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Finding Joy in the Small Things- The Art of Noticing Happiness
40 Plays13 hours ago
In this episode of Exhausted Sparrows Unite, we explore the transformative power of appreciating the small, everyday moments that bring us happiness. From savoring a morning coffee to cherishing a loved one’s smile, these moments are often overlooked but hold the key to a more joyful life. Together, we dive into the science behind small joys, share personal stories, and offer practical tips for cultivating gratitude and mindfulness. By the end of this episode, you’ll feel inspired to slow down, notice the beauty around you, and embrace the little things that truly make life extraordinary
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Transcript
Finding Joy in Everyday Moments
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Exhausted Sparrows Unite. I'm k Krista Jones, along with my co-host, Tom Morell, and today we're diving into a topic that we think everybody needs to hear about. Finding joy in the little things, in a world that constantly pushes us to chase the next big milestone or achievement. It's so easy to overlook the simple.
00:00:30
Speaker
the beautiful moments, the ones that really are the ones that make our lives richer. So today we're going to talk all about how to slow down as I giggle into the microphone because Tom and I do not even know what that means. Appreciate what's right in front of us and rediscover joy in unexpected places, whether it's in your morning coffee or a kind word from a stranger.
00:00:54
Speaker
or the way the sun feels on your face. All these moments matter. Grab your favorite drink and settle in and let's explore how to embrace Good morning. So can I tell you first thing? Yeah. I woke up. I was overjoyed, honestly, to to come in today. I was like, this is so cool. I love talking about this stuff. I'm going to be here. My son is in the room here with us because we have a thing to go after with this. yeah So it's like I get to share this with him. He gets us kind of see what we're doing. And then right after this, we get to go to baseball practice. And I'm so excited. It's great.
00:01:32
Speaker
And you didn't get to mention you get to work with your family. And I get to come here with Krista Jones, of course, the the wonderful and in all that joy. What? And then I walk out into the dining room where we have an open window with no curtain. And then there's snow on the ground. And first thing I thought was, like ah, crap. You did. First thing I thought, I'm like, here we are. We're talking about like the joyful fulfill moments. And my first thought when I get out of bed is like, ah, crap.
00:01:59
Speaker
and liter And I say it like that like that with the Midwestern accent, ah, crap. yeah Well, I mean, snow can be a very joyful thing. It can be, yes.
Humor and Joy in Unexpected Situations
00:02:08
Speaker
it's It's new and it's clean and it's beautiful if you don't have to go out in it, but you did. I twisted it around right away and I was like, okay, that's funny.
00:02:16
Speaker
That's got this humor in that because obviously we're supposed to be in this like joyful moment here. We're supposed to be talking about finding joy in small things. And here I'm finding the negative in it already. Yeah, but and we haven't even even started yet. But hold on. Let's be honest. You know, some people go overboard with finding joy and they try to find it in everything. Oh, yeah. that's And you don't need to. No, you don't need to. We're just saying try to try to find more joyful moments in your day yeah than negative one. And some people are already finding joyful moments and those people, you know, you can listen along and, and, and, you know, you can, you can share your own thoughts and whatever else. There's always ways to sharpen your knives, even though you have a sharp knife. But there's some people that genuinely, they don't, they don't find joy in everyday life. They trudge through life. they you know And some of these people are people that we work with. Some of these people are people that are neighbors, or they're friends of ours, or they're social media friends of ours, who all you see on the social media is, ah, this, ah, that.
00:03:14
Speaker
there's There's so much joy in life to find. First of all, we're on a rock in the middle of this incredibly enormous, you can't even imagine how big the space is in the universe. We're on this little rock that's floating around and magically there's air and sunshine and warmth at just the right temperature and just the right mix of oxygen in the air.
00:03:37
Speaker
for us to be able to ah podcast. like Right. How magical is that, first of all, to think about? That's amazing, isn't it?
