When your days are overloaded with the responsibilities of your role, it’s easy to rationalize that you’re so busy doing that you have no time for anything else.

But stop for a second and scan your day for anything that brings you joy.

It’s not a frivolous task. Joy is fundamental to aligning what you do with who you are.

When we experience joy, it uplifts us. Replenishes us. Fuels us – both in body and soul.

And the source of our joy is a vital clue to what truly matters to us.

One of my favourite questions in our Illumify Game Changer is in the Illuminate portion where we help clients identify what is most meaningful to them so that they can begin to bring it to fruition. The question is this:

“What Brings You Joy?”

Often people begin their answer with “family” or “friends”. And that’s great. But as we delve deeper into the conversation, other things inevitably surface. Sometimes it takes a lot of excavation; other times it emerges easily.

But common to all is that when you know what brings you joy, you can assess whether or not your current supply of it is sufficient. You’ll know if you’ve made time and space for it. And if you haven’t.

When I posed the “What Brings You Joy?” question to a client recently, he answered immediately that it was the work he had done in the past with First Nations. Despite all the success he’s had improving customer service in large organizations, it was his time spent strengthening the skills and development of young indigenous people that filled him with joy. Two weeks later, he parked his customer service offer and created a new offer designed specifically to meet the needs and interests of First Nations peoples. His heart and head are now aligned, and he’s fuelled with joy. It’s comes as no surprise to me that as a result, opportunities have emerged far and wide within the Aboriginal community. They see his heart, and are coming to him.

You may not be able to pivot quite so much or so rapidly. My hope is that your current role allows you to experience whatever joy looks like for you on a regular and abundant basis. May it be the norm, not the exception.

But please know this. If your opportunities to be in joy right now are scarce or non-existent, do not settle. It’s your right to be in joy.

If you resign yourself to living without it, or without an ample supply, you are forfeiting what truly matters to you. That’s not fair to you. And it’s not fair to all those who would benefit from you being in joy. 

For when we see our joy, we tap into the possibilities we have to ignite meaningful change in a way that only we know how.

So I ask you again:

“What Brings You Joy?”

P.S. We have a new group session to Illuminate what matters to you beginning on Friday, May 7th. You’ll find details here: https://illumifyinc.com/the-illumify-game-changer