Hi!
Joy has been a frequent topic for me in the past year. In June I asked you to think about the control you have over joy. In July I took you along on my own impromptu quest for some joy in my town. And in the fall we dove briefly into the science of joy and how it strengthens resilience.
This week on The Resilience Think Tank one my guests, Varun Mahajan, said something that got me thinking about joy in a whole new way. He said it’s important to have think about your “stream of happiness revenue.”
Happiness revenue.
(quick business lesson for anyone who’s feeling a little out of their lane: a revenue stream is “a particular means by which a company or individual generates income on an ongoing basis”)
That’s freaking revolutionary! He went on to talk about how big opportunities for joy often fall short of expectations, but that small opportunities for joy – like sights, smells, sounds – are reliable.
And all this got me to thinking. I get joy from amusement parks, but I can’t always make it to one and they’re only open part of the year. I often get joy from my kids, but they’re not reliably excited to spend time being the object of my active affection. I sometimes get joy from music but sometimes I’m too distracted.
If I diversify my “stream of happiness revenue” – just like I’ve diversified the ways I earn money so that I’m not totally dependent on any single one – I get to be more reliably happy.
Keeping in mind that joy is an inexhaustible resource and that you:
- Are an expert in what brings you joy
- Can choose to seek out what brings you joy
it makes sense that you might want to cultivate a dozen or so ways to find joy so that one or another is always “paying out.”
You know I’m going to ask you to brainstorm a list, right? I’ll do it too. Hit reply any time this week and tell me a few reliable streams of happiness for yourself and I’ll be back next week to share some of yours (anonymously unless you give me permission to name you) and my own.
Go get that joy!
All my best,
Dr. G
