Be Overjoyed

I’ve been musing today about kindness and gratitude and how we often miss what is right in front of us.   The first couple hours of my work day today were really...irritating. I don’t know if there's a full moon or what, but it felt like I was attracting all sorts of annoying people and tasks!  You know those days.

I went for a brisk walk in the sunny cold with my husband. The air and exercise - and a wee bit of venting - helped me start to rebound from this funk. But I wasn’t all the way out of my crappy mood.

I grabbed my journal and started to write out some self-coaching questions.  Specifically: What’s bugging me? What’s really bugging me? (there’s always stuff below the obvious)  What do I want? What do I need? What am I grateful for?   

And there it was.  The SWITCH that literally moved me out of grumpy and into joyful.  Here’s what I realized I am grateful for…

The other day around 5pm, I had a drink with an old friend and former colleague downtown.  It had been at least 6 years and we had such a great time catching up! After an hour and a half, we both needed to get going home to join our families for dinner.   Our conversation was still going strong though! So she offered to drive me home so we could keep going and so I wouldn’t need to take the train. So kind of her! My home is at least 20 minutes further out from hers.   This gesture truly made me feel valued and grateful.

And my best friend made me my favourite meal for my birthday on the weekend - Irish stew!  She makes it for me every year because my mom always did when she was still with us. 

I’m overjoyed that my friend drove me home because she also wanted to continue our conversation.  I’m overjoyed that my friend spent time making a meal she knew I would savour emotionally as well as physically.

I’m overjoyed that I was able to REFRAME my day and that I didn’t lose the whole thing to a grumpy, non-productive mood!

What about you?

• What are some recent acts of kindness that happened in your life recently?  
• What might it take to start noticing these more intentionally, so that you can feel overjoyed more often?