Joy Triggers, Pt. 2: Building a Smile

I recently listened to a podcast where the gentleman being interviewed discussed his journey to self discovery through childhood traumas. Something he said in that interview blew my mind. He said,  "I did the work to build my smile." 

In a previous blog I spoke about the idea of joy triggers and being intentional about acknowledging the things and moments that bring us joy. I stand behind that but I feel like what was missing from that blog was that... triggering joy is a part of the work to build my own smile. As a millennial, I feel like my generation has done an AMAZING job at identifying and naming the faults or missteps of previous generations but we haven't quite gotten a solid handle on doing the work to build (or re- build) our smiles. Now, let me be clear, in no way am I suggesting that anyone's individual or collective trauma is invalid; but what all of our public discourse doesn't have enough of is consistent or cohesive conversation about life beyond the trauma or the fight for acknowledgement. How do we thrive in life? What/where/how and when do we take off our superhero capes and find peace?

For me, building my smile is about filling my free time with things and people I enjoy. It's seeing my son using his imagination to play independently. It's watching Christmas movies on Lifetime and Hallmark in the winter. It's the million talks a day with my mom and sister. It's the witty conversations with my dad. It's the little bit of excitement I get about my first sip of coffee in the morning. My smile is being built by the little things that happen around me all the time. My smile is about the experience of joy, happiness, and peace in spite of all of the fear, trauma, hurt, and sadness that surrounds us. And so I ask, how are you building your smile?

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