Micro Joys: The Secret to a Calm Mind

Micro joys are as the name implies – tiny moments of happiness you can steal in your daily routine activities. We can say it is being mindful of all that is happening around and within us.

Examples of micro joys

These are mundane occurrences that we tend to overlook avoid in the hectic hustle and bustle of life.

You are travelling to work and are held up in traffic. What will you do ? Curse the traffic as you are running late for that appraisal meeting, talk aloud about the administration and poor roads, throw up your hands in disgust ? You are gradually getting stressed. At that precise moment, you see a young boy feeding the stray dogs and how they amble all around him with joy. You can hear him speaking to them in soft tones and laughing at their antics. You are smiling now ! This visual makes you remember the pet you had and all the good times with it. Strange, but this thought never crossed your mind in the seven Odd years since your pet passed away.

These few seconds of smiling is what a micro joy is. Finding happiness in the tiny moments and enjoying them before they go away. Of course, they are in no way going to make the traffic move, but for those few moments you relaxed and your stress lessened somewhat.

Remember the piggy bank you had in your childhood ? You would put in a coin every time you received your pocket money. Over a span of time, when it was full, you opened it to count how much money you had saved. This always brought a smile to your face.

Micro joys are exactly like those coins. One after another, the more micro joys you experience, the happier you become.

Ways to enjoy micro joys

The way to enjoy micro joys is to pause, notice and feel them with your senses. It could be the smell of the roses in your back yard, the creamy texture, flavour and taste of the pastry (that someone brought at work) on your palate, the feel of the grass as you walk barefoot in your garden, the rainbow that appears in the sky, the sound of the temple bell, are but a few such moments.

How to begin

You can begin by writing down three such micro joys that you experienced during the day. I know, writing is tough, but over a period of time, it will come naturally to you. It is the initial days that are trying. But keep at it. In the long run it is going to be second nature to you.
You need to focus fully for those few moments on the micro joy that you are experiencing, to actually feel it. As the days progress, you will automatically begin enjoying those moments and look forward to them, wondering which micro joy will be revealed next. This feeling of anticipation will pique your curiosity and keep you alert.

Scientific findings

A research project named The BIG JOY project was carried out by UC Berkley’s Greater Good Science Center with more than 70,000 participants through 200 countries. The findings show that daily micro joy habits increased the emotional wellbeing of the participants by 25% within a week. It also showed that their feelings of optimism, hope and fun increased.
Other studies show that micro joys, improve the functioning of the vagus nerve which regulate heart rate, stress, digestion ad mood disorders.

Benefits

Micro joys have myriad benefits :

Improve your mood : They improve your mood by reducing the cortisol levels, releasing the “happy hormones” and reducing stress levels to calm you.
Relax : You feel relaxed and happier.
Clarity : You get clarity of thought and can find solutions quicker.
Improve focus : You focus better and work to your potential.
Improves relationships : Your interpersonal relationships improve and you feel a load off your mind by being more communicative.
Coping better : You can cope better, by pausing and re-thinking the situation on hand, instead of taking immediate in the heat-of-the-moment wrong decisions, that can be fatal.
Better resilience : Your resilience power improves and you can cope better with stress and anxiety. These small moments overshadow your negativity to some extent. No extreme emotion is good for us be it happiness or sadness or stress etc. These moments act like comma’s to your negativity and reduce the impact of the negativity on you.
Small is more : The more and more joys you feel, the more they become a part of you, thereby improving your life, making your attitude positive and impacting how you face problems.
Physical wellness : These moments reduce your stress levels and regulate your blood pressure and blood sugar spikes, improve your gastric issues, lessen aches and pains, reduce eye problems, improve sleep and alleviate insomnia, manage bloating/over-eating/not eating enough/ binge-eating, reduce lack of exercise leading to weight gain / obesity and any other chronic lifestyle diseases.
Mental wellness : They reduce chances of depression, panic attacks, low self-esteem, low self-confidence, loneliness, aloofness, social anxiety, anger, hatred, frustration, jealousy, worthlessness, substance abuse, addiction, violence, crime , trust issues, mental illnesses, and negative emotions that drain you mentally.
Improves immune system: You are eating better, sleeping well, exercising, relaxing and working as much as your body permits, stress is manageable, physical ailments are improving, mental health is good and this improves your immune system. This in turn may increase your life span.
Be kind : Random acts of kindness are simple to do, be it at home, work or any place else. Helping an old lady cross the road, paying the bus fare for someone, distributing drinking water bottles / food packets to the pedestrians /needy, volunteering your time at an NGO or any other charitable institution / pet shelter etc. These acts of kindness will make a marked change in your behaviour and make you feel empathy.

Your way of looking at the world will change and you will soon realize how far you have come from the insecure/agitated person that you were.
Gratefulness : Practice gratefulness, be thankful and happy for each and every moment, every one you know, and every thing that you have achieved in your life. No place for ego here. Sincerely, from the bottom of your heart, thank everything and everyone that touches your life in any way. Make it a daily practice/ritual and see how your personality improves. You will stop overthinking, accept and acknowledge your life situations. We are at times living in denial, but gratefulness changes that.

We can say that these micro joy moments, in the long run, change your perspective of looking at life. You carefully weigh your options before jumping to conclusions. You will notice the change in your attitude, your behaviour towards others and how you cope better with the irregularities of life. Your patience levels improve and you feel a sense of kindness and empathy towards everyone.
One step at a time, one day at a time. Make you life better and feel good about yourself.

Of course, there may be days when you just don’t want to look at any micro joy. That is okay, nothing to worry about. You can look for them after a few days. Life is not just about being positive all the time, but acknowledging your emotions, whatever they may be and managing them to the best of your ability.

Source: Inputs from various media Sources