June 17, 2025 • 11 mins
Joy isn't about perfection or fake positivity – it's about finding deep soul satisfaction even in the midst of chaos. We explore the power of intentional joy practices and how they can transform our experience, even on the hardest days.
• Joy differs from happiness – it's deeper and not circumstantial
• Harvard study shows people who focus on joy are 30% more likely to report higher life satisfaction
• Personal joy practices include music to combat overstimulation, sunshine breaks, and gratitude journaling
• Joy is a choice we must make daily, especially during difficult times
• Quick "joy reset": step outside barefoot, close eyes, breathe deeply, and think of one grateful moment
Email me at confidentlybeautifulwithciera@gmail.com if you have an inspiring confidence story to share on the podcast. Connect with me on Instagram @confidentlybeautifulpodcast and please leave a review – it helps others find our community.
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Morning routine episode mentioned: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2021248/episodes/11125501
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ciera (00:24):
Hey friend, welcome back to the Confidently Beautiful
podcast.
I am Ciera and today we'rediving into one of my favorite
feelings joy.
Not the fake it till you makeit kind, not the perfect, life
is great, wonderful.
Kind, I mean like the deep feel, it in your soul, kind of joy.
Joy doesn't mean things have tobe perfect and you have to look
(00:45):
perfect and everything in yourlife has to be perfect.
It just means that you'reshowing up in the middle of the
chaos and joy reminds you thatlife is still good, even if
you're running on caffeine anddry shampoo, which I often am.
In this short and sweet episode, I'm going to share a few sweet
, beautiful answers from you, mylisteners, about what brings
(01:06):
you joy and how it can changethings for you.
I'm also going to share some ofmy personal moments where joy
has snuck up on me in the middleof the messy days and has
totally flipped the script,because sometimes we forget how
powerful a little joy can be.
So, whether you're foldinglaundry or maybe you're out on
your walk soaking in somesunshine, this one is for you
(01:26):
and let's talk about how joychanges everything.
First, what is joy?
Joy versus happiness, how arethey different?
Joy is deeper.
It's not circumstantial Joy youcan feel, maybe in those hard
moments when you're not feelingquite so happy.
It doesn't matter what yourcircumstances are, you can still
experience joy, motherhood.
(01:49):
Often joy can be small and itcan come in like those
overlooked moments of motherhoodIn the middle of the hard days.
Then we might have like theselittle moments of joy where we
just feel it.
Joy is the serious business ofheaven, according to CS Lewis.
A Harvard study found thatpeople who intentionally focus
(02:10):
on positive emotions like joyare 30% more likely to report
higher life satisfaction.
That's a pretty great statisticin my opinion, and so if I can
be 30% happier with my life andmore satisfied with my life,
then I would want to bring asmuch joy as I can.
(02:30):
My personal examples of whatbrings me joy and how I can
bring joy into my life is numberone music.
There are often days when I amoverstimulated.
After a really long day I caneasily be overstimulated with
all the noise the talking aroundme with my kids, the fighting
oh, the constant fighting.
(02:50):
The TV sounds that is a hugeone for me.
That can be veryoverstimulating to me, and
especially when there is clutterand there is stuff everywhere.
So if this ever happens to mewhich it happens so much more
often than I wish it did, but Ihave found for me a really,
really easy fix is for me totell my husband you are in
(03:12):
charge, I am not going to beable to hear anything.
I put in my AirPods, I turn onthe noise canceling and I turn
up the music and I just cleanand I can just focus on just
doing what I need to do to justcalm my space around me, and
after that I always feel so muchbetter and so it really does
(03:32):
bring me joy, like it brings mejoy to like feel that.
And so joy doesn't have to bebrought on by a really big grand
moment.
That's nothing huge.
It could even just be for 20minutes that I am tuning out the
noises around me and I am justenjoying my music and just
cleaning, which to me, is socalming and peaceful to me.
(03:55):
If I can clean in peace,without anyone talking to me,
then I can just feel so muchbetter and I know that the end
result is going to bring me alot of joy.
Another one is sunshine.
Sunshine feeds my soul If I canjust step outside and just
breathe and just feel the sun onmy face, or even just stand
near a window or sit near awindow where the sun is shining
(04:16):
in and I can just feel that sunon me, then it can change my
mood so quickly.
So whenever I'm feeling thatlike overwhelm, I just step out
into the sun and it brings somuch joy and so much peace to me
.
I've done this with my babies,like if they're upset, just
stepping outside, like it justinstantly can calm them and it
(04:37):
does the same for me.
So it's my I love, love forsunshine and that just feeds my
soul when I step out into thesun.
And journaling is another oneGratitude and joy practices,
even if it's like a short 30seconds or maybe five minutes.
