Mariana Thomas  0:00  
Welcome my friends. Yes, we are back. Your favorite host, Mariana Thomas with The Mindfully Recharged podcast, is here one more time. Today's episode, Planting Seeds of Joy in Your Life. I love this short and sweet episode packed with goodness because joy is something that we should have every single day. So let's get to it. Let's not wait any longer and with joy, let's go! I'll see you there.

Speaker 2  0:44  
Welcome to mindfully recharged with Mariana Thomas, in this podcast, Mariana brings you mindful conversations and people that will develop and recharge you from the inside out, so that you can increase productivity in your personal and professional life. This is Mindfully Recharged.

Mariana Thomas  1:04  
Welcome back, friends. This is Mariana, your host with The Mindfully Recharged Podcast. I'm super excited about this episode. It's short and sweet. I had decided to never make my episodes too long. I want you to stay engaged. I want you to listen and I want you to take it all in and do something with the information and I'm hoping that this is inspiring you, is giving you something to take in your day, and to apply. 

Mariana Thomas  1:45
In today's episode, I'm going to talk about planting seeds of joy in your life. You know, I believe, and I'm almost sure that we should have joy every single day. One thing that I thought is that if I was happy for whatever reason, that will bring me joy, but I think there's something deeper than that, that I need to actually bring joy into my life through not just happiness, but other things. So there are many things we can do to plant seeds of joy in our lives, and your life, and one of the simplest ways, and this is very simple, is to find things to be grateful for. You know, gratitude is definitely my attitude. I love being grateful and when I say love, I truly mean that. Gratitude is something that I love to practice every single day. So it is part of what I do. So even on difficult days, I want you to be grateful. I want you to find gratitude. 

Mariana Thomas  3:18
When we focus on the good things in life, it will help us to stay positive. And it will help us to find that joy. Gratitude is a powerful emotion that can help us feel more joy and happiness. So, think about that. When we are grateful, we are inviting joy and happiness, and it is also being linked. Gratitude has been linked to better physical health and overall well-being. How amazing is that? That when we are grateful, we are also improving our physical health and I will say our mental health and overall well-being. That's incredible, just by something as simple as feeling grateful. So if you are looking for ways to plant seeds of joy in your life, start by practicing gratitude every single day, like every single day. I mean it. 

Mariana Thomas  4:42
Think about all the good things in your life. It doesn't matter how small they are. Maybe you're grateful for your health. Even though joy will bring you that physical health, right, and that gratitude will bring you physical health. So maybe you're grateful for that or for just having a roof over your head. If you have a home, you have more than a home, we can be grateful for that. Maybe you're thankful and grateful for a friend or a family member who is always there for you in the good times and the bad times. Or maybe you are grateful for this simple pleasure. Like a sunny day, you know, like today, here at home is sunny, even though it's a little chilly, the sun is out. The flowers are changing. So they are blooming now and how amazing it is to witness the transformation of nature? Yes, the transformation of nature, because we are moving from one season to the next.

Mariana Thomas  6:17
That is such a pleasure. I mean, this sunny day, or maybe your favorite cup of tea. And I was just thinking about what is my favorite hot drink and I had two. One is an almond milk latte and I'm not a coffee drinker at all, I don't drink coffee, but if I want a latte, it has to be almond milk and half of one shot of coffee and it has to be decaf. Even though I don't think it makes a difference but it has to be just a little bit of coffee that I can taste. Hmm. So I will say that my latte is more like an almond milk latte without coffee but yes, I love that and I'm so grateful every time I can have it. 

Mariana Thomas  7:21
My other favorite hot drink is hot chocolate because it reminds me of home. It reminds me of my grandmother, which I miss so much she and I used to sit down in the afternoon at home back in Colombia, and we were drinking hot chocolate with freshly made bread and I'm now, at this stage, I'm like, "How beautiful! How beautiful that was!", and how grateful I am every single day that I had the opportunity to spend time with my grandmother doing that.

Mariana Thomas  8:06
So up to this day, I still love hot chocolate. Not only because of the memories of grandma but also the taste and the smell are so beautiful. Only is that now, I don't drink regular milk, it has to be almond milk, coconut milk, or maybe cashew milk. Something that is not dairy products, which I don't do anymore. So for that, I am so grateful. When I'm in that gratitude and I'm enjoying these things, I feel joy and happiness. So just think about it. Right? 

