10 Places to Find Moments of Joy

Whether or not you agree with the fact that happiness is too trivial a goal in the long run, on days when it feels like a grayish cloak weighs on you heart and soul, it is only natural to yearn for what can bring the sunlight back during the storm. This yearning is usually accompanied by an expectation for grand gestures and messages to turn around our day and point us back towards the light. In many cases, however, the journey to happiness can be achieved in a series of smaller, more subtle steps. Often, happiness spawns from our individual decisions to recognize those small pockets of hidden joy that appear in our daily lives, but typically go unnoticed in our unrefined lenses for cheerfulness. With how fast-paced our normal daily lives sweep past in the blink of an eye, the places where we can typically find fragments of light can go over looked. To help slow down your brain and fine-tune your consciousness for recognizing happiness in plain sight, here are 10 places where you can remind yourself of the constant presence of joy in your life.

    @eleannnora

1. In the still, soundless moments of the morning when you first blink away those hours of sleep into your pillow, the happenings of your dreams still at the edge of your consciousness.

2. In the first sip of a caffeinated beverage when your surroundings begin to fully take focus and transforms from black and white to lighted color.

    @nikichristine

3. In the endorphin-filled moments post-workout when you slowly catch your breath and relish in the pride and satisfaction of bettering yourself.

4. In the unmatched serenity of a hot shower when the steaming water pulses against your scalp and back of your neck, washing away that layer of negative energy and loosening your tangled muscles in steady, unbraiding strings.

   @froilinabella

5. In the tender flavors of a meal that you or your loved one home-cooked yourselves— the culinary manifestation of the contents of caring.

6. In the long, warm hugs from those who hold your heart and shield it from the world as they hold the pieces of you together in their arms.

@mckennafairey

7. In the winding conversations about nothing in particular that you have with those who can’t be with you physically in the present moment, but whose laughter can still beam light into your day.

8. In the moments that you find that there is nothing that you have to do— and remembering that that is completely okay if all you accomplished that day is simply breathing and being.

  @lindseykweller

9. In the second that you realize you have no idea what day it is and that the passage of time does not halt and the world doesn’t fall apart when you choose not to live your life by the exact rhythm of the calendar.

10. In the flowing, transient period of lulling yourself to sleep in the cushion of your bed, comforted in the fact that you lived your day through all of those little moments of joy and that you will continue to do so in the days to come.

 @mackenziewaroe