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Ep 27: Joy (Why It’s Medicine)
30 Plays2 months ago
Joy isn’t a reward, it’s a practice, and it’s powerful medicine. In this episode, we explore how joy regulates the nervous system, lowers inflammation, balances hormones, supports immunity, and improves digestion. We talk about how to intentionally build joy into everyday life, notice small “glimmers,” and allow joy to exist alongside hard things. In this busy season, we hope this episode encourages you to make space for joy, even when life feels full.
Where to find us:
IG @whatsmyageagain.podcast / FB - What’s My Age Again Podcast
Email us at: wmaapod@gmail.com
Where to find Tanya:
IG @tlcholistic / FB @tlcholistic
Book with Tanya: https://tlcholistic.janeapp.com/locations/tlc-holistic
Join the TLC Community: https://www.patreon.com/tlcholistic
Where to find Kim:
IG @kimdesmarais.nutrition /FB @KimDesmarais
Book with Kim: Complimentary Connect Call
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Transcript
Introduction to 'What's My Age Again'
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to What's My Age Again, the realest podcast for women who are done chasing trends and ready to feel empowered. Hi, I'm Kim. And I'm Tanya, holistic nutritionists and childhood best friends who've been there, done that, and bought the collagen.
00:00:16
Speaker
more than once. Each week we provide actionable steps that you can start today to help you thrive through every decade to
Podcast Mission: Cutting Through Wellness Noise
00:00:23
Speaker
come. We're cutting through the wellness noise to bring you honest conversations about aging, hormones, health, beauty, mindset, and everything in between.
00:00:33
Speaker
You see, we're also on a mission to age gracefully one WTF moment at a time. Backed by research and real life, we're here to share what actually works, what's a waste of time, and how to truly thrive through the messy, magical midlife transition.
00:00:49
Speaker
We're so happy you're here.
Holiday Greetings and Episode Context
00:00:51
Speaker
Let's dive in. Hello everyone, welcome back to What's My Age again. hi Tanya. Hi, Kim. So I want to say Merry Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas Eve, everyone. If you are listening to this as we in real time, it's Christmas Eve. Well, for us, it's we pre-recorded this. It's a little bit before Christmas Eve. But Merry Christmas Eve, everyone.
The Significance of Joy in the Holiday Season
00:01:16
Speaker
Merry Christmas Eve because we couldn't record it on actual Christmas Eve because right now we are busy most likely in our kitchens making our sourdough stuffings and our cranberry sauce not from the can. So that's a hint hint to last week's episode.
00:01:34
Speaker
Yes, exactly. and I hope you've listened to last week's episode. And if you need any last minute ideas on what to put on your holiday table tomorrow, please go back and listen to that episode.
Health Benefits of Joy
00:01:45
Speaker
It was a goodie. So in the spirit of Christmas Eve, we really thought a lot about what to talk about this episode and what we really came to is joy.
00:01:58
Speaker
I love that because when we think of Christmas, joy comes up. People have signs that say joy. Actually, I'm looking at my neighbors right now at the window, not even lying. that says joy sitting on their front porch, like the the big wood sign, right? Totally. Well, we're supposed to feel joy at the holiday season, right? Like it's a requirement to feel joy.
00:02:21
Speaker
And that requirement can come with a lot of pressure because sometimes we don't feel joy, but we want to talk about what happens Joy actually is why it's important. And most importantly, I think that it's a practice. So joy is actually just not a feeling. It actually, we can put it in our toolcases, just like we do with food and nutraceuticals, joy as a medicine.
00:02:53
Speaker
Absolutely. And I love what you said, Tanya, right there. And we're going to get into a little bit more. Joy is a practice. um Not a requirement, as we just said. And we're going to get into it a little bit, how it can we can think about it a little bit differently. um So yes, as Tanya said, joy is medicine. It helps us regulate our favorite thing, the base of the pyramid, our nervous system.
00:03:20
Speaker
Absolutely. Our favorite thing, joy literally shifts our body out of, we talk about this all the time, out of that fight or flight and puts us into rest and digest where we want to be most of the time.
