of food or get the box or bag of crunches out of the cabinet. Now if you leave the box or bag of crunchies on the floor or where I can get to it I will just help myself. Honestly, it just works better for everyone if you keep crunchies available all the time and put out the wet food out on time, I repeat, ON TIME. That way no one has to clean up ripped up cat food bags and boxes and no one has to have sore ankles from your kitty gently reminding you with their teeth that dinner is late.
Give us toys. I know the K9s have a significant share of the pet toy market but us cats like them too. Now one of the benefits of sharing your home with a feline is that we have inexpensive taste. My toy preference is for balls of used foil and the plastic tabs from cartons of juice. When my person is feeling generous I love feather toys or ones that I can bat around like this ball in the tube One day I’m going to get that ball out of there.
Share the bed. I know you think it’s your bed but who are we kidding. You sleep in it what 8 hours a day if your lucky. Who do you think is sleeping in it the other 16 hours? Us cats that’s who.
Don’t neglect our wardrobe. Like I said my appearance is important to me. I keep my fur shinny and clean always. But I love switching things up every now and then with a new collar. I like a little bling on my collars. A preference for shinny things is something me and my person have in common. Now in addition to my collars my wardrobe also includes a couple of outfits. Yes they make cat clothing too. That’s right clothes aren’t just for dogs anymore. Now your cat may not be as progressive as I am when it comes to clothing so proceed with caution. My preference is to save my clothing for Halloween and other holidays. My person knows not to overdue it.

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Help us feel safe and secure. The best way to help your cat feel safe and secure is to give them bags and boxes that are just the right size. I tell you from experience, they will snuggle on in.
Give us attention and affection. Now I know us cats are proud of our independence. But that doesn’t mean we don’t want rubs and stuff. We just want them when we are in the mood. We may not always come when you call our name. But we do like our people and will show it when we are ready. Don’t be surprised when we wind our bodies around your legs or find our way onto your lap when you lease expect it. That is your cue to initiate rubs. My preference is under the chin, behind the ears, and on the top of the head.
Keep us healthy. Honestly I don’t even want to include this tip but I want my person to like and publish this post when she discovers it on her laptop. Keep us healthy by taking us to the vet. I hate the vet. I’m not going to even pretend that I like it. I scream my head off as soon as my person sets foot outside of the house with me in the carrier. (Side note, I used to love getting in the carrier until she kept taking me to the vet every time I was in it). However my person insists that I must go and get a check up. Do you know where they put that thermometer??? I don’t even want to think about it.

There you have it. If you stick to these tips especially numbers 1-6 and only number 7 as needed your cat will be as happy and joyful as me.

How do you guys keep your cats happy?

Weekend Guest Keazy: Changing Your Mindset to Accepting Joy

October 8, 2011 |

A couple weeks ago I sent out an invitation for you to be my Weekend Guest by guest posting on Chasing Joy. I am happy to welcome our first Weekend Guest, Keazy. Keazy is an easy going guy that has an open mind and loves to learn. That sounds like a perfect foundation for Chasing Joy. Here is his post:

Changing Your Mindset to Accepting Joy

I am a firm believer that there is joy in almost everything we do. You can find Joy in things that most will not. Take for instances myself, I find joy in driving, making that special one feel special and helping others in need. I have learned to accept that warm feeling in my heart when Joy comes my way. That special feeling inside that you know you can’t shake and you know that it’s there.

Over the years, I have been changing my mindset to be more accepting of things, especially Joy. I can remember two of the worst days of my life when I really realized that life is short and accepting Joy can really change my life. The first time was about 6 years ago when my best friend committed suicide. I will never forget that day because I fell into a very deep depression, very dark place in my life. I shut myself off to the world and couldn’t find a way to snap out it. Months went by and I didn’t see any Joy coming my way.

The one thing that came out of this was that rest of my best friends and I have become closer. It was like an unspoken bond between us and I remember the year when we went to Virginia Beach for vacation one of my friends stated that “you know we are missing one”. All of us said at the same time, “I was just thinking the same thing”. Lots of things were said in that mall where we were popping tags like we were CEO’s. We all found Joy in the fact that we were all closer after his death even though we were still grieving. We changed our mindset to accept the Joy that was given to us even in sorrow. Opened up our hearts and feeling about what happen only to realize that we are now brothers for life. An unbelievable feeling.

The other bad day in my life was this past July when my grandmother passed away. The glue to our family was gone just like that. It hurt so badly because it was two days after I celebrated my 33rd birthday. I remember attending a cook out during the evening in which I stayed at a friend’s house and I got the phone call at 5 in the morning from my father and he said I need to come home now. My parents told me the news and I was devastated. I couldn’t breathe; I just sat in the chair and took it all in.