If I can do that like, I canfeel so much more joy and
(04:59):
studies have shown that it'slinked to better sleep, lower
stress and strongerrelationships.
If you take just even fiveminutes to journal something
that you're grateful for orsomething good that has happened
to you, then it can improveyour life so much.
One thing that I have starteddoing is my confidence journals,
so these are available in myshop.
(05:19):
I will include a link below.
But these are confidencejournals.
So these are available in myshop.
I will include a link below.
But these are confidencejournals that just are very
simple and they say today I feltconfident when and then I just
say when I felt confident whatis something that happened today
that either I did or thathappened to me, or a situation
that I was in that grew myconfidence, or that I had a
(05:42):
moment where I felt like I wasshining.
This has been a really goodpractice for me because it's
been having me notice morethings about myself and about
what I am comfortable with andwhat I'm not comfortable with,
where I do feel confident andwhere I need to improve, and
it's been a really good selfawareness reminder and practice
for me.
And if it can link to what thatstatistics said about improving
(06:06):
my sleep and lowering my stressand building my relationships,
then I am all for that and thatis definitely going to bring me
more joy.
So those are the three thingsthat I do to increase my joy.
I asked on my Instagram whatbrings you joy?
I asked on my Instagram whatbrings you joy and I got some
really great answers.
Some people said birds andsunshine.
Some people said my kidslaughing.
(06:26):
Some people said being with myfamily.
And how does joy change thingsfor you?
One person said that itenergizes her.
I loved that because it reallydoes.
Joy really does bring an energy.
A quote that I really love isjoy does not simply happen to us
.
We have to choose joy and keepchoosing it every day.
It's not something thatnecessarily easily comes to us
(06:49):
like.
It's a choice that we have tomake every day to feel joy,
especially in those moments oflife when things are really hard
.
Joy is a choice even when yourlife feels heavy.
It doesn't erase all the hardthings, but it can give the
power to move through them in adifferent way.
You can move through things andit can give you the courage to
(07:11):
move forward and to move throughthe heavy, hard moments with a
different attitude and adifferent perspective.
Some other awesome quotes thatI found about joy as I was doing
my preparations for thisepisode were sometimes your joy
is the source of your smile, butsometimes your smile can be the
source of your joy.
(07:31):
Joy is not in things, it is inus.
That's by Richard Wagner.
Here is an idea of a joy resetthat you can do if you are ever
feeling overwhelmed or feelinglike you just don't have any joy
.
This goes along with one of mythings of getting sunshine and
what I love to do is stepoutside, even if it's just for a
(07:52):
few seconds, and just close myeyes.
It's awesome if you can.
There's like studies andscience that if you can have
your bare feet on the ground,like in the grass, that can do
so much more for you.
It just really grounds you tothe earth.
So I just step outside barefoot, I close my eyes, I take a deep
breath and if you can face thesun or the sky and like just
(08:14):
feel like those sun rays on yourface, then just breathe that in
and then just think to yourselfone thing you're grateful for.
This can bring an awesome joyreset If you are feeling
overwhelmed or sad or justhaving a really hard time coping
with some things.
(08:35):
That's one of my favorite joyresets is to just step outside
and do that for 30 seconds.
I would love to hear what bringsyou joy this week.
So DM me, let's have aconversation.
I love the conversations I havein my messages and maybe even
like post to your story.
Tag me share this episode withsomebody that you think could
use a little bit of joy.
I want to remind you thatyou're worthy of joy right now,
(08:59):
not just when everything isperfect, because it never is
perfect.
You're worthy of joy right now,in this moment.
Another thing that would bringme joy today is if you would
leave me a review.
I love reading my reviews formy episode, and not only does it
bring me joy, but it alsobrings other people joy, because
they can read your reviews andactually find this podcast and I
(09:21):
would hope that this podcastbrings people joy and so if they
have reviews that they can readand they can know that this
podcast is for them, that helpsthem to get my podcast onto more
people's feed so that when theyare searching for confidence
podcasts or motherhood podcasts,this one can come up.
I want to read one of thereviews, because I love them all
.
This is from Emily.
(09:41):
She said I binge listened toevery episode and was sad when I
made it through the last one.
I loved the sincerity of thehost and learned some super
helpful life hacks.
My favorite episode so far wasthe one about morning routines.
I can link that in the shownotes.
I can't wait for Monday to gethere so I can listen again.
Good stuff.
This was actually from a coupleyears ago.
(10:03):
This was one of my very firstreviews, when I used to launch
the episodes on Mondays, but nowit is on Tuesdays.
So now Tuesdays can be yourjoyful, happy day when you get
another confidently beautifulpodcast episode.
So I believe that joy can changeeverything.
I don't think that it canchange our circumstances, but I
think it can change everythinginside of us.