Physiological and Health Benefits of Joy
00:03:45
Speaker
It is amazing. But, you know, I think we also and we we have to draw attention to the fact that we all have completely different lives. And there are people that are really, really struggling in their lives. Those people sometimes we see on Facebook that, you know, are Debbie Downers. I mean, they have a lot going on. But what we're saying is that yeah No matter what your background is and where you come from and what your history is and your family like in your relationships We're hoping that at least there's a little something today that you can take out of this to kind of as we've been saying Reframe your mind exactly get rid of the negative Nellie's and you know kind of just a smile a bit more and it's not just about like hey We want you to be a happier person
00:04:27
Speaker
right want to We're trying to fix you. No, no, no, no, it's not that. There are actual physiological... if we can get nerdy for a moment, physiological effects. I'm just impressed that you said the word without stuttering over the word. Physiologically, that is hard to say, I have to practice it. So there's physiological benefits to finding joy. Of course. There's something called the Vegas system, F-A-G-U-S in our bodies. Oh, I thought you said Vegas. I thought you were like Vegas. No, no, no, no, no. I thought the same thing too. I was like, that makes me joyful. I'm like, no, that's not the...
00:05:04
Speaker
So the Vegas nerve ah system in our body is the one that controls like your heartbeat and the your breathing and your blood flow, the stuff that we don't have to think about doing. The Vegas system does that for us. So um some psychological psychologists have found that ah research has found that when you find micro joys in life, these joyful moments throughout life, that it actually stimulates the hold on the the vagal tone I did this is science. This is science. I'm not making this up. I'm just watching you get through it the vagal tones, right? Help with the vagus nerve system, which actually helps regulate your body's temperature and your blood flow on your heart and all that stuff. So people who are happier
00:05:53
Speaker
live longer because they are healthier in general. Or we can dumb it down and say like moments of joy, right? Your heart rate, your heart rate goes up. yeah It beats a little faster. yeah You know, there's a little spring in your step, your brain, right? Your endorphins. All of that happens when you find these little bitty joys. And that has positive effects on your body's health, not just how you feel, but actually how your body works.
00:06:18
Speaker
And I like that you said, because it's true, we're not saying happiness, we're saying joy. And people are like, well, I don't understand because a lot of people think that's the same thing and it's really not, but these little microburst, you know, over time can just lead you being happier overall. Overall, yes. But Rome was not built in a day. True. true Yeah. with Happiness is like if you think about it like a destination, right? like Right. and And the joys, the micro joys that we're going to be talking about, those are like those are like the road signs along the way sure that point in that direction. Like 10 more miles to happinessville.
00:06:56
Speaker
Eight more miles to Happinessville. Eight more joy bursts and you'll be there. And each of those each of those mile markers is a is a joy. but if you If you kind of think about it in that analogy. Right. right and it you know And it's it's it's good for of just for our overall well-being, for our mental health. And it only takes 21 days to create a habit.
00:07:18
Speaker
So like I think we need to talk about all that and how we can find these things and create these things. And you know we can you know do that as as we go on in here. But you know joy is is not something that that we're just born with either. right Joy is an emotion that you have to choose. And that's really what this podcast is all about. We want you to choose. We want you to choose to live authentically. We want you to choose. Show us the hard moments. We're not saying fake joy. yeah But, you know, we we'd like you to seek it because, you know, like you said earlier, there are so many beautiful things that are out there that can bring us joy. And a lot of people are like, well, I can't find it.
Podcast Roots and Joyful Perspectives
00:07:55
Speaker
And you know, this podcast is Exhausted Sparrows Unite for people that don't know. It is based on a charity here in the Hudson Valley, which is located in New York.
00:08:05
Speaker
I'd like to say hello today from Florence, Italy. Oh, yes. We had um this beautiful woman from Florence, Italy that wrote some really nice comments on our last podcast. And um we're here in the Hudson Valley, New York. It's a beautiful place here. And I have a charity that is called Sparrow's Nest. And with that we feed people.
