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Gina Prosch

finding joy one day at a time

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finding joy

Joy is like a red pickup truck

When my son, Wyatt, was around three years old, my husband and I were driving him to swimming lessons when I noticed a red pickup in front of us driving erratically.

“Lookout! Whoever’s driving that red pickup truck is a nut!” I said.

From his car seat in the back Wyatt piped up, “That red pickup is goin’ nutty nutty!”

From the front seat we laughed on cue, and from that point on for about a year any time we went anywhere, Wyatt served as The Red Pickup Patrol.

Go to town for groceries — he’d see two or three or ten red pickups.  

Take a road trip to visit the grandparents in Nebraska — it seemed like he’d see hundreds of red pickups.

And if one of those pickup zipped pass us on the interstate or zoomed around a corner, he’d say, “There’s that red pickup goin’ nutty-nutty again!”

Wyatt showed me the truth — we find what we look for.

When we looked for red pickups, red pickups were everywhere!

This morning, while running some errands, I decided to look for little blue coupes.

Not two miles down the road — there was a little blue coupe coming down the on-ramp and another one at a stoplight. 

But the exact same principle holds true with our daily lives.  We find what we teach ourselves to look for.

If we make habits of looking for people and situations that slight and belittle us — things that make us feel “less than” — we will find them in heaps, loads, and buckets.

It’s a twist on “be careful what you wish for,” be mindful of what you look for.

Seven years ago today — August 1, 2012 — I started my public journey toward #ThisDaysJoy with the first post I made on my Facebook timeline by recording a small, joyful moment in what was otherwise a glum and grumpy day.

Watching the cat run through the house and try to turn a quick corner on hardwood floors.

That first post was spontaneous, but looking for a small bright spot the next day was intentional.

Watching the zinnias and cosmos in the flower garden bob their heads in the breeze.

And so was the third day, and the fourth, and each and every day since then.

It’s about being intentional and seeing the difference that good intention makes in everyday living.

It’s about making a habit of looking for joy the way a three-year-old looks for red pickup trucks.

Filed Under: Gina Prosch Blog Tagged With: finding joy, finding what you look for, speak of the devil and he shall appear

Frontloading Joy

 
People sometimes ask me why I’m so passionately committed to finding joy each and every day.

Unfortunately, my devotion to joy stems from the bad days — the days when friends, family, and furry loved ones have died, when dreams have been shattered, when the world turned dark.

If there were a way to skip those kind of days, anyone with a lick of sense would.

But there’s no avoiding them. There’s only getting thru them, waiting until the sun comes out again, until you realize there are new dreams, and that life really does go on.

The way I’ve gotten thru times like this is by grabbing hold of joy, even a small little scrap, with both hands and hanging on for all I’m worth until the sun returns, new dreams form, and life moves forward.

During those hard times, times when the joy of finding a quarter on the sidewalk is the high point of the day, I learned that finding joy is far too important to leave to chance.

Joy demands intentionality — frontloading.

What do I mean by frontloading joy?

It’s like priming the pump for everyday use.

Think of things that make you happy, the people who put a smile on your face, the memories that soothe your soul. Make a list, write them down.

Then if those things are things you can control — do it, get it, put it in your path.

Frontload joy.

That’s why I always keep an extra bag of coffee in the pantry.

On the kind of day when a cup of coffee makes all the difference, I can concentrate on the thank heavens there’s coffee in the house rather than the reason I need the coffee in the first place.

That’s why I have a funky flickering battery operated candle (with a timer, no less!) on the television stand.

These autumn days are getting shorter, and seeing the warm glow of a candle is a bright spot I’m sure to see. Plus, there’s no worry I’ll forget to blow it out and burn down the house (more joy!).

That’s why, even though I live way out in the country and get a grand total of zero trick-or-treaters, I pick up an extra couple of bags of my favorite chocolates for Halloween.

Because sometimes a stash of decadent emergency chocolate can turn an afternoon around.

That’s why I keep my current hand-quilting projects right beside my chair in the living room.

Gorgeous fabric within easy reach, growing a beautiful project with a soothing stitches. That’s always a good thing.

That’s why there’s always a tin of my favorite mints and a miniature coloring book and colored pencils in my purse. It’s mobile joy!

There’s an old Journey song “Be Good To Yourself” which remind everyone to be good to themselves because no one else will.

And it’s true.

I hope there are always people in my life who want to be good to me, but I can’t depend on them to always do the heavy lifting.

I can depend on myself. I can choose for joy every day, and you can, too.

There’s a meme going around that says “if you choose not to find joy in the snow, you have will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.”

Who wants that? I certainly don’t.

Here’s what you do: grab a pen and paper and make a list of things that bring you joy…guaranteed. Maybe it features tea instead of coffee or super-sour candies instead of chocolates.

The important thing is the things on your list bring you joy. Then go shopping. Surround yourself with the things on your list. Store up your go-tos for joy each and every day.

Don’t leave things to chance — frontload joy.

Filed Under: Gina Prosch Blog Tagged With: be intentional, cheat, finding joy, putting joy in your path

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