Real Joy, Right Now

I get the Oprah.com "Spirit" newsletter e-mailed to me on a regular basis.  Maybe daily.  Sometimes I don't pay attention, sometimes I do.  Today's really spoke to me because it aligns closely with what I'm trying to achieve for myself this year.  It had a link to an article from O, The Oprah Magazine, July 2000 issue titled, "Real Joy, Right Now".  Here's the link:

http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Real-Joy-Right-Now

It's a short article.  Go ahead and read it. 

Did you read it?  Ok, For those of you not in the mood to hit the Oprah website, I'll summarize:

The gist of the article is (1) everyone deserves real joy in their lives (duh!) (2) the tricky part is finding out what gives us joy and (3) finding ways to make it part of our life. 

All these sound like no brainers.  But I think we sometimes need to be reminded of these things.  This is one of the reasons I like getting Oprah's spirit newsletter.  The article was written over 10 years ago.  I might have even read it at the time, but whatever was going on in my life, it didn't really resonate with me then the way it does now.

But I digress.  The author of said article (Debrena Jackson Gandy) suggests grabbing a journal and taking an inventory of things that really cause you joy. And you're supposed to come up with at least 3 things.  And then later you should revisit your list and figure out what you're doing or not doing that is keeping you from joy.  

A line I really loved from the article was this:

"When any area of your life—and especially your work, since many working women spend most of their days at the office—is aligned with what you find satisfying, 80 percent of the activities involved should bring you joy. Eighty! Right now ask yourself, When I scan every area of my life, how much of what I do is a reflection of what brings me joy? Tell yourself the truth. Do the things you do bring you joy at least 80 percent of the time? Are there disparities between what you say brings you joy and what you actually do? Starting today, decide how you can change this."

I like this.  Really makes you think about what you're spending your time doing.  Now, most of us are kind of stuck with what our work brings us.  I know I'm not in a financial position to just up and quit my job if I feel like I'm not getting 80% joy out of the time I spend at work (and in my case getting to and from work, as I currently have a 90 minute commute - yes, you read that correctly).

The statement makes me feel like my time OFF work is that much more important.  No more pissing away the weekends and evenings doing the same old-same old.  Just like I blogged about before.  We all really need to live out loud and consciously make decisions about how we spend our lives if we really want to get the most out of it.

Just my 2 cents.