I was more in shock than anything else. As I was having a good time at the cook out my grandmother was dying and when I found out the time she passed, I couldn’t believe it because she had crossed my mind that instant and I said I would call her in the morning. She was off and on sick and I told myself that I would take the drive down to South Carolina to see her but I never made it. I regret that decision to this day.

We left that morning to drive down to South Carolina and when I was behind the wheel, I just thought about every year, us taking this same trip down 95 south to South of the Border to get on to US 301/501 to Conway and US 701 to Georgetown. I can drive to my grandmas with my eyes closed I know these roads so well. Walking into her house for the first time and realizing that when I ring this doorbell, she will not be on the other end of the door to let me in just melted my heart away. I finally realized that this is real. My dad was very encouraging to me saying “son, you are not going through this alone; every one misses her just like you”. I wasn’t trying to hear that, I just wanted my grandma back.

The moment my cousins arrived we all just gave each other big hugs. My oldest cousin Eric proceeded to go to the back yard and just sit and we all joined him. We started telling funny stories about grandma beating us and the way she would always cook all this food for us to eat and how they were jealous of me and my brother because they thought she gave us special treatment because we come from Philadelphia and they saw her every day. Little did they know I felt jealous of them because they were able to spend time with her whenever they wanted. As we continued to drink Crown Royal and coke, we decided as cousins, that we would not let this death break up the family. We have all gotten closer as a unit and I could not be happier with my family. We all changed our mindset from sadness to the Joy that she brought to all of our lives. There is sunshine under every cloudy sky.

You can find Joy in almost anything in this world. You just have to change your mindset in order to accept it instead of running away from it. Listen to your heart, it tells you what your Joy is.

To read more of Keazy’s work visit his blog A New Beginning, friend him on Facebook, and follow him on Twitter

If you’d like to be a weekend guest email me your post at joychasing@yahoo.com and find additional information on guest posting qualifications here.

The Three 3s of Chasing Joy

June 13, 2016 |

Here are 3 things you can do each day that will help you feel happier that take less than 5 minutes total. I call them the Three 3s of Chasing Joy. I honestly don’t recall where I came up with the first two 3s. I have been doing from time to time since college. I am sure I read it somewhere or was somehow inspired to start doing them. The last of the 3s I cannot take credit for. It was advice from a woman from my book club. She said it helped her when she was dealing with being laid off and unemployed.

You don’t need anything special to do this, just a pen and some paper. If you want you can get fancy and get a special journal. Or, if you are more technically inclined you can use the notes section of your cell phone or create a special file on your laptop. The most important thing is to do this every day for the maximum benefit. Ok, so here they are, The Three 3s of Chasing Joy:

Three Things you are grateful for
Three things you like about yourself (at least one should be a physical characteristic)
Three things you need to accomplish today (if you do your list in the morning) or tomorrow (if you do your list at night)

See it is really simple. By making this list of nine things, three from each category you are focusing on the Pillars of Joy. Listing three things you are grateful for helps you focus on gratitude. Gratitude can also be closely tied to faith as you can pray thanking God for the three things you are grateful for. Listing three things you like about yourself is a form of self care. Learning to love yourself will help you in your relationships with others. Lastly listing three things you need to accomplish gives you purpose and a reason to go about your day. You can use the three things to help you work towards a goal or even to help you become more well versed in giving back.

These three 3s of Chasing Joy, in only 5 minutes a day, can help you to grow as a person, get things done, and see more good in the world. These three 3s of Chasing Joy will help you feel happier and have more Joy.

Here is what is on my list tonight.

Three things I am grateful for – my cat peanut who keeps me entertained and brings life into my home, my car that allows me to be independent in my where I spend my time, and modern medicine that is allowing me to pursue my Single Mother by Choice journey.
Three things that I like about me – that I am a logical, that I am sincere, and my boobs (you can laugh but I think they are pretty awesome).
Three things I need to accomplish tomorrow – go to the salvation army, pack away my sweaters, and move all of the coats to the downstairs closet.

What are your three 3s?

Dear 2020

January 10, 2020 |

Dear 2020,

Sorry I am a little late with your welcome letter. I’ve been a little busy with the things 2019 put into motion.

I am glad you are here. I welcomed you with friends in laughter seeing Dave Chappelle and you immediately rewarded me with a little cash at the casino a few hours later. So if you’ve set a tone for the year in those 1st few hours it is fun, friendship, and prosperity. I like it!