00:03:35
Speaker
For sure. And we talk about this. I mean, we joked about it as the sugar and stress season, right? Like the holiday season, it's been busy and here we are you like, here it is the night before,
00:03:46
Speaker
um But what happens when it's stressful or when our stress rises is that our stress hormone cotizol cortisol goes up and joy is sort of the antidote to that. It helps us calm that stress response. It helps support our vagus nerve, which we talked about before as well. Heart rate variability increases and we feel more safe and we we put in we get put into that parasympathetic nervous system that rest and digest.
00:04:16
Speaker
Exactly. And what goes like, what's the saying, Kim?
Joy vs. Stress: A Comparative Discussion
00:04:20
Speaker
Oh my God. I want it to be Christmassy. What do you call Part and parcel. Do you know when people like what goes something in parcel with that? parcel yes is that right yeah Am I Am I using these year old statements?
00:04:33
Speaker
Well, what goes part and parcel with regulating the nervous system? Joy also has a major anti-inflammatory effects on the body. And I know you can be saying, well, that just sounds too simple. Well, guess what? It is not.
00:04:49
Speaker
Chronic stress literally equals chronic inflammation in the body. And joy also has been shown to literally lower our inflammatory markers. And because again, it helps with that heart rate variability, it helps reduce oxidative stress on the entire body, as well as in the cardiovascular cell ah system. And get this one, it actually also supports cellular repair.
00:05:17
Speaker
Like our body is, like you said, Kim, it feels safe enough to heal, which again, that's when we are in repair mode, when we are healing and safe, our body literally is rejuvenating from a feeling. yeah
Navigating Stressful Gatherings with Joy
00:05:30
Speaker
And I think, you know, even like we're saying all of this, we're we're stating all these facts, but I think when we really pay attention to our body, when you pay attention to your body and you feel the energy of stress, you know what that feels like versus the feeling of joy.
00:05:47
Speaker
It feels healing, right? You feel like your body is rejuvenated. You have more energy, you have less inflammation, all of those things. And joy also supports our hormones.
00:06:00
Speaker
Right. And that's such a good point because sure, now we can, you know, give off some facts about our hormones being supported. Like obviously when we're making less cortisol, we're able to make more progesterone shout out to a couple of weeks back when we talked about that cortisol progesterone steel and things like your dopamine and your serotonin. are more balanced. And this is obviously supporting our mood, our motivation, our sleep. So oxytocin is the bonding, the safety hormone. So like you just said, Kim, these are actual biochemical things happening in the body, but we feel these when our cortisol is regulated, when our dopamine and our serotonin are at optimal levels, we are feeling more calm, more balanced, more happy. And you're right. It's We know when we're feeling that joy, excuse me, when we're in a situation of joy, you feel like a million bucks.
00:06:56
Speaker
Absolutely. And the practice that we talked about, we'll get into it in a little second. This is where this becomes so important because as you know, we talk about this when it comes to diet, to movement, to all of these things, putting these things into practice will give you the positive results that you want. And so going back to your body and noticing how you're feeling is so important.
00:07:21
Speaker
For sure. And you're probably like, ladies, this is so confusing because we talk about like how difficult holiday gatherings can be, you know, and boundaries and all of that stuff. And that's like the opposite of joy. But what we're trying to, you know, talk about here is that why joe is joy is so important and how,
00:07:42
Speaker
to cultivate that and make it part of our practice because the more we can look for that joy, it's going help again when our nervous system system is balanced, when our hormones are balanced, we're better able to deal with stresses, to deal with triggers like we were talking about at the holiday table or like life in
Practicing Joy and Finding Everyday Moments
00:08:03
Speaker
general. And also around the holiday table,
00:08:07
Speaker
because it is stress and sugar season, there might be a lot of things that we are not interested in catching. And guess what? if You guys are going to guess it. Joy supports your immune system.