00:08:25
Speaker
that are facing a cancer diagnosis and through everything that I'm doing as a mom and, you know, just at trying ah trying to be a good wife and a good friend and and and and trying to care for people and all that. I'm exhausted and I'm trying to let people know that, hey, what you're seeing out there in media for me and all these great things we're doing, you know, doesn't necessarily mean that that's always me. So it's kind of how the podcast came about. But in all of that, in what I have to do every day for people,
00:08:53
Speaker
It really does make me stop and say, I can absolutely find a blessing in today compared to what someone else may have to go through. Come on. I absolutely have it better than someone else. I might have it worse than someone else, but I absolutely have it better than someone else that is out there. and And you have to sometimes stop and force yourself to figure out, all right, what is the blessing? What am I blessed with today? or even you have it better than it could be, it could be much worse, even if you're not comparing necessarily yourself to someone else. If you're comparing just the situation itself, like I have it so much better than it could be. You know what I mean? that And that's important, too. Yeah. And living in the United States of America, I think we don't realize that we are one of the richest countries in the world. We are. And sadly, even the poorest of the poor in this country are probably still considered
00:09:48
Speaker
way, I don't want to say richer, but you know, in a much better financial state than people in other countries and in third world countries. In 80% of the country, other world, yeah. My pastor said maybe two months ago, he said, if you have one car, you are in the top 12% of the world.
00:10:10
Speaker
12%, only 12% of the world own a car, own a car, own a car, something like 4% of the world own multiple cars, and they're mostly here, here here and in Europe. And you know what I mean? So like, if you think about that, and all the people that don't even have a vehicle, and and and how much in many cases, we already have a leg up, like, well, we're blessed, yeah find some joy in that. I have transportation. Honestly, we take that for granted. did We do, yes. and And what's great about finding that, like you like you said, is is also gaining perspective. So then the problems that we have, quote unquote problems, the the troubles we have,
00:10:52
Speaker
they pale in comparison to what they could be. Right. um But it again, it puts it in in perspective again, which again promotes joy. And we get this they get this cycle of of joy versus the cycle of unhappiness. Right. Could you imagine if you didn't have a car and you had to walk your twenty two miles to work?
00:11:15
Speaker
in the snow barefoot both ways, both ways, but uphill. Right. Yeah. Like think about that. Like that is a joy. You have a vehicle and and we we just take it for granted, but really it's a joy. How great that your car ride was five minutes, not a two hour walk. Exactly. Yes. Yeah. yeah or that we can get on a plane and fly to almost anywhere in the world, anywhere in the world, within ah probably a 24 hour period, right literally. Whereas that would have taken eight months to a year, maybe three years and half of your crew would have died. And you would have been drinking salt water and we have it and so much better than it could be.
00:11:51
Speaker
And that's a joy. And I guess you got to look at it. I mean, you know, and you may have to go that deep. You may say, hey, guys, like, I don't really see any joys in my life. Then you've got to take things that are in front of your face. So how do we. So and so then how do we find these joys? Are they just like spontaneously there? Are they on it? They're not on a calendar. We can't go someplace and like buy these things. Right. So I mean, yeah, you could buy joy if a cup of coffee brings you joy. I guess and you bought your joy.
00:12:19
Speaker
you know what You know what, for me, ah because I'm so busy, I think what brings me joy is if I can just have an hour with my family or like with a friend, right? Like if I can just have some one-on-one time, be alone with my family where there's nothing else going on, or if a friend says, let's go for a walk or something like that.
00:12:40
Speaker
Sometimes that's what brings me joy, because maybe I have to vent about a couple things to then get that joy back in my life or whatever it is. But for me, it's um it's human connection. Yeah,
Family, Food, and Spontaneous Joy
00:12:51
Speaker
definitely. human can Because we're social animals, right? So that human connection is a big way that you can do that. So um can we can we talk about some ways that we can kind of find joy? I mean, we can, but I personally want to know how do you find joy?
00:13:05
Speaker
so So true story, I shared with you this morning what? I i brought in a package left over from from a ah ah breakfast that I had this morning. It was a protein, ah like Pop-Tart. I got him hooked on this protein team kick. yeah yeah So one of the joys that I find, and is not a joy for my wife, and I'll explain to you why in a second, is that when I go grocery shopping,
00:13:30
Speaker
I like to peruse the stuff that I don't normally get. Me too. And I like to go over and grab something where I'm like, you know what, I've never, I've never had it in lemon mesquite barbecue flavor before or, or like the ice cream we talked about in a, in a, in a previous podcast right or was it the next one? I don't know. i remember but it doesn't matter I don't know when this comes out, but it's okay. Try the new thing.