The bar has been set rather high for you. 2017 gave me the promise of my bundle of joy. 2018 followed through giving me my son and put me in a happier environment at the day job. 2019 eased in keeping the positive trend, introduced my blogging life to my day job life, allowed my family to stay healthy and then finished strong delivering my new house and a promotion. You have big shoes to step into 2020. I promise to do my part to help you fill them.

I don’t have any concrete expectations of you. However, I do have some general areas that I hope to grow and make positive change in this year. I want to grow increasingly more confident in my new position at work. I want to fine tune the leadership skills I already possess in this role as a supervisor. Continuing with Chasing Joy is a must as this is where I feel creative and in service. I plan to clean up my finances.

On an emotional / personal level I want to get better at feeling my feelings and not suppressing or self-medicating. Also I want to practice doing what I KNOW I should do and not always what I want (perhaps this is called discipline???). I want to grow my family by giving Baby Joy Chaser a sibling and also putting myself out there and being truly open to Love. Lastly, 2020 will bring Chasing Joy’s 10th birthday and we will celebrate.

Thank you 2020 for getting off to such a great start. Let’s keep it up. We have work to do.

Let’s Go!

~Arlett

What would you include in your letter to 2020?

How To Be A Joyful Supervisor. Leadership Advice

December 11, 2019 |

I need your advice. Leadership advice.

I need your leadership advice.This week I accepted a promotion to a supervisory position. Give me your best advice so that I can be a Joyful supervisor.

Normally I write blog post to share my advice and expertice on finding and maintaining happiness. Today I am flipping the script. This week I was offered and accepted a promotion to a supervisory position. I am excited and nervous. I need your help.

I have been working towards this promotion at the day job for a while. I’m talking years. Yet, I was still shocked when I received the offer. I don’t know when I will start but I know it will be soon. Part of me is wondering what have I gotten myself into.

So, I need your advice right away. I need your best leadership advice. Luckily I know I have natural leadership skills. I have fallen into leadership roles throughout my adult life withouteven trying. Now is the time where I need to be intentional about this.

What tips, dos, and don’ts can you share when it comes to managing people? I welcome advice from both the manager and the employee perspective. Help me to become a Joyful Supervisor.

Gaining Confidence in the Pillars of Joy at the Temple University Women’s Networking Brunch

September 11, 2017 |

Gaining Confidence in the Pillars of Joy at the Temple University Women’s Networking Brunch.

When I started Chasing Joy almost 8 ears ago I did not know anything about the Pillars of Joy. I just knew that I liked to write and thought maybe writing about joy would help me feel happier. It definitely worked. Without a doubt this is one of the happiest times in my life.

It did not happen over night. It took years of therapy, blogging, and allowing time to heal. Blogging was key. It helped me to be introspective and to keep track of the areas of my life that I had focused on and improved in. These areas were gratitude, self-care, relationships, goals, faith, and giving back. When it came time to live my testimony, pay it forward, and help other women be happier I labeled these areas the Pillars of Joy.

As I now work more purposefully to continue my growth in the Pillars of Joy and help women to do the same I am so excited when I come across influential women who have developed strength in the same areas. That is what happened yesterday at the Temple University Women’s Networking Brunch.

The key note speaker Dr. Debra Blair spoke about her experience being a diversity advocate and professor at the Temple University School Of Hospitality Management. She talked about why she felt called to work advocating for disability, gender, race, sexuality, and age diversity. As Dr. Blair shared her experience and participated in the Q & A with brunch attendees she talked about 4 of my 6 Pillars of Joy.

#DoWhatYouCant!

Dr. Blair told us about the below inspiring Ostrich commercial and charged us to #DoWhatYouCant. That sounds like setting big goals. She told us about her woman cave and how she looks at her calendar to schedule in her me time. Her self-care practice is strong. Dr. Blair encouraged us to give back and share our knowledge and experiences with the younger women in our lives. Lastly, when a question came up about the use of pronouns (he, she, etc.) with our quick changing environment related to gender / trans gender equality, she encouraged us to focus on developing relationships with people rather than focusing on which pronoun to use.

https://youtu.be/hjKd24UCPYY

As I listened to Dr. Blair I was encouraged to think more critically about diversity and my experience with it. I also gained confidence in my own path of finding and sustaining happiness through the Pillars of Joy as she exemplified so many.

If want to feel happier sign up for my 4 week Joy Makeover. Over 4 weeks you will develop skills to help you focus on gratitude, faith, self-care, goals, relationships, and giving back. Gaining strength in these Pillars of Joy will allow you to experience more happiness and develop resilience to help you stay happy even in tough times.

Not ready for the Makeover? Take the Joy Quiz to see how happy you really are and get some practical tips to help you be happier now.

A post shared by Arlett R. Hartie (@chasingjoy) on Sep 10, 2017 at 11:41am PDT