00:08:19
Speaker
Absolutely. it it just, as Tanya said, it supports our immune system, um, faster recovery from illness. It literally, as you know, when your body is put into fight and flight, it's not attacking the invaders. It's, it's um the viruses and bacteria that we're coming across. And so putting your body into that rest and digest, that healing is so important to support our immune system and also part and parcel, our digestion, rest and digestion. part and parcel. um You just said it though. There's no definition meeting there. Exactly. And remember, Kim, don't ask me what episode. And I said we were going to get tank tops and we have a lot of tank tops to make because I say that a lot. Listening back, I'm like, I'm going to have a lot of nutritional tank tops, but you are too, because you're going have to wear matching ones. um
00:09:12
Speaker
You can eat the best food ever. Your plate can be balanced it can be amazing. But if you're stressed and you're disconnected from joy, Kim said it, we are what we absorb.
00:09:25
Speaker
We are as good as what we absorb. And feeling that joy is gonna cultivate that rest and digest and actually assimilating those nutrients and getting the value out of what you're eating.
00:09:36
Speaker
Absolutely. joy is Joy is medicine. As you said at the beginning, it is the best medicine. It's the antidote for stress. Right. And we talked about this in another episode. One of my favorite things that my counselor taught me a while ago is about the the window of tolerance and supporting our stress resiliency.
00:09:56
Speaker
Joy increases that window of tolerance. It helps us become more resilient to stress. And therefore, all of those things that Tanya and I listed supports our immune system, supports our hormone health, supports our digestion, all of those amazing things. Joy is literally medicine.
00:10:13
Speaker
And I think when we take it from like a feeling point of view in a real life angle, which I, you know, loved that how you did that earlier, Kim, is that like when you're sick, you know, you just have a cold or whatever, and you're feeling pretty crummy. But for, you know, those 25 minutes or whatever, you put something on a real good feel good show, if that's your thing. And it's hilarious.
00:10:33
Speaker
You actually feel better in those 25 minutes because you're joyous. Something's actually really, you know what I mean, cultivated that joy in you. And similarly, when you sit down to eat a meal, when I eat a meal joyous, like I, you know, what I just feel great after I feel good. I don't feel tired. You know, i've just, it feels right. It hits right. As opposed to eating stressed and, you know, ah you stressed, I guess that's the best I can say it and stressed and just worn down or whatever, which we're all going to be, which kind of leads why it's so important to look at cultivating joy and why it is a practice.
Incorporating Joy and Gratitude into Daily Life
00:11:09
Speaker
Right. And let's face it. I know all of you listening, if you are in fact listening to it on Christmas Eve, You've worked so hard for this point, right? We've done all the things to create the Christmas magic. I'm sure your Christmas, like all the cooking and the baking and the wrapping and the thing. And we want to be able to be joyous. We want to be able to enjoy all of these things.
00:11:34
Speaker
And so what does that look like? How do we do this? And before we go into that, if you don't mind, I just want to add to that because you triggered something in my brain here.
00:11:44
Speaker
Yeah. So congrats for everything that you've done up until now, which we know has been a lot. Has been everything. Literally, you have made the magic. um And you're you're Santa tonight. So let's be honest. It's that's not over yet, ladies. But remembering that This pleasure that we want to allow ourself to feel before we talk about cultivating it can coexist with hard things. So yes, we're going to talk about cultivating joy and how joy is a practice, but we're not asking you to disregard the hard things in your life. Joy is never going to be mutually exclusive from the other things that we're feeling. But it's like what you said, Kim, what we give attention to, what we put our intention into, it grows. So we're looking to cultivate and grow joy. We're not looking to just discount everything else and all of the broad things that we are all going through as humans, right?
00:12:44
Speaker
Absolutely. We have the whole gamut of emotions. And we talked about that too. This, especially during the holiday season, all of these things can be brought up and we know what can be brought up in the dinner table from the episodes before. But we also want you to experience the present moment and experience joy.
00:13:03
Speaker
So um as Tanya said, joy is a practice. And dare we say, we can actually create a boundary. We can create joy as a boundary. Like so many of us, I find we see joy as a reward, right? I will experience joy when this is done. um Like I've done this hard work and now I can experience joy.
