Welcome to Week 3 of the Self-Care Challenge, a four-week experience that invites you to practice and reflect on loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity! Each week during the Self-Care Challenge, you are invited to watch a video and participate in an exercise that includes breathing exercises, reflection questions, and journaling. If you missed the first and second weeks, click on the links below.
- Week 1, December 4-10: Loving Kindness
- Week 2, December 11-17: Compassion
- Week 3, December 18-24: Joy
- Week 4, December 25-31: Equanimity
Week 3 of #ThrivingMindfully Self-Care Challenge: December 18-24
Theme/Video: Joy
Joy is a choice to become aware of and rejoice in the JUICY moments that OPEN YOU up from the inside out. The JUICY moments are filled with goodness. When you can make this choice and appreciate and experience your own JOY, you develop the capacity to rejoice in the goodness of others. That’s called sympathetic joy or mudita. It starts first with you. Remember you are responsible for creating joy in your life. So get to it!
Invitation: Slow down and take three deep breaths. Touch your heart with one or both of your hands as you enter into a moment of stillness.
Take three more deep breaths. Right where you are repeat the first prayer out loud or silently three times: May I embody and express joy for myself.
Take three more deep breaths and repeat the second prayer. May I rejoice in the joy experienced by others. Inhale deeply and as you exhale thank yourself for showing up in the stillness.
Reflection Questions and Journaling Exercise: Take some time this week to reflect on and journal about one or more of the questions below.
1) What does joy mean?
2) What does joy look like in your life?
3) What prevents you from embodying and expressing joy for yourself? and joy for others?
4) What do you want your joy for yourself and joy for others to look like in 2018?
5) How can you add more joy into your daily, weekly, and monthly routines?
Ananda Leeke 