Joie de vivre. I like this definition: Joie de vivre is your delight in simply living your life. People who seem to enjoy life in a cheerful and spirited way are often described as having joie de vivre. There you go.
I’ve worked hard all my life. I’ve stayed focused on goals. I’ve kept my nose to the grindstone. I’ve taken responsibilities seriously. I’ve held myself to (sometimes impossibly) high standards and maintained. All good. But have I found joy? Yes, sometimes. My mother kept a few notes about my childhood in which she described me as a “happy baby”. She also credited my four older brothers for my happiness. The oldest of those four older brothers was six years old when I was born but she said they all doted on me and gave me tons of attention. That’s what made me a happy baby.
But I wonder about that? I wonder if a person comes into the world equipped for joy but then environment can steal the equipment away? I am grateful for my parents and all that they gave me. It has served me well. Part of that package included the Catholic Church. Among other things, the Church brought me a rigidity and an expectation of guilt/penance that might easily have captured any drifting towards joie de vivre. I think other people, confronted with an upbringing like mine, can still be inherently joyful. However, my genetic pool along with environmental factors might have cost me a life laced with joie de vivre.
As noted, I have in the past, and continue now, to know levity and delight. Most of the time that spirit of joy is tangled up in community, in a sense of purpose, in appreciation of beauty, in laughter, and in feeling seen and heard. I want to cultivate joie de vivre this year. It’s an experiment. Can I increase the the presence of joie de vivre in my life? It’s clearly not going to be scientific research. There is no pre-test, no post-test, no gathering of specific data. The closest I want to get to science is to hypothesize that I can inspire a personal sense of joie de vivre by encouraging the behaviors that lead to joy.
What are those behaviors? Clearly attitude tops the list. Sometimes you just have to slap that smile on and pretend. When you do that, joy is fooled and thinks she can just walk right into your day. And sometimes she does just that. Secondly, be the light in the room. Some people just are that. But, if that’s not the natural you, I think it’s possible for individuals to turn the wattage up on their own brilliance. Be positive, be open, be welcoming, be warm, be friendly, be interested. Listen, pay attention to body language, be relaxed. Take the room less seriously. And that’s the logical leap to the third behavior that I want to highlight. Take yourself less seriously. Avoid overthinking. It does you no good. Avoid catastrophizing the situation. Ditto. No good. Remind yourself that you are perfect just as you are. Dress the part in every way.
***If you’ve stuck with me until the end on this, I want you to know that it feels awkward and weird to post. It is such an idealized quality, almost Hollywood-like. I’m not even sure it can truly be created or inspired. Maybe a person just does or does not possess joie de vivre. I don’t know. But, that’s me. Awkward and weird. No more nudge word posts (until next year anyway…)
Thank you for articulating this important concept....you may say, "Hey, what concept?" Well the concept that you can be who you want to be. You have the power to set the stage the way you want. It might be called intention. The primary gift the human possesses is our attention. We can focus it wherever we want. In this case, you are choosing to focus it on Joy, so joy it will be! This doesn't mean there won't be hardship, but as you say in the beginning, attitude is everything.
Awkward and weird? Nooooooooooooooooooooo
(Maybe from your side,but not from mine!)