00:13:29
Speaker
I mean, we can also input the word rest here as well. So both can be true, right? um But it's so it's a practice. It's a practice finding joy, not mutually exclusive of all of the other things, as I just said. So not even just the other feelings. That's a good one, Kim.
00:13:48
Speaker
The other tasks. I can move find joy when all the stockings are stuffed and everything is perfect for the next day and it's 3 a.m. No. no You can find joy while doing these tasks imperfectly and all of the little things they don't, it doesn't have to
Discovering 'Glimmers' of Joy
00:14:07
Speaker
wait till the end. So I love that Kim joy, a joy boundary, almost like trying to find the joy. And I, we've talked about this too, in ah in our gratitude episode, because joy and gratitude are very closely linked. Finding joy
00:14:22
Speaker
in the mundane day to day, finding joy in your dumpster fire. If you get up one day, like, well, this day is a dumpster fire, but cultivating some joy while you're in that fire.
00:14:33
Speaker
These it's a thing and we can do it, but it's a practice and it takes effort. Well, absolutely. And i I think about our episode when we talked about the kitchen table, right?
00:14:44
Speaker
And we talked about going into the bathroom and texting a friend or like me sending you voice notes or whatever. And that's joy right there. I mean, in the midst of the dumpster fire. And it's making that a practice. Like you locking eyes with your sister across the table being like, oh God, like that's bringing some some levity, some joy, some laughter to it.
00:15:05
Speaker
Even through the craziness. I never... thought about that and you're right and joy becomes a savior when you don't even realize it that simple voice note or text message from you know someone you love can actually be a joy. You can be almost in the middle of, we can, dare we say it, we can call it, you know, a meltdown or a crisis mode or whatever. And someone sends you a voice note or a meme and they don't even know what's going on. And for one second you have that elation and like, that's right. That's that's joy.
00:15:38
Speaker
You're right. And that can be inserted in any situation. I love that. That was just like a aha moment for me. So thanks Kim, because my joy comes in a lot of voice notes. Some of them, lots of them from you about technology. Well, and it's true. And even like to go the next step, what a beautiful way to spread joy this holiday season. Remembering those people might be going through it. Remember those people who are, who have lost a loved one and sending them a little something to give them that spark of joy, that like that little bit of laughter when they're going through a hard time.
00:16:11
Speaker
So when you say spark, it reminds me of the word spark. glimmer And glimmers is something that you have made me more familiar with. And I think there's no perfect time right now to talk about glimmers and how that's just changed my whole thought pattern about cultivating joy.
00:16:33
Speaker
Well, glimmer. So maybe some of you have seen it. I think it's been all over Instagram for a while is finding your glimmers. And they're really talking about those micro moments, those small moments of connection of like what we just talked about with the text of joy um that that brings that sort of sense of calm. And so the term glimmer was actually introduced by Dana, Diana, and she is a social worker and an author. And she termed this point that coined this term in one of her books. And it's such a beautiful way to describe these small moments of joy. And it doesn't, it it kind of, it, it makes it simple, right? Like it, like we just talked about, we could be going through a hard time, but we've got these little micro moments where we experience joy that then add up over time and help. Again, in her book, she's really going back to supporting the nervous system and,
00:17:32
Speaker
adding these little glimmers, adding these micro moments up is so supportive. And I don't know, I've totally missed that on Instagram. So I don't know if that's a testament to me scrolling less. I'm not saying I i am scrolling less or a testament to me just totally missing that algorithm. But now, maybe it's my algorithm. Because I'm...
00:17:51
Speaker
So now and would it like then do what you love, right? Like, here you go, Kim. More on. That's true, though. That's amazing. um So when I think of now the word glimmers in my head, just as you were talking, I swear to God, like I just had all these little what I think are feelings of glimmers that I'm sitting here smiling, talking to and almost having a little chuckle. I feel like glimmers are something we can put in the bank.
