YOUR JOY JAR
By nature, we are quick to compare things and ourselves. If something is not quite as nice the royal we expect, then we can become disappointed, disillusioned, or downright down in the dumps. Having a Joy Jar can help.
Our life is, for the most part, pretty well balanced. The adage of what goes up must come down (unless it is owned by Elon Musk), is very true. Life flows and has rhythm. When things are amazingly good, sooner or later something will happen to change our perception of ‘amazingly good’. We will feel that life is ‘amazingly bad’ or ‘nothing is going right’ or simply wtf was I thinking of deciding to get born! These roller coaster emotional rides are a consequence of being human. We feel things, and our feelings are not always in our control.
If your life is going amazingly well, and you are feeling invincible, someone close to you might suddenly pass away. Someone might even drive into the back of you and give you whiplash and bruises. Then, through no fault of your own, you will be feeling pretty down in the dumps for a while.
It does us good to remember that things will look up again. We should always live in a state of gratitude for all the good that we do have. You should make a point of waking up with an appreciation for a brand new day and a chance for a new adventure. Try going to sleep with thoughts of how lucky you are, as there is always someone, somewhere, who does have it far worse than you.
HOW TO USE THE JOY JAR
Every Sunday I write on a piece of paper the very best thing that happened to me during the week. The one thing that I am more grateful and happy about than anything else and I pop it into my Joy Jar.
Come the last day of December, I have a ritual where I will take my little jar, and sit with it and a cuppa coffee and go through the wonderful year I have had. I end up counting 52 blessings in my life. Of course, this helps me finalise all the good the year has brought me, and all the joyful experiences I may have forgotten I have had throughout the year.
We are very good at remembering the negative things. Sometimes we need these little reminders that there is good to discover in each week of our lives.
My little jar is now empty. I can now look forward to a fantastic New Year with weekly chances of incredible new blessings that can start to fill my jar with again.
BONNY BOX
An extension of this is to have a what I call my Bonny Box. Into this, you save your 12 best memories from each of the previous years. On top of that, if I hear a fantastic joke, I will also pop it into this box. I include any small memento’s I might have collected over time that immediately brings me back to a happy moment. For example, I have a sea shell, a dried pressed Sweetpea, and a short poem someone once wrote for me. All these things have special and inspirational meanings and always cheer me up. I also have a small spray sample of my favourite perfume that I adore smelling. A photo of an amazing holiday I once went on has been added too. Dip into this box throughout the year whenever you are feeling down for an instant lift.
Do you have any positive rituals that you do to celebrate a New Year? Have you created your own Joy Jar or a Bonny Box?