Some thoughts on happiness, gratitude and some songs that give sunny vibes
Plus - download your free June worksheet - prompts & prayers for finding more joy in your life!
Happy June, everyone! Summer is here! 😬
Here’s what we’ve got in store for this Sunny June newsletter:
🤔 A thought I’m processing [on finding joy in my work]
💕 A thought I’m loving on [hardwiring happiness]
🗳️ A poll [on areas of stress]
🔗 Some link love [sun-shiney things]
📆 A full recap & links to this past month’s posts
June’s free resource: [a journal/prayer guide for June]
🤔 A thought I’m processing [on finding joy in my work]
It’s been a little hectic over here. Just a lot going on. And I’m noticing an uptick in stress that comes from trying to keep up with everything.
One of my least favorite things about this kind of stress is that it makes me wish away my life. I just want to get through the next big project and rest. I’m teaching at church this Sunday, so - get through that, and then there is a reset. I’m working on a Dopamine Detox cohort launching tomorrow (sign up here if you wanna join us), so - as soon as I get through that I can take a breath. I’m prepping a few different Psychology classes for a local college I teach at, and - if I can just get a bit more done I’ll be okay.
The wild thing is - unless I take a breath and pause - I might miss a radical reality.
These three activities are dreams come true. Like absolute dreams.
If you hit rewind a few years on my life, you’d find a person who struggles to get out of bed, never imagines teaching the bible again, and can’t imagine going back to school, and hasn’t really even heard of dopamine.
And if you told her about these opportunities coming her way, she would have been absolutely delighted.
This weekend, as an exercise in a book I’m reading (more below), I took a pause and just sat in it for a minute. Taking it all in - sitting in gratitude for this strange, wild existence we partake in as humans.
The goal of this kind of ‘happiness’ practice is not to drown out or repress the very real stress of trying to do all this in a chronic-illness body. But, to make sure the very real stress of trying to do all this in a chronic-illness body doesn’t drown out the marvelous miracle of my life.
So, this week has already been filled with more joy and excitement and less stress and fear. And I’ll take it.
P.S. If you want some of the prompts I’ve been working through, I’ve created a prayer/journal guide for June that you can download at the bottom of this email.
❤️ A thought I’m loving on [hardwiring happiness]
The book referenced above is Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson. He encourages us to balance out our negativity bias (that all humans have) by intentionally noticing the magical and wonderful things in the world around us, which is just full of tiny and huge good things.
“All this good means that each day is like a winding path strewn with pearls and diamonds, emeralds and rubies, each one an opportunity for a postive experience. Unfortunatly most poeple hurry by without noticing them. And even when they do see a jewel, they rarely feel anything about it. Jewel after jewel left behind, lost forever.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. With a little intention and skill, you can take some seconds here and there each day to weave a handful of these jewels into the fabric of your brain, your being, and your life. Little moments of ease, pleasure, calm, determination, joy, insight, and caring becoming neural structure.”
🗳️ A poll on [what gets in the way of happiness]
Let’s start with this recap: in last month’s poll I asked folks what they wanted more of in their relationships, and the majority said ‘fun’! I was surprised, but then I was also like ‘that makes sense.’ So take this as your cue to text some friends and get a game night on the books!
This month’s poll comes from this concept that there are really three core areas of our lives that sabotage our happiness: our sense of safety, our sense of satisfaction, and our sense of connection. What do you need right now in order to settle into joy?
🔗 Some links to songs that give me good vibes
Here are some links to songs that give me some sunny vibes. They’re all different genres, and I cannot explain to you why they give me the particular vibes identified below. But it is what it is.
A little musical energy - for believing in yourself vibes
Some pop - that gives wrapping up your workday vibes
Very repetitive - but gives those nice road trip vibes
Some country vibes - for those days when you can’t find the sunny
What is this genre? Pop-ish-folk? - sunny vibes for the end of the world
Countryish - I think this is a getting your day going vibe
📅 What you missed in May
Below are some links to thoughts I’ve shared this past month! (Please note that some of my messier thoughts and musings are behind a paywall. You can read more about why I do that here, and feel free to upgrade your subscription to access them and support my research!)
On Pastors who ‘didn’t mean to’ - One of the things I get pushback on most often in my spiritual abuse research
On forgetting - a little love letter to the amazing-ness of our bodies
Some thoughts (& a worksheet) to help you reflect on the state of your friendships
🆓 June Free Resource | some prayer prompts to cultivate joy and gratitude
The free resource for June is below (for paid subscribers!).