00:13:56
Speaker
hey, they got them in ranch flavor now, or hey, now they're in purple color, or now they're in dinosaur shapes. Let's try it. 1,000%, because the whole time I'm going, man, I can't wait to try this. I can't wait to go home. What I'm hearing is food. But it's trying something new, right? That's the thing for me, is I find happiness, joy, let's call it joy in that micro moment of like, hey, you know what, this is new and exciting. I have no idea if this is going to be good or not. So I'm going to go home. We're going to prepare this. I'm going to break into the little pieces for all my children, me and my mom, my wife and whoever else to try out. Right. And then we're all going to take little mental notes and we're going to go. We're going to taste it like we're fancy people, we can people.
00:14:43
Speaker
with your little pinky it's it's very i I get hints of caramel and now I have the kids talking like that my 10 year old the other day he's he's tasting crackers and he's like oh there's um oh there's okay there's the heat yep it's on the back end you get the heat right it has good mouth feel they're using words like mouthfeel and that brings me even more joy Because there's ah so there's a lot of things packed in your joyful moment, right? There's some humor in that moment too. layer There's family in that moment. There's new things in that moment. So um yeah, that was like a mega amount of joy. looking at my that's I told you when I woke up this morning, I'm so excited to talk. I'm really excited to talk about this because I i i get accused a lot of time of being simple minded. I laugh at a lot of stuff like when I see commercials. i'll
00:15:34
Speaker
I'm not talking like, oh, that was a funny commercial. I will literally laugh out loud at a commercial. Yeah. That brings me joy. and and And my dad is like, he's always like, Tom, you're so like, everything amuses you. Yeah. Yeah, it does. Yeah. And you know what? When I'm living to be 120,
00:15:53
Speaker
That's then we talk about it. But like, you know, this is good for me. Why is that? Why is that such a bad thing? That brings up a point, though, right? We should never stifle someone's joy. Don't yuck. Someone's yum. That's what I say. Don't yuck. Someone's yum. That's yummy to me. Don't yuck it. Yeah. Don't. Yeah. For me. Yeah. Because then you're stifling somebody from being there too. And if they're a joyful person, they can rub off on you. We should we should also talk about that. But Let's go through some ah some of the ways that we can find joy because you started that and you and I have ADD, so we're we're not going to skip around topics. We have a list. We have a carefully whole list, which brought me joy also to write out a list and also brought me joy because I'm like, all right, we have we have to get some place at the end here. We have to follow the timeline. We're going to get there one way or another. So there's lots of ways to find joy.
00:16:43
Speaker
Yeah, so one of them, like I said here, is finding these spontaneity moments, right? Like, hey, we're at the grocery store. Yeah, I gotta get bananas. Yeah, I gotta get i got to get the s cereal and I gotta get the pasta sauce. so But wait a minute. and They have these little chips here. You know what? Maybe I'll maybe i'll come home with like yogurt fruit bars or something like that, right? It's just something that's spontaneous that you know that later on you can you can throw in ah when you feel like you need a little joy.
00:17:11
Speaker
And it doesn't always have to be food, but like, you know, hey, you know what we're going to do right now tonight? We're going to turn the TV off. We're going to play a board game or we're going to build a puzzle or we're going to we're going to play with Legos or we're going to build a fort totally spontaneous. Wasn't in the plan. Let's just do that right now. We got everybody coming in. We're going to do that. Yeah, we're all going to have a little bit of fun here. Yeah.