00:18:16
Speaker
The memory bank. So when I think of my glimmers, there's things that I'm thinking of right now that almost make want to burst out laughing or I literally involuntarily smile. And I'm going to call um one of my besties out, Ash, you know, Ash, we've known Ash since birth. One of my glimmers, I will tell you, is picturing like funny things like when Ashley tries to walk out of the water at any beach on rocks. I think that that glimmer, even though, love you, Ashley, her poor feet suffer, that like just those things that make you laugh and they can be silly and they can be crazy. But I think we have to remember that these glimmers that spark joy,
00:18:57
Speaker
can be different and will look different for all of us. I'm not sure that everybody's going to laugh picturing someone they don't know walking out of the water. For me, it's joy. It's joy. Sorry, I love it. I love it. and And it goes back to what we were talking about earlier about it being a practice. You need to be in the present moment to notice, right? To notice the glimmers, right? To notice, you know,
00:19:24
Speaker
your dog sleeping cozily in front of the fire, to notice your like children's face when they wake up and they open that present, to look at your mom who just whatever is making that apple pie that you love or whatever it is, or watching your friend attempt to get out of the lake.
00:19:43
Speaker
Am I a terrible person? Kim's like, your dog sleeping, your mom making pie in your child's face. I'm like, washing ash struggle on jagged rocks, getting out of the water. You're just as important. going to the bathroom and like, commenting on like, whatever. didnt I don't know. Whatever with your friend, right? like And that's the beauty of it. Like, we keep going back to It's going to look different for all of us. And not all my glimmers are that...
00:20:10
Speaker
sadistic, I want to say. I have, like what you said, Kim, when you're talking about your dog sleeping, it's being in the present. And I think putting a lot of those in the bank as well, in the memory bank, and thinking back even of like Pete, when he would roll on over on his back, that still brings me joy, even though maybe the memory has passed or the joy is from the past. I think these glimmers still allow us with practice to bring and evoke that feeling of joy, even if it was something in the past.
00:20:40
Speaker
Yeah, you're absolutely right. and it's And again, it's that being present enough to experience it and to notice it and to and to notice it as joy. And they add up over time, what we just said before, what you focus on grows.
00:20:58
Speaker
For sure. And I want to actually, sorry, i want to bring up something that you said when we were just chatting quickly before we started recording, because this really is important. You said that glimmers are the opposite of triggers.
00:21:12
Speaker
I think that's a powerful, powerful statement where we know that even the word triggers triggering in itself, triggers bring up things that are difficult for us, the opposite of joy.
00:21:28
Speaker
glimmers bring up the most wonderful, have to have the power, if we, you know, practice and cultivate it to bring up the opposite, the most wonderful, happy feelings to flood body with those feel good hormones instead of those cortisol and adrenaline hormones.
Making Joy a Regular Practice
00:21:45
Speaker
Absolutely, absolutely. And it's so it's such a wonderful practice. and And it goes back to like, what you were just saying, like, I think about like When I go out for dinner with my girlfriends from high school, like when we all get together, it's like were we're reminiscing on all the glimmers, right? All the glimmers that are stored in our memory bank over time. And it's just, yeah. So again, it's it's those micro moments, those little moments and being present enough to experience them.
00:22:17
Speaker
For sure. Yes, there we go ahead. No, you go. We have so much to say about this joy. So no, carry on. I was just going to say another, you know, one that ah kind of goes with what we said at the beginning where we we don't want to see joy as a reward, but we also don't want to postpone joy, right? Because so many of us do this. We do this, we talked about before. We do this with our fitness, our movement practice. Sometimes we do this with our rest. We do the, you can add in many different things here, but you know, we will, just like we say, sort of like, we'll start that exercise program in January, right?
00:22:54
Speaker
We do the same thing with joy. When my work project is complete, when things settle down, when the kids are taken care of, once I finish the holiday baking, once I finish wrapping them we're going to experience joy then. And I think what this whole podcast, what we were talking about, Tanya, is like redefining that and saying like, find joy in those moments, right? Find little micro moments of joy while you're doing this. Let's not delay our joy.
