Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to figure out what has given you joy,
Speaker 1: are been meaningful recently, and then build more of that
Speaker 1: into the coming week or month. Today's tip comes from
Speaker 1: a New York Times article where writer Laurie Leibovich explained
Speaker 1: that every year she reflects on what made her feel
Speaker 1: good the previous year. If she feels stuck, she said
Speaker 1: she looked through photos on her phone to trigger her memory.
Speaker 1: Live performances, traveling, walking with friends, and running a ten
Speaker 1: k were some of the things that enriched the last
Speaker 1: year for her, so she wrote she was aiming to
Speaker 1: get more of that on the calendar for this year too.
Speaker 1: I love that approach for a couple of reasons. First
Speaker 1: of all, she's focused on what made the previous year good.
Speaker 1: So many people look ahead to a new year and
Speaker 1: then loaded up with obligations and rules, things I won't
Speaker 1: be doing, things I can't do. Things like that. I
Speaker 1: like the idea of focusing on the positive, on joy, growth, connection, peace.
Speaker 1: I also think it's wise that she is looking to
Speaker 1: her own past for ideas on how to get those
Speaker 1: positive experiences. I mean, sure, novelty is amazing, but if
Speaker 1: you want a surefire way to find joy, you may
Speaker 1: be more successful looking back at what actually gave you
Speaker 1: joy recently, rather than googling things to enjoy this weekend.
Speaker 1: Of course, New Year's planning time is long in the past,
Speaker 1: as this episode is airing. But if you are like
Speaker 1: a lot of Before Breakfast listeners, you are always thinking
Speaker 1: about how to make your life better. Reflecting on what
Speaker 1: has made our past good is a reasonable way to
Speaker 1: design the future. There is no reason to wait until
Speaker 1: next January to build in more of what you have enjoyed.
Speaker 1: So if you find you have always loved going to
Speaker 1: live theater, decide to do it more often. Maybe you
Speaker 1: could even get season tickets to a local theater. If
Speaker 1: hosting dinner parties always fills you with joy, why not
Speaker 1: set a routine of hosting a dinner party every other Saturday,
Speaker 1: or at least the first Saturday of the month. If
Speaker 1: taking a few zumba classes with a friend last December
Speaker 1: was fun for you and left you energized, try taking
Speaker 1: a class every week. I think you could also take
Speaker 1: the same approach in a more frequent iterative way. For
Speaker 1: shorter timeframes like a week or a month, you could
Speaker 1: reflect on a weekly basis about sources of joy and
Speaker 1: growth in the previous week, maybe bundled with your weekly
Speaker 1: planning session. If we had a meaningful visit to an
Speaker 1: art exhibit on a lunch break last week, it's likely
Speaker 1: that seeing a different exhibit this week could be meaningful too.
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed a poetry reading last week, sign up
Speaker 1: for the e blast from a local bookstore so you'll
Speaker 1: hear about future readings. If your family enjoyed watching a
Speaker 1: movie together last Friday, maybe a movie and popcorn would
Speaker 1: be fun this Friday too. Pay attention to what makes
Speaker 1: you feel good and what contributes to your growth, and
Speaker 1: build that into next week and the week after that.
Speaker 1: What made our past good can teach us a lot
Speaker 1: about what would make our future good as well. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.