00:17:33
Speaker
a spontaneous fun moment. Sometimes around the dinner table or you know when I feel like my family needs a little bit more connection too we'll do that and I'll go all right just stop like I'll just read the room and I'm like tell me something good about your day today yeah tell me something that made you laugh tell me something that made you happy you know and that also kind of rubs off on the rest you know of the room yeah which is a great thing a spontaneous thing I like to set joy alarms. Ooh. Yeah, I do. Tell me about joy alarms. Well, for me, if I feel that I'm getting a little bit in a funk, which we all do from time to time, I am even more conscientious to do this. Like I am more deliberate and I will set one every day and I will set it for all different times of the day. And it goes off and it plays. Hold on back up. You actually set physical alarm. Oh, I do. And I said it with a really fun alarm tone. Okay. Like one is a fart noise. It'll be like, it is. And it just makes me laugh because I'm 50 and I'm saying fart alarms. Like it's so funny. That's great. And somebody else is listening to this gun. That is the stupidest thing. But it doesn't matter. Don't they probably have a British accent when they do that. so yeah
00:18:45
Speaker
They probably have a British accent. Well, we just lost all of England now, so they're not tuning in. No, i love that I love the British. They're great people. They're great people. But I will set an alarm. So one, the alarm makes me laugh. Yep. And I know why the alarm has gone off. And then I stop. It's it's a true thing. And I will just look around and I make myself say,
00:19:04
Speaker
I am blessed today for this. like I am blessed today for that. I am finding joy in this. i'll be you know Whatever. I have this beautiful building here that we cook meals for families and for people that have a cancer diagnosis. That alone, if I can't find anything else, like if I have nothing else in my life that'll bring me joy, I will say, my gosh,
00:19:26
Speaker
I'm a joy to somebody else. I get to do this today. Not I have to do this like the podcast all week long. I've been looking forward to this all week long. I've been saying to people, hey, I get to do this podcast on Saturday. I get to do this podcast. And I don't even we don't even get paid. Hey, Tom. And he's so excited. Wait, wait, back up. Oh, sorry. We don't get paid. No. Oh man. But that's okay. You should tell your wife. There's no paycheck coming out of this. No paycheck. So for me these joy alarms, they're a good thing because it is a deliberate act that makes me stop. It's like mindfulness, being aware that like, hey, you know what, for a moment I need to just stop and pause and be grateful for something.
Joy's Ripple Effect in Communities
00:20:09
Speaker
there And there's always, there really is always something to be grateful for. I mean, like you said, if you're if you're in a meeting here in this building, the fact that you're in this building, this is this is a this was a godsend, this building, literally. you know The fact that you were able to build this and you created this charity through something that you know was a was was not a joyful moment in your life.
00:20:33
Speaker
But you were able to create joy for or bring joy for so many hundreds of other people in the Hudson Valley here that that term is called. Hold on. I got it here. Positivity resonance. That's a science word. So positivity. We know what that is. But resonance is like it's almost like a ripple of like ah effect. Like when you throw a little pebble into a pond, even if any if it's a large pond that that will create a ripple that goes all throughout the entire pond. And then sometimes it resonates back if it's big enough. And that's really what positivity does as well is that the other effect it has, if we go back to that for a second, is this resonance where, hey, you do something nice for somebody and they recognize it. If they're also in that moment, and they go, you know, Krista did something really nice for me. That was really nice.
00:21:24
Speaker
I'm going to go do something spontaneously nice for somebody else. And then that person does it for us. And then before you know it, the whole community is is nice. Something as simple as opening the door, yeah right? I'll open the door for somebody. They'll walk through the door and then they'll hold the door for somebody or they'll go, oh, no, no, you go first. So all of those things. And that also, it brings me joy to help somebody. Right. At the end of the day, like, you know, sometimes we we talk about things like do what you want in life and find your dream job and get your joy. Let's be honest. Sometimes you're just trying to, you know, put the food on the table. You know, sometimes. There's no joy in your cubicle with Sally Sue complaining next to you on her little computer. But you know, you know, even if it's like, not that your, your joys are at work and stuff like you can volunteer, yeah you can, you know, all of that brings you joy because at the end of the day, you know, you're helping somebody less fortunate than you. And if you're feeling kind of bad for yourself, sometimes it gets you out of that because you're like, wow, there's somebody out there that needs me more than I need this. Oh, 100 percent. And that's actually that brings us to another one. Right. Is I love the transitioning, smooth transition. Pursue moments of connection. So find ways for you to go out into your community it or in your neighborhood or in your family, for that matter. It doesn't matter. Find ways to have a moment of connection with those people. Go over to Mr. Joe's house and mow his lawn. You don't even have to connect with him personally.