Mariana Thomas  8:48
So every day, every single day, take a few moments to reflect on the things that you are grateful for and it doesn't have to be in the morning time or the afternoon, or night. You pick the time during the day that you want to reflect on these things. As long as you do it every single day, that's fine my friends, okay, so put it in your calendar. Make sure you do it. Make sure that you don't forget, and make sure that when you are being grateful, you are also feeling joy and happiness. You can even write them down on a journal, you know, in a journal and a piece of paper, whatever you want to do with that, but write it down. That's another way of feeling gratitude or just spending some time thinking about them. You know, if you don't want to write them down, just think about them, or say them out loud. You know, the important thing is to focus on the positive and let the gratitude fill up with joy. Think about that. The gratitude fills you up with joy. Hmm, how awesome is that? I can taste it. Like I can taste the joy just by being grateful.

Mariana Thomas  10:27
When you start practicing gratitude, you may be surprised by how much joy it can bring into your life. So don't wait and start planting those seeds of happiness today. So go for it, my friends, and spread some happiness starting right now. 

Mariana Thomas  10:56
Another way to plant seeds of joy, besides gratitude, is by reaching out to help other people, to help others. That is so important. Whether it is a kind word that you can say to someone, you know, just by saying, "How are you today?", "I was thinking about you.", "I hope that you are okay.", any kind of word that you want to say, is a way of finding joy so plant that seed, you know, a helping hand. If someone is in need, and you feel like you can support them, that's another way of planting that seed of joy, or just a listening ear. You know, sometimes we want just to be heard, just to be heard by someone, and they don't have to say anything back. They just need to hear us. So when we made someone else's day, just by making it a little brighter, it makes ours, it makes our day a little brighter, as well. 

Mariana Thomas  12:24
And finally, don't forget to smile. You know, if you can't see people face to face right now, just post yourself with a smile, just FaceTime with them and smile. There are so many ways of communicating with people these days through technology. There are different ways of doing it. There is FaceTime, there is Instagram, there is Zoom, there are other ways of communication and you can even smile through your voice. You know, there are so many people that I talk to and I pay, sometimes I close my eyes, I pay attention and I do intentional listening. So I close my eyes to really hear them beyond their words. So I'm really listening to the tone of the way they're speaking and I can tell sometimes that they are smiling as they're speaking. 

Mariana Thomas  13:34
Smiling is one of the easiest and most effective ways to lift our moods, and bring joy into our life. Just a small gesture of smiling. So the next time, listen to this, the next time you're feeling down, take a moment to pause and appreciate the good things in your life. Reach out and help someone and give them a smile. Give them a smile. 

Mariana Thomas  14:13
These are just a few ideas to get started. Okay, gratitude, reach out to help others and smile. Three simple things that we can do to bring more joy into our lives, are to plant those seeds. Those are just a few things and ideas to get you started. Joy is something that we can all choose to cultivate in our life. We have to cultivate joy. So go for happiness. Go for the joy. Joy is one of the most important things in our life. It's what makes us happy and fulfilled and it is something we can always choose. How amazing is that? We can choose it. 

Mariana Thomas   15:11
So if you're looking to start your new year on the right foot with some joy, you know, I want you to consider implementing some of these steps, some of these tips to planting the seeds for joy in your life and if you do need a little more help, I want you to download that 2022 Mindful Goal Guide from the show notes. It's totally free for you and you can write the things that you're grateful for in that Mindful Goal Guide, you know, write "My goal is to have more joy.". You can write those things down in there. It's there for you. Take advantage, download that. Okay, start the year the right way to bring in more joy, more happiness, by being grateful, by reaching out and helping others, and by just having a smile on your face. What that is going to do to you, it's going to return all those beautiful things that you are putting out there in the world, back into your life. So your days, your months, your year can be the best ones that you can have in your personal and in your professional work, okay, and your professional work. Especially if you are helping others, you want to be enjoying happiness yourself so you can give it. You can give what you don't have. So let's have, let's be. 

Mariana Thomas  17:02
With that, my friends, I hope this was helpful. I hope this added some value to you. I want you to share this podcast and this episode with your friends and families and please leave us a great review and five stars so we can continue to reach more people. We can continue to touch more hearts, and I can be out there in the world. Just giving my message. That is my mission and if you are looking for a coach, I'm also here so you can also reach out to me, and let's talk. So with that friends, have a beautiful rest of your day and I will talk to you in the next episode. Bye-bye. 

Mariana Thomas  17:54
Thank you for listening everyone and don't forget to go to the show notes and click to download your FREE Mindful and Energetic Living Guide. Also, don't forget to share this podcast with your friends, families, and everyone out there. I want to get this out there to everyone. So thank you for your support and I'll see you next week.