Along with slowing down is setting aside a specific time to reflect. Create space for thinking about your simple joys in life. The simple joys of life are often overlooked in today’s fast-paced world, but they’re so important for your happiness! Here are 38 examples of the simple pleasures of life and tips for recognizing small joys in your own life. In a culture where the value of the team supercedes the individual, Japanese workers are driven by being useful to others, being thanked, and being esteemed by their colleagues, says Toshimitsu Sowa, CEO of HR consulting firm Jinzai Kenkyusho. Drifting off while you’re reading (or watching Netflix) on the couch is one of the best feelings out there. There’s no pressure for a serious sleep so you can just get comfy and enjoy dozing off in the sun. 18. Being told you look good. I guess I was willing to go along with this just being unlabeled except there is a very strange scene toward the end of the book with a totally out of character proposition to which we never got a response. That annoyed me.

Filled with excellent pop culture and music references of the time, brilliantly memorable characters, lots of laughs and a few tears, it really did give me everything that I wanted. I feel that Finlay deserves a special mention, initially a bit of an eye roll character but he really grew on me and he was just completely believable, I feel like I’ve met Finlay a few times in my life. We live in a negative world so choosing to focus on gratitude may not always feel easy. However, as you make a habit of writing in a gratitude journal, it will become second nature to you.We find Harley at a particularly low point, out in the woods, alone and about to do something drastic. This is when Muddy enters his life, introduces himself as Harley’s new flat mate and begins to change his life and outlook.

We met weekly to talk about the book and challenged each other to come up with an increasing number of things we were thankful for and write them down in our gratitude journals. Watching a movie and eating pizza in bed on a Saturday night – One of my personal favorite joys of life! It’s difficult to express just how much I loved this book but the one thing that I constantly tell people is that reading it felt like being enveloped in a hug. Life’s simple joys are often things that can’t be bought, but also things that you would pay BIG money for… ironic, I know! Japan has some of the longest-living citizens in the world – 87 years for women and 81 for men, according to the country’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Could this concept of ikigai contribute to longevity?Compliments are great and make most people feel pretty good about themselves. Whether they come from a colleague after a big presentation or a friend on your latest outfit, they’re a good confidence boost. 19. Listening to the rain while you’re warm in bed.

However it did kind of bug me that the relationship with Muddy was never defined (but maybe that's my hetero bias of wanting things to be neatly labeled?) Is Muddy Ace? Is he attracted to Harley or does he just love him? Ultimately does it matter? We hope your day is full of life’s little joys, and that when they happen you can take a moment to appreciate them. And if you know someone that’s having a hard time at the moment, send them this list so they can start looking out for life’s little joys – and why not send them one of our Send a Smile cards, too? For more inspiration and lifestyle tips, head to the thortful blog. We live in a frenzied world where people seem to be constantly busy. Slowing down can sometimes be a challenge. Muddy is my favorite of all the characters. Because this individual is both kind and charming, I believe that a lot of readers will find themselves falling in love with him. He injects an incredible amount of vibrancy and coziness into the narrative. In addition to this, he ends up becoming the main character's pillar of support for all the right reasons. If you take pleasure in reading books that center on relationships and friendships that are characterized by positivity and support for one another, then you are going to take a lot of pleasure out of this one, just like I did. Time has a way of getting away from you if you aren’t purposeful in how you use it. Decide if setting aside time to reflect works best as part of your morning routine or your evening routine.

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She writes matter-of-factly – never preaching – about bringing kids into a world battling climate change; about the gentrification of Melbourne’s once culturally-diverse suburbs. There’s an implicit, perhaps unconscious, resentment for the novel’s boomer couples; the effortless way in which they know one another’s needs, their ownership of seaside holiday homes, complete with thriving gardens bearing bountiful fruit, the fact that they seem to be able to just get on with life while the generations after them constantly falter.