00:22:56
Speaker
You're in his property. He hears that you're mowing the lawn. He goes, that was really nice. I mean, you might do you might want to ask because sometimes when you get older, you get cranky. You do have to load my mom's lawn. Yeah. Would she punch you in the face? Yes.
00:23:12
Speaker
And then you would you be grateful that she punched you in the face? No, no, no, no that would not be. No, no, no, but no. I'm just teasing that. Absolutely. Shoveling sidewalks like all those little things. Yes. And it doesn't have to necessarily be for like an elderly person or someone who's not now just. Hey, you listen, i don't worry about. Hey, I did the driveway. Yeah. Just, you know.
00:23:31
Speaker
There is a guy that is on like TikTok or something, and that's what he does. He goes around to homes that he sees are just falling apart and dilapidated. And then I get sucked into that. And it sometimes is women that have lost their husband and they're 85 years old and they cannot get out of the house. I'm like, there are just all these sweet gestures. And that brings me joy. Watching that TikTok video brings me joy. I'm like... Is that the guy that does the sidewalks? Yes.
00:23:56
Speaker
Yes. And then that inspires me to want to do joy. Find find a local charity. Yeah. Hey, come to Sparrow's Nest. We're always looking for help on weekends, nights, you know, all these great things. Find somebody in your in your neck of the woods. Like there are so many amazing grassroots charities that they're not big guys. We need the volunteers. We need the help research. Here's another way. And I do this at work myself. um Again, going back to the finding crazy things at at the grocery store to try. Right.
00:24:27
Speaker
buy a box of cookies or a bag of cookies, make them at home, bring them into work and just share them with people. Just say yeah mean just kind of made these. You know, no big deal. Was it 20 minutes of your day on ah on us on ah on a Thursday night or whatever? you And listen, I know everybody's, these are just suggestions, but like make the cookies and just bring them in for no reason. just That is love. A homemade meal, ah a cookie, you know, and and that's the charity. It's so interesting that so much comes back to what we do because we feed, you know, families that are sick in their homemade and we're starting bread.
00:25:01
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, oh, yes. OK. My husband was like, what are you doing? That's a whole other planetary. When we were on Christmas break, he's like, weren't you supposed to take two weeks off? And I'm like, I need to feed the sourdough baby. He's like, what is happening? But you know what? I kept saying to him. Baked bread is love.
00:25:20
Speaker
Yeah. Pies are love. Cookies are love. Baked bread is love. Like, I want you to feel love. That brings such joy to somebody. If somebody gave you a baked bread, which now I'm going to do, Tom.
00:25:32
Speaker
Wait, are you? I am. because Well, you you know, you you did go on a 13 minute tirade about all these exciting foods. I'm bringing you big bread. Well, listen, it's no it's no coincidence that like these things are coming to back. A lot of these come back to food. We we celebrate with food. Yeah. We mourn with food. Yeah. We.
00:25:53
Speaker
Our best family moments, right? Dinner tables. A lot of them have to do with them. So there's all these kinds of nostalgic things that come up. um you know Something as simple as like boxed macaroni and cheese brings people so much joy. yeah Not because it's the most terrific culinary thing on the planet, it's really not. It's really like, hey, i was hurt when I was seven, eight years old on Friday nights and my mom didn't wanna cook, this is what she would make us and we would sit and watch movies while eating mac and cheese. Or we would cut up hot dogs or we would put chicken in it or whatever whatever your little, that's where the this said that yeah that's where the joy comes from, is that remembering of that. And the same thing happens with cookies and pies. and yeah But like for me,
00:26:37
Speaker
I know what it takes to put bread together. That's why I don't do it because I can't. It's a lot more. It's a lot of work. You can. I'm sure I can. I'm going to send you home with a sourdough baby. Oh, boy. Yep. Does it. How long does it need to be changed?
