Are You Enjoying Yourself? On Building Habits

Jul 21, 2023

My first attempt at sourdough pretzel buns! A joy to make! Recipe here.

Greetings everyone and welcome back!

Cancer season, am I right? What an emotional time! Phew, let’s talk about something happy today.

I’ve been a runner for 20 years now! Wild, right? When I started running all those years ago, I never thought I’d still be running today! I ran for my high school, my college, and I ran a bunch of half marathons after that.

I got injured training for a full marathon (~10 years ago), and nowadays I just run for fun with Rocco (my dog), which is the most casual form of running! (because dogs need to pee, poop, and sniff a lot!)

People often ask me, how do you do it? How do you stay running? What’s your secret?

I’ll tell you what my secret is –

I actually enjoy running!

People often wonder what the secret is to building a habit. And while yes, to go from not having that habit to consistently (and with frequency) maintaining that habit, it’s usually a steep learning curve. For example, it’s not easy to go from no running to running consistently.

But, the thing that will carry you through any new habit or business or venture, is your enjoyment. And I’d argue this is the number one most important component.

If it’s hard and you still enjoy it, you’ll probably still want to pursue it. Running was like that for me in the beginning. I wasn’t particularly good at it from the get-go. But with time, exposure, and enjoyment, I found myself blossoming in this arena.

As you put in the reps, it becomes easier and more second nature, and your enjoyment tends to sky rocket.

If it’s easy and you enjoy it, good on you! Keep going!

But if it’s hard and you hate it, it’s gonna be hard to stick with it.

You have to receive some kind of reward (hopefully internal) for you to keep going.

Joy is in the Present Moment

The thing about joy is, you can’t chase it. You must allow it. Joy lives in the present moment. Joy is not in the past, and it’s not in the future. You hear those old people saying “the good old days” – that’s a bunch of crap! The good old days are now.

For example, you often hear people trying to “chase” the runner’s high. For those who might be unfamiliar, the runner’s high is when you are running and you feel intense endorphins - you feel so good, euphoric even, that you just want to keep going.

When I go running, I usually start feeling that high within the first couple of minutes, which might be shocking to some! But the thing is, you can’t chase the runner’s high. It is only something that spontaneously arises when you allow for it.

When I run, I’m only looking to experience the run. Whatever it gives me, I’m open to it. If it sucks, or I can’t go far due to sustaining injuries, then fine. If I feel great and can go farther, then surprise me, run!

But more often than not, without too much expectation, it ends up being a lovely pleasant experience.

Why do I love running? I love the fresh air, I love the repetitive movement, I find running to be so meditative and so good for my body and mind.

I love feeling my heart rate go up steadily. I love the endorphins! I can often get myself out of a mental rut when I start running. And I love seeing how happy Rocco baby is to join me. He’s a great runner.

That allowance of spontaneity is creative energy from the level of Source penetrating your experience. Spiritual energy is healing energy. And joy is good for the heart, because joy opens your heart.

Joy is Linked to Your Purpose

There’s a reason that certain things just make you feel undeniably amazing. There’s a reason you have a certain knack for things, for no explainable reason, other than that you love it and it makes you feel alive. These are the experiences and gifts that are meant to be shared with the world!

And maybe that’s the feeling we want when building a new habit… feeling alive. Joy will get you there!

Joy is Meant to be Shared

Recently, I made a wish to the universe that I could make a bouquet of flowers from the flowers I’ve planted this year. Then last week, I was walking Rocco in the neighborhood, and some neighbors left out their freshly cut flowers for people to pick and make a bouquet! So I made a bouquet, took a pic, and sent it to my fellow flower lover friend, Enora.

So the joy from the neighbor’s garden was transferred to me, which was shared with Enora, who also celebrated with me!! It was sooooo fun 🙂 and a great connector!

And since then, my sunflowers bloomed!!! They are sooooo pretty 🙂 Flowers and nature also give me joy.

You Are Worthy of Joy

We spend a lot of time doing things we don’t want to do. We spend a lot of energy saying yes when we really didn’t want to. We’re taught to “do the right thing” when the “right thing” doesn’t resonate with us at all! In essence, we’ve been taught not to feel good in life, and that mediocrity is okay.

But what I’m saying is, you are worthy of experiencing joy! You are meant to be a divine, ecstatic creature!!

Make Joy Your Habit

If you want to start a new hobby, habit, business, or venture, make sure that joy is your habit!!! Joy will gravitate you towards purpose, meaning, abundance, recreation, and self-care.

Joy will take you places you’ve never even dreamed of!!! Joy unlocks the next step, then the next step, then the next step 🙂 then you look back and think, wow I actually did something!

So I am wondering, what gives you joy? What is something that makes you feel alive? What is so fun for you, that you lose track of time? Write in the comments, or hit reply on your email! I’ll love to hear from you 🙂

Have an amazingly abundant weekend!

Love,

Angeli

“Enjoyment is an incredible energizer to the human spirit.” ~ John C. Maxwell

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