Today is cloudy and gray and I'm tired and worried about a few things, so I found myself in a bit of a low place emotionally. I spent the morning journaling and meditating. Then, I enjoyed a relaxing bath with epsom salt, sea salt, and essential oils. I was listening to one of my favorite stations on Pandora radio and it occurred to me that I was feeling a bit lighter. I noticed that the song playing was a waltz and I recalled feeling a bit brighter every time a waltz comes on. So I started thinking about the power of music.

There are songs that make me cry, songs that make me want to dance, and songs that bring me joy. Music soothes the soul, warms the heart, and can clear away tears within just of few beats. The power of music cannot be denied. What is it about music that is so moving and healing?

When we listen to music our brain releases a feel good chemical called dopamine which has an effect on emotion, perception and movement. Music impacts our emotions, lifts our mood, reduces anxiety, raises motivation and helps lighten depression.

source: Harvard Health Publishing

So the next time you are feeling blue try turning up the volume on your favorite song and see how it can have a positive impact on your mood, motivation, or joy. 

“Music has a power over the body, a language that possesses an inherent nature to make us feel.”

—Deborah Bradway, MT-BC, from “Music Therapy as a Treatment for Substance Abuse with At-Risk Children and Adolescents”

And if you are looking for more ideas to find joy in your life please join me every Tuesday at 1pm ET. Click here for more information.

If you are struggling to have fun or find the joy in your life, I encourage you to contact me to see how I might be able to help. Simply click this link to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you.

Until next time, I wish you joy.

Last summer I went on a weekend retreat to reconnect to my inner joy. It was a beautiful weekend in the Colorado mountains shared with a dozen others who were also seeking their own inner joy. Recently, as I was clearing some paperwork from a desk drawer, I discovered the outcome of that weekend. I called it my joy contract. It was good advice then and remains good advice for me now, so I wanted to share it with you. 

I Barbara Elaine Brown agree to seek joy in my life and spread joy in the world each and every day from this day forward by:

These are great reminders, and for the most part, I live by these ideas. I'll find my joy list and post it soon. If you would like help discovering or reconnecting to your inner joy please contact me to see how we might work together. 

Well, it's supposed to be. We make things more difficult than they are. We give people power over us by worrying what others think about us. We lose perspective about situations in our lives by focusing on what's wrong rather than what's right. We complicate our lives by always looking for the extraordinary. We give our power away by looking for joy outside of ourselves. But joy is an inside job and is most easily found in simple moments. And it bubbles up from the inside of each of us when we slow down, feel in, and lean in to joy.

Joy is not an elusive thing, although it feels that way sometimes. It helps to shift our expectations and experience of joy. Other terms for joy include peaceful, contented, and satisfied. Sometimes it's just a moment of feeling satisfied.  But so often we lose the moment because we are looking for the extraordinary, or our minds are busy, or we are not tuned in because of distractions, and we miss the moment when all is right with the world. Simple, fleeting moments. But they're there. And when we notice the simple moments we learn to lean into the next moment and the next, until joy becomes a habit. We receive more of what we focus on. Are you focusing on what's going wrong or what's going right? Focus on what's right, even if it's small and simple, and you will begin to notice the simple moments of joy.