| WhatÕs Your ÒJQÓ? by Erica Whittlinger and Debby Magnuson You probably know what your IQ is, but what about your ÒJQÓ ø your Joy Quotient? The recent holiday season was one of great joy for many of us, as we visited friends and relatives, savored sumptuous meals, played with children, went to movies or shopping and exchanged gifts. But what happens after the holiday glow wears off, when the dog throws up on the carpet as youÕre rushing to get to work and you suffer through traffic jams only to find your boss mad at the world?! Somehow our awareness of the little joys of life gets buried in the minutia of daily existence. It wasnÕt until I had faced a health crisis and changed my life radically that I realized just how Ònot happyÓ I had been. Not unhappy, just not happy. The lightning struck when I found myself saying, ÒBoy, do I feel happy todayÓ to myself, and realizing that I couldnÕt remember the last time I felt that way as a state of existence, not as a result of a particular activity or interaction. I felt like a human being again, rather than a human doing! We spiritual seekers understand ÒbeingÓ ø thatÕs why we meditate, center, do chi gong and breathing exercises, etc. But how can you be when youÕre buried in e-mail messages, dirty laundry, work demands, hungry kids, and all those things to do? Understanding your JQ is a way to get more joy back into your life. Joy can come from many things, and it is different for different people. For some of us, joy means hiking in the mountains, canoeing the Boundary Waters or experiencing the thrill of a parachute jump. For others, it means sitting quietly by the fire and finding time for daily meditation. Or perhaps joy comes from delivering Meals on Wheels, reading to children, or working on volunteer committees. The important question is, what brings you joy? There is no ÒrightÓ way to experience joy, because it is very personal. But there is an opportunity for awareness ø and gratitude ø for those precious moments when you know, all the way down to your innermost being, Òthis is what it means to be fully alive!Ó Write down your personal Òwhat brings me joyÓ list, and then take a few minutes (or a few hours!) to revel in the memories of your experiences of those moments. Truly savor them. This savoring of memories is what we call Òdoubling the joyÓ; you enjoy the experience, and you double it by allowing yourself to remember it fully and re-experience the feelings it gave you. Doubling the joy is why photographs and home videos are so precious to us. The next step is the hard oneÉdo more of it! Making a conscious choice to spend more time doing the activities that bring us joy sounds easy, but it is actually very difficult. Most of us are so busy with the to-do lists of life ø one expert has called the average American lifestyle Òscheduled hyperactivityÓ ø that we find time to do everything except the fun stuff. Some of us even subconsciously subscribe to our Puritan ancestorsÕ conviction that if itÕs too much fun we probably shouldnÕt be doing it at all! Nonsense! Giving ourselves permission to spend more time doing activities that feed our spirits can be truly life-giving. It helps us connect with the purpose of our lives and to feel more alive. ItÕs like that wonderful saying, ÒLife is short ø eat dessert first.Ó What would you do differently with your life if you knew that your time was short? Guess what? It is! ThatÕs what the Joy Quotient is all about ø connecting with those things that give us joy, savoring them, and making it a priority to spend more of our lives doing them. Want to learn more about your joy quotient? "The ReFirement Workbook" by Jim Gambone, Erica Whittlinger, and Debby Magnuson is being published this month. To order, go to ReFirement.com or call (952) 472-0223. Erica Whittlinger is a national workshop leader, financial expert and familiar voice from Public RadioÕs Sound Money program. Debby Magnuson, Co-active Life Coach, specializes in sales training and life coaching. They are members of The ReFirement® Group and coauthors, with Jim Gambone, of The ReFirement Workbook. Copyright © 2004 Erica Whittlinger & Debby Magnuson |
||
|
Feb 2004 |
|
