Dear Reader,
At the beginning of 2015, I had shared a
concept of happiness/joy jar: Happiness
jar - collecting moments of joy daily
In the last 350+ days we have had an
amazing experience filling the family joy jar, sharing small & big joy
moments.
Our experiences during this year of
collecting joys…
- Joy moments are fleeting. If we missed this routine for a day, if was hard to recollect joy moments for that day when we attempted to catch up later.
- When we noted our joys at the end of the same day, they were numerous, filling both sides of the notepaper.
- We found our own individual accomplishments featured fewer times. More often our nocturnal notings were about receiving, observing or making a meaningful contribution in our circle of family & friends.
Some friends who started a Joy Jar with
their family had interesting stories to tell:
- Ajit & family sat together & asked each other to share all the joy moments they could remember for year 2014. They kept throwing in the jar various chits with those moments and watched it fill up in a few hours.
- Dinesh, his wife, son & daughter in law put chits in the jar throughout the week. After Sunday breakfast, they open the jar & share the joy moments of the past week. A summary is sent to Dinesh’s daughter in London who replies back with her own family’s joy moments for the week.
- Friends with young children observed that adults are lot choosier about joy moments. They look for only big joy moments. Children instead find joy in little things. E.g. when we asked 6-yr-old Sargun, her joy moment of the day, she promptly replied: “Today dad was home whole day and I got to play with him!”. Sanay was delighted with the strawberries he ate that day while Sharanya was enthused about no homework and an unexpected school holiday in the middle of the week.
As 2015 ends, we invite you to start a
family joy jar. Collect your daily joy moments, small and big. Conversations
that made you smile, moments of laughter & togetherness, accomplishments,
insights, silly moments, surprises… whatever brings you joy!!!
May your home radiate laughter, love &
togetherness in the coming year.
Warm regards,
Rohan 