What is Joy?

An emotion that causes feelings of happiness, delight, and pleasure.

To me joy is different to happiness, happiness is fleeting, it comes and goes and is often tied to an external event or experience.

My definition of joy is that it’s accessible whether you’re happy or sad, or any other emotion. An example of joy is when you’ve failed at something important or lost someone close, you feel grief and deep sadness.

While you’re walking along feeling terrible, you see a duckling preparing to jump from the bank of the pond into the water. You can see it’s nervous as it fluffs its little feathers, you can see its parents looking back encouragingly, it’s the last duckling to enter the water. After pacing up and down a few times, it plucks up the courage to take the leap and it bobs under the water coming up, joining its siblings, looking mighty proud and puffing out its little chest.

That moment you just witnessed would bring you joy in your heart. It may not induce happiness, as you are moving through grief, however like a shaft of light through the clouds, it can pierce your heart for a few moments with a warm and loving feeling which I call joy.

Joy is the feeling we get when we are reminded of our connection with the divine beauty of all that is around us, ourselves, nature, our loved ones, our experiences etc.

What are Morning Rituals?

Morning rituals are a set of practices you commit to completing each morning, usually first thing before you start your day.

Examples of morning rituals are yoga, meditation, journaling, walking, a luxurious morning cup of coffee or tea in the sunshine, a healthy breakfast etc.

A morning ritual can really be anything that adds value to your life experience.

The name ‘Morning Ritual’ rather than ‘Morning Routine’ suggests that there is a spiritual quality to the activities you choose, which I think is the key to cultivating joy through your morning rituals.

You can have a morning routine which includes exercise, a healthy breakfast and planning your day, which may be very helpful in many ways in keeping you on track. However, it may not serve to bring you joy, it depends on how you are choosing and engaging in the practices. Allow me to explain…

How Your Morning Rituals Cultivate Joy

It is really a question of intention and attention – as so many things are! Here are some simple steps to follow:

1. Set your intention to feel good – and then choose your morning rituals based on what feels good to you. For example, do you prefer to do HIIT workouts or dance workouts? Or both? Do you prefer to write or read? Does a brisk morning walk work for you, or a cosy cuppa on the sofa?

2. Be disciplined AND flexible – choose 1 morning ritual that you do every day, non-negotiable. Then alternate your rituals across the other days, e.g., do yoga one morning, Pilates another, walk another and dance wildly around your house to your favourite songs on another! Variety is spice of life!

3. As you are doing your morning rituals, give your full attention to your experience. Give yourself the gift of presence. Whether you are writing in your journal or reading a spiritual book, switch off all distractions and be fully absorbed in your practice.

There are so many benefits to having a morning ritual practice that lights you up and sets you up for the day, I won’t bore you with the list here as you can do a 2 min Google search to find them.

However, using your morning rituals to cultivate joy, to actively create opportunities to feel that divine connection, like the duckling jumping into the pond, requires clear intention and focused attention.

Throughout my life I have had so many different morning ritual practices, I bring in the practices best suited to what I need and want to cultivate in this moment. There are no right or wrongs, you know best what is best of you, try out a few and see what brings you joy and wellbeing.

Sending love on your beautiful journey xxx