The bits and chunks of joy list

Laura Vanderkam posted recently about her bits and chunks of joy list, and I was inspired to do the same. The idea is to have a go-to list of activities so that you can fill up the available moments of your life with bits of joy, instead of checking email, again.

This is what I came up with, but I’d love to add to it. I’d love to hear what your own list looks like!

5 or 10 minutes:

Listen to a song I love. Preferably a peppy one.

Stretch and use my theracane. Last time I got a massage, my therapist told me I needed one of these for my killer sports injury/too-much-typing-disease combo and it’s amazing.

Read a magazine. I don’t do this a lot and it feels so indulgent when I do.

Watch the latest Emma Approved.

Do a brain dump. (I always feel terrific after I get everything out of my head and onto paper.)

Look at family photos with the kids. (This is one of the reasons I want to get them off my computer and into photo books!)

Thumb through a cookbook with gorgeous photos and lots of text. (Smitten Kitchen has been my favorite for months.)

Turn my kids’ everyday food into something delightfully silly, or especially beautiful. (Funny face oatmeal, or flower-bedecked salads.)

Have a living room family dance party. 

30 minutes:

Go for a solitary walk.

Call an old friend.

Talk to Will—with no devices and no kids.

Curl up with a novel and a cup of coffee or glass of wine.

Bake, by myself. (No little helpers!)

Write a poem. Yeah, they’re crap, but it still makes me happy to tinker with words and meter.

Out and about: 

Walk the city sidewalks. I love to window shop: all the fun of shopping, but no pressure and NO decision making!

Browse the little local bookstore.

Browse a stationery shop. This is my happy place.

Get a massage. 

Hike with the family (although at this stage it’s hit or miss whether this will actually be joyful).

Eat breakfast out–one of my favorite things.

That’s my constantly-evolving list. What’s on yours?

PS: this post has a cousin: the checklist you need to have.