00:23:24
Speaker
Right. And I'm sitting here listening to you, looking outside with all the snow on the trees. I have a beautiful soy candle burning. I'm just looking at all the things I love on my desk, my crystals, my Palo Santo. And like, I could almost get emotional because I just cultivated joy in this moment, even talking about it, excuse me, because I'm so grateful in this moment that we're doing this, that we're putting this out there. I having this, I have you, we have this podcast. So like, that's a perfect example where I found joy. I'm not not saying you're mundane, Kim, or this is mundane, but joy in the everyday. This is our career.
00:24:03
Speaker
And I, I just literally had a true moment of joy. And that's really what it's about. It is because we can get so busy and we can forget, even though like we do like love what we do. We love what we do for work, but like taking that mindful moment to be present enough to reflect on that is so important.
00:24:30
Speaker
Exactly. So again, that goes with it's not you're not joy is not mutually exclusive to all of the other things you're doing and things that you're feeling. And you also don't have to force it. So if you know, you're doing the practice of cultivating joy every day and looking for these moments in the mundane and in your present life or thinking back what's in your joy bank, and you're not feeling that joyous.
00:24:55
Speaker
We're also not telling you to to force it. Be true to yourself. Some days the work is going to be, you know, harder than others.
Anecdotes of Everyday Joy
00:25:02
Speaker
So it just makes me think of earlier in the week, I had breakfast with some of my friends and we were, we were talking about this actually, about just everything that's going on, life being busy, you know, things going on with kids, this and that and whatever. And then all of a sudden you literally find yourself laughing over something absolutely ridiculous that's just taken place at the table or whatever snorting laughing and we didn't have to force the joy it was very serious conversation before that but it found us and it it existed within the hardships of the conversations as well I love that Tanya it's it's so true it's like I think we sometimes think of joy as this like
00:25:44
Speaker
Like when you look on Instagram and it's these picture perfect, joyous moments where everything looks perfect and it's all like tied up with a bow. But joy looks differently for all of us. It's that like what you said, Tanya, in the midst of a dumpster fire sometimes. And they can be these beautiful moments that end up the moments that we remember forever and think back on, right?
00:26:08
Speaker
And with that too, the whole Instagram thing, I always remember this sentence. Comparison is the thief of joy. So don't get caught up on the time, the bow moments and whatever.
00:26:21
Speaker
Get caught up in real life joy. Don't let comparison steal the joy because it's different for all of us.
Closing Holiday Wishes and Gratitude
00:26:28
Speaker
We're all different people. We're all drawn to different things and different things are going to be joyous for us. So like, let your joy be unique to you, but practice it, cultivate it, look for it.
00:26:40
Speaker
but don't force it into your life. The more you look for it, I promise you, the more it's going to come. Absolutely, Tanya. I love that. I love that. And gratitude is a huge piece of it too. It really helps build joy. So if you're like, if you have that practice of gratitude, likely joy will follow as well.
00:27:00
Speaker
Absolutely. So at this time, whether if you're listening in real time, Tonight, you may sit down and gather with people. You may sit down and gather in a different way. We genuinely are sending you joy.
00:27:13
Speaker
we are sending you so much gratitude for being with us in this podcast. And we're sending you so much love. And hopefully throughout your evening and throughout your holiday, you will find those moments. And hopefully they will be so darn good that you're goingnna put them in your bank for years to come.
00:27:32
Speaker
Yes. You said it so perfectly, Tanya. Happy Christmas Eve, everyone. We hope you find the glimmers um over the holiday season. We are so grateful for all of you.
00:27:45
Speaker
We hope you have a wonderful holiday. happy Merry Christmas, everybody. And yeah, we'll talk to you later. Bye. Bye, Tanya. Bye.
00:27:55
Speaker
Hey guys, thanks so much for hanging out with us today. If this episode resonated with you, we would love it if you would hit like, subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend. We love to hear from you because let's be honest, this show is for you.
00:28:09
Speaker
If you have a topic you'd love us to tackle or want to learn more about something we talked about today, send us a message. We got you. Stay connected with us on social media at whatsmyageagain.podcast for even more knowledge and inspiration between episodes.
00:28:27
Speaker
Kim and I aren't doctors or your healthcare practitioners. Everyone's body is unique, so always consult your own healthcare provider before starting something new.