Hello Beautiful Souls! 🌟
As an Ayurvedic Digestive Health Counselor, Yoga Teacher, and Face Yoga Method Teacher, I am passionate about helping you beautify from the inside out! One delightful way to do this is by creating a ‘Joy Menu.’ I discovered this in my wonderful coaching group, the Healthstyle Emporium. This supportive network of wellness coaches have been an incredible resource for me as a coach, and also as a person who is also diving into personal development each and every day.
I digress… you may be asking, “But what exactly is a Joy Menu, and why should I consider crafting one for myself?” Ok — check out the details below:
What is a Joy Menu?
A Joy Menu is a personalized list of activities, rituals, or small moments that bring you happiness. Think of it as a go-to guide for uplifting your spirit whenever you need a boost! From savoring a warm cup of chai to dancing in your living room, each item on your Joy Menu is an opportunity to nurture your soul especially for you.
Why Choose Joy Every Day For You?
Our days are filled with responsibilities and routines, but choosing one joyful experience daily can transform your outlook and elevate your mood naturally. When you intentionally seek joy, you teach your mind to recognize and amplify positive experiences. Allocating time each day for you enables you to begin a new way of experiencing life for you each and every day. I don’t know about you, but having a special menu (see below) printed out and placed on my fridge not only invites me to take a break for just me each day, but it also shows my partner and kids that I take time for myself. It also invites them to do the same. I also have this pinned on my laptop and phone, as well as a screensaver!
The Neuroscience of Joy: Activating Your Brain’s Happiness Center
Our brains are incredible! The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a network of neurons in the brainstem that plays a crucial role in attention and focus. When you decide to notice joy, your RAS helps filter your experiences, highlighting the positive and helping you become more attuned to happiness.
Below, please notice the image of the RAS is dynamically like your brain’s antennae, but on the inside of the brain. Also, the RAS is deeply influenced by the two senses: the sense of sight and hearing.
Image credit: https://dismantledmind.com/the-reticular-activating-system/
By adding joyful experiences to your day, you’re essentially training your brain to find more reasons to smile. It’s like building a muscle—the more you practice, the stronger it gets! Additionally, by placing your joy menu on your fridge, on your phone’s wallpaper, as well as your computer, you are reminding yourself of this upgraded habit to allocate time for you to do something for your wellness each day. This is deep self-care of training your brain to look for ideas to nurture yourself outside of this experience of simply the “joy menu”. Slowly, you will begin to see yourself finding other ways to express yourself through simply daily activities that can bring more joy and ease into your day with an elevated mood that prioritizes YOU!
Personal Reflection: My Journey with Joy
I remember a time when life felt overwhelmingly busy. It was an era when I was deeply involved in community leadership and having little kids needing me all of the time. We also had a dog and I had a wonderful husband who brought to life other layers of needs and opportunities for connecting in our community, as well. All of this outward-facing activity created levels of anxiety that moved through me each day (at different levels). This was a constant experience each day for many years and it eroded my sense of well-being.
After this season of our lives, I begin with one thing to look forward to each week: a meditation group. This group lifted me up and I slowly discovered that I wanted to learn to teach meditation formally, and began programs to become a meditation teacher through the lens of yoga. This led me down my current path of teaching wellness practices to individuals and expressing myself through the lens in which you found this blog post and the joy menu blow.
What I have found that is very manageable for each and every person in life is that you can begin Incorporating one small, joyful practice each day—like a morning stretch or lighting a scented candle—change your entire perspective, while re-wiring your brain, as well. For me, the transformation wasn’t just mental; my digestion improved, my skin glowed brighter, and I felt more connected to my true self. That’s the magic of joy!
This was an era of busy busy time… althought my daughter has surpassed me at this point!
Creating Your Own Joy Menu
Start by listing simple things that make you happy! Include activities that are easy to incorporate into your daily life. Perhaps it’s a few minutes of face yoga, sipping herbal tea, or practicing a calming breathing exercise. Getting outside can be a savior for you if you have anxiety. Discover what makes you happy each day and create your own joy menu. Revise them each quarter to acknowledge the seasonal opportunities for getting outside. For example, in the spring, I will add some gardening and outings with my besties to bring some new facets of life that naturally occur in the spring. This can be deeply grounding in the Ayurvedic tradition to think of this playful energy of joy through the lens of seasonality.
Elevate Your Mood with Rituals
In Ayurveda, creating daily rituals is a cornerstone of balanced living. When you make joy a daily ritual, you’re investing in your emotional and physical well-being. These small moments accumulate, creating a reservoir of happiness that you can draw from even on tough days. Identifying what you most need from your joy menu can develop from this well that you cultivate in your soul. This well, you can draw from over time and replenish, as well with each joyful experience you cultivate in your life. It is an act of creativity to elevate your mood in this way.
My Winter Joy Menu 🎁
I’m sharing my current winter joy menu to inspire you! From cozy indoor activities to heartwarming self-care rituals, this menu is designed to help you find warmth and delight in the colder months.
Let’s celebrate the beauty of each day by choosing joy—one delightful moment at a time!
With love and light,
Angela
P.S. Ready to embark on a journey of inner and outer beauty? Join me in my 1:1 Bespoke program, where we dive deep into lifestyle principles for lasting transformation. Let’s beautify from the inside out together!
Learn more about it here:
Glow authentic to your nature.
Explore my Bespoke 1:1 program that elevates your life from where you are. This unique experience is designed to help you beautify from the inside out with the aims of: vitality, nourishment, movement, and an empowered facial presentation to help you emanate your authentic ✨glow✨from the inside out!
Angela is an Ayurveda Practitioner, Yoga & Face Yoga Teacher, and (almost) a Certified NLP Life Coach who seeks to elevate the lives of others with Vedic wisdom and Neuroscience that supports and holds you through your life with a direction for personal generosity, development, and joy!
Explore more of my thoughts and ideas by clicking the Instagram feed below:
