How do you inject JOY into your day?

[eatprayloveorjusteateateat]

I wake up everyday and feel 'bleurgh!'... just bleurgh!

Is there any way that you cheer yourself up/ inject some joy into your morning/day?

Is it getting up an hour before everyone else and having a good cup of luxury coffee?
Do you watch something to shake off your crappy mood?
listen to something?
do something unusual?
eat something?
put something on?

i don't know about you but i don't wake up feeling naturally happy so i really need to do something to put a smile on my face.

Any ideas?

oh and if anyone has any positive mantras that'd be useful? Maybe some picture / saying i can put on my wall to wake up and think yey! instead of bleurgh.

Ooh good thread. Nothing specific that I do every day, but I rather like having a disco in the bathroom whilst cleaning it. Sitting down with a brew and a new catalogue (could be anything they've shoved through the door, even Screwfix) or a magazine when all is tidy and baby is asleep.

Current joyous activities are blackberry picking and tomatoes from the garden.

But...

My all time favourite is kicking through autumn leaves. Cannot beat that one. It's ace.

Music. Usually the radio, then my ipod.
It sounds clichéd but just try and think of things to be grateful for - health, house, family, job, pets. The little things are what make the big things count.

Mine is to toast a cinnamon bagel, slather it with Philly, wash down with a cup of really strong coffee and then sit at the piano (it's electric and I have headphones if anyone's worried) and crack out a few bars of something jolly! Currently 'Lou Reed's Perfect Day' although that's stretching the definition of 'jolly' I'll grant you. :)

Music!

I get up and look forward to some exercise too. Bound out of bed if its bootcamp morning or I'm planning a run

Blue sky.... If I see that then I'm instantly smiling

I get up early, make a really good cup of tea (tea leaves in pot, etc), and drink it in the bath while reading a good book. I get up early so that I can do this - it just means that the day starts off nicely, and I feel like I'm spoiling myself. Then I have a delicous breakfast (i.e. stuff I really like), while listening to Radio 3 play beautiful music and continuing to read a good book.

DH likes to walk around the garden while drinking his tea.

I love an autumn run.... Crunching through the leaves and tripping over conkers!

Oh, I love Cogito's idea of bagel and cream cheese and playing the piano!

Mine is a bit anal but I weigh myself everyday first think and if the scales haven't moved it makes me feel better

Sad I know

I like your user name, OP, despite it reminding me of that terrible 'book'....

I'm not a happy morning type either, but I find certain things help. I have a beautiful old heavy cotton dressing gown that i put on first thing, and a lovely body moisturiser (Gloomaway from Origins, I think, appropriately!) for after the shower. And yes, getting up early enough not to have to race about, and to have time for an excellent coffee is crucial. I am fussy enough to have mine sent up from Monmouth Coffee in London, which will tell you what a priority it is. I always put food out for the birds as watching them at the feeder always lifts my mood.

I used to do yoga before I had an obstreperous toddler. Can't help you on mantras, but the most peaceful and positive person I knew a few years back used to read some kind of little book of positive sayings in bed in the mornings, keeping the book under her pillow and repeating one every day. Too cute for me, but then I am a cynic.

a colourful outfit + face full of slap helps me think 'yey' to the day. And to hide away with a brew while the kids scoff their breakfast and stare at the telly

captain you know how to live ;)

I concentrate on the things that make me happy. I joined a facebook page called "What made you smile today?" Where people just post the little things that made them smile. It helps me focus on the positives in life.

eatpray

I don't say this often to people I don't know but I think I love you for starting this thread.

I'm having a shit day and you and other posters just reminded me that it doesn't matter.

thank you

oh I am so glad I got so many replies!! I am going to make a list of these. Love so many of them.

Captain - If I stood on the scales every morning I would throw myself off a bridge.

Like the excellent tea/coffee and great breakfast ideas. I generally focus so little on breakfast... what could i have? mmmm......

Wish i had a piano! Or could play it....

Seaweedy - the book is FAB! Film was awful. You can't say the Rome bit wasn't good. All that food... mmm....

More suggestions please!

madmomma thank you!

Zing - yey! I am loved... nothing better than being loved by a stranger.

I need this thread. I have been a SAHM for a while (although I am heading back to work very soon) and although i love my son very much I have found the last 7 months very 'joyless'. I think it's just the adjustment of staying at home and dedicating every second to the little man.

It's easy to slither out of bed - turn on Jeremy Kyle, do the cleaning and feel like headbutting the sink to death.

Want to feel inner happiness without resorting to running away to a Buddhist camp.

Family time in the morning - so all cuddling up in bed before having to get up and start the day, and then having breakfast all together. It's the only time of the day when we get a chance to properly hang out together and it starts the day off nicely.

one mantra that works for me (when I remember it!) :

fake it till you make it

I pretend that I'm happy. I act as if I was in charge. I force myself to smile and be calm - and by the end of the day I actually feel better.

my problem is that I tend to get annoyed about so many little things and then I feel angry all day!
I'm educating myself to change my reactions to things that happen as I can seldom control others/things/the weather etc.

I have a good book about learning to deal with anger - interested?

btw I started counting my blessings and I realized there are just too many of them...

I stick my head out the door and do a couple of deep breaths of fresh morning air every single morning.

I have a "mindful" shower. Hot hot then cold. But noticing every sensation while I'm in there.

The shower especially gives me the good feeling for the day and reminds me to be present.

Breakfast ideas

• really good bread and really good jam / marmalade
• fresh fruit (or defrosted berries) and really good yoghurt
• porridge with bananas, sugar and cinnamon
• proper tea or coffee made in a pot
• nice china
• kitchen all clean from last night's supper

Don't turn on Jeremy Kyle! No wonder the joy has been sucked out of your life.

ha ha! Jeremy Kyle has definitely had an effect.

Urigeller - is that really you?

I genuinely loathe the book, EatPray. I think I have seldom read anything so lacking in self-knowledge, and which is so belittling of other cultures, as if Italy, India and Indonesia are just cute, colourful quaintly foreign backdrops for a particularly narcissistic kind of self-indulgence, theme parks for well-heeled 21st century American tourism dressed up as self-exploration. The film, however, was of another order of awfulness altogether!

But that would be to derail a thread about joy!

I forgot to say that I also go picking blackberries in the garden with my toddler first thing, in wellies and dressing gowns. It makes him very happy, and his happiness is infectious!

I walk my dog ,he's fabulous and always makes me happy !