Joyful Choice!

There’s always joy if we choose to look for it! Check out this hopeful roundup from Jess Craven, an advocate for hope and action. We also want to continue building up the muscles of how we engage with good news, so as you’re reading through this list, pick three different good news stories to send to three different people in your life.

We can help spread good news and hope around the world, and provide some extra love and support to the people we love while we’re at it!

For one week, try out a new rule: No screens in bed. Neither in the evening nor the morning, avoid the news, social media, email, scrolling, all that good stuff. Instead, spend 5-10 minutes on either end of the sleep sandwich reading the book you’ve been wanting to get to for a while. There’s no such thing as “finding time”—there is only making time.

If you need a book recommendation, I just finished “Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul” by Dorcas Cheng-Tozun, which was absolutely phenomenal. Especially if you identify as sensitive, empathetic, introverted or if you’re just feeling a lot of “empathy fatigue” these days, this is a fantastic, warm guide to getting started.

Since it’s back to school time, take a minute to reflect on some of your own educational experiences. Did you have a teacher that made a difference for you? Take some time to reflect on that experience and perhaps write them a note about what they meant to you and how your life has evolved thanks to their instruction. If they’re still around or you have a way to contact them, it’s bonus points to send it to them, but the primary focus of this exercise is just to take time to reflect with gratitude about the people who shape us.

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for you this week! If you have any ideas for things I should include, let me know any time!

Thanks for being here, and thanks for choosing joy! Little by little, we can live the lives we want to live while we build the world we want to live in.

<3 Ben