00:26:52
Speaker
Every day, you just give it a cup of flour and almost a cup of water. That's it. And that's it on the counter until you're ready to bake it. Then I'll tell you what you need to do. OK. All right. We'll take notes. Anyways, anyways. But I but I know the labor that goes in that. So when someone gives me a loaf of bread like that, it's not like I don't take that for granted. I go, this is incredible. Yes. That you went through all this trouble to make. And it gives me joy making it. Yes. I love to make it because I know you're going to smile. It's a win-win, as they say. Unless, you know, I forget the salt. And then you might be like, oh, I could use a little salt. But... Or you put too much salt in it. Yes. It's a different thing. So that's also a way of finding joy, of bringing joy.
Celebrating and Sharing Joy
00:27:31
Speaker
And sometimes, you know, as I said in the intro, we are looking for this big
00:27:39
Speaker
milestone, we are always chasing the next big thing that I think it's really important that we talk about what we're talking about here is a little small things. Yeah, literally little tiny things, little tiny things. And don't be afraid of like, finding the joy in those things. Because that's where the joy is, is in those little things. Yes, you know, and and one of those things that we find is, ah ah is also looking for humor.
00:28:01
Speaker
Finding the humor in a situation. Yeah. um And good we've been talking about that. Everything that we've been talking about here has a humorous twist to it. Sure. Find humor in things that are ridiculous or or, ah you know, out of the ordinary. Yeah. You are going to go through hard things. We can't prevent that. But we can control our outlook through it. Exactly. And just looking for some joyful moments. What else?
00:28:27
Speaker
And so i i think we're I think we're good on finding, I think we got lots of ways to find we find joy. But I just wanted to share this with you. This is from an article I read here. It says, celebrating fleeting moments of joy can be so good for us because these moments champion the journey of infusing our lives with greater enjoyment and focus on prioritizing positivity.
00:28:51
Speaker
rather than focusing on whether we're happy or not. I know that's a lot to digest, though. So basically like. Don't worry about whether you're happy or not.
00:29:03
Speaker
If you find these micro joys, these fleeting moments of joys that happen throughout the throughout the day, throughout the weeks, throughout the months. Those are the mile markers we like we said at the beginning, those are the mile markers on the way to happiness. Happiness is the destination. You're not going to arrive there without the joy. Yeah. Yeah. So the joys, the little joys, that's what makes you happy. Sure. So don't look for the happiness.
00:29:33
Speaker
The happiness will come if you look for these little microjoys. Right? It's like anything else. you You are creating these habits. If you create these habits every day to just find a couple things, right? 21 days creates a habit, you will notice, you know, you don't see it at first, but you will notice, people will notice around you, you're a happier person. It's not something that's going to necessarily happen overnight. But then when people notice you're a happier person, it changes their interactions with you.
00:30:03
Speaker
You've rubbed off on them. You're the change that you want to see in the world. Wow. I like that. Yeah. It's all this joy that we hope you're getting on this podcast. And I listen, i ah truth be told, I find joy in almost I try to find joy in almost everything.
00:30:22
Speaker
a gratitude or some sort of like, you hey, this is funny or that's humorous or this is great or this is like ah miraculous. Like, think about this. We're on a medium here where we get to talk about this kind of stuff and and share this with countless other people. And then after this, I get to go play baseball with my kid. Like, how awesome is that? yeah How lucky am I? you it Really? There's a there's a there's a lot of blessings in all of those movements. Exactly. And that's what we that's what we need to realize.
00:30:51
Speaker
So, guys, we know that life can be overwhelming, and the noise of daily stressors can drown out the beauty of those simple moments, but in these small, seemingly insignificant experiences, you can find true joy in connection. We challenge you to pause today and intentionally notice something that brings you joy. Maybe it's the way the sunlight dances through your window, the sound of laughter from somebody that you love or the feeling of an accomplishment,
00:31:21
Speaker
After a task that you have done, write it down and savor it. And consider this, joy grows when it's shared. Take a moment, pass it on, share it with a friend, a coworker, a stranger. I mean, it might be just a kind word or a small gift.
00:31:38
Speaker
We wanna thank you guys for coming in this space with us. If you, anything that we have said or done has in any way impacted you, we hope that you share this podcast. We hope that you like this podcast. We hope that you go to the charity's website. It's sparrowsnescharity.org. We hope you give us a review and we hope it's five stars. We just hope that you be the light that this world needs. Until next time.
00:32:08
Speaker
Take care of yourself and each other.