It can change the way we feelabout ourselves and the
(10:24):
situations that we are in, evenif they are not ideal.
So find a little bit of joythis week and I will talk to you
again next week.
Stay confidently beautiful.
Do you have an inspiring storyof confidence?
Whether you've overcome alimitation, rediscovered
yourself after a loss, or builtconfidence through something as
simple yet super powerful asgardening, I want to hear from
(10:45):
you, or maybe you know someonewhose journey would inspire
others.
I'm looking for real, relatablestories to feature on the
Confidently Beautiful podcast.
Let's celebrate the beauty ofconfidence in all its forms.
Email me atconfidentlybeautifulwithsierra
at gmailcom and let's chat aboutsharing your story with my
incredible community.
I can't wait to hear from you.
(11:06):
Thanks for listening.
Connect with me on Instagram@confidentlybeautifulpodcast and
share this episode with someonein your life who could use a
little reminder of just howamazing they already are.
Stay confidently beautiful.
Hey friend, welcome back to the Confidently Beautiful
podcast.
I am Ciera and today we'rediving into one of my favorite
feelings joy.
Not the fake it till you makeit kind, not the perfect, life
is great, wonderful.
Kind, I mean like the deep feel, it in your soul, kind of joy.
Joy doesn't mean things have tobe perfect and you have to look
(00:45):
perfect and everything in yourlife has to be perfect.
It just means that you'reshowing up in the middle of the
chaos and joy reminds you thatlife is still good, even if
you're running on caffeine anddry shampoo, which I often am.
In this short and sweet episode, I'm going to share a few sweet
, beautiful answers from you, mylisteners, about what brings
(01:06):
you joy and how it can changethings for you.
I'm also going to share some ofmy personal moments where joy
has snuck up on me in the middleof the messy days and has
totally flipped the script,because sometimes we forget how
powerful a little joy can be.
So, whether you're foldinglaundry or maybe you're out on
your walk soaking in somesunshine, this one is for you
(01:26):
and let's talk about how joychanges everything.
First, what is joy?
Joy versus happiness, how arethey different?
Joy is deeper.
It's not circumstantial Joy youcan feel, maybe in those hard
moments when you're not feelingquite so happy.
It doesn't matter what yourcircumstances are, you can still
experience joy, motherhood.
(01:49):
Often joy can be small and itcan come in like those
overlooked moments of motherhoodIn the middle of the hard days.
Then we might have like theselittle moments of joy where we
just feel it.
Joy is the serious business ofheaven, according to CS Lewis.
A Harvard study found thatpeople who intentionally focus
(02:10):
on positive emotions like joyare 30% more likely to report
higher life satisfaction.
That's a pretty great statisticin my opinion, and so if I can
be 30% happier with my life andmore satisfied with my life,
then I would want to bring asmuch joy as I can.
(02:30):
My personal examples of whatbrings me joy and how I can
bring joy into my life is numberone music.
There are often days when I amoverstimulated.
After a really long day I caneasily be overstimulated with
all the noise the talking aroundme with my kids, the fighting
oh, the constant fighting.
(02:50):
The TV sounds that is a hugeone for me.
That can be veryoverstimulating to me, and
especially when there is clutterand there is stuff everywhere.
So if this ever happens to mewhich it happens so much more
often than I wish it did, but Ihave found for me a really,
really easy fix is for me totell my husband you are in
(03:12):
charge, I am not going to beable to hear anything.
I put in my AirPods, I turn onthe noise canceling and I turn
up the music and I just cleanand I can just focus on just
doing what I need to do to justcalm my space around me, and
after that I always feel so muchbetter and so it really does
(03:32):
bring me joy, like it brings mejoy to like feel that.
And so joy doesn't have to bebrought on by a really big grand
moment.
That's nothing huge.
It could even just be for 20minutes that I am tuning out the
noises around me and I am justenjoying my music and just
cleaning, which to me, is socalming and peaceful to me.
(03:55):
If I can clean in peace,without anyone talking to me,
then I can just feel so muchbetter and I know that the end
result is going to bring me alot of joy.
Another one is sunshine.
Sunshine feeds my soul If I canjust step outside and just
breathe and just feel the sun onmy face, or even just stand
near a window or sit near awindow where the sun is shining
(04:16):
in and I can just feel that sunon me, then it can change my
mood so quickly.
So whenever I'm feeling thatlike overwhelm, I just step out
into the sun and it brings somuch joy and so much peace to me
.
I've done this with my babies,like if they're upset, just
stepping outside, like it justinstantly can calm them and it
(04:37):
does the same for me.
So it's my I love, love forsunshine and that just feeds my
soul when I step out into thesun.
And journaling is another oneGratitude and joy practices,
even if it's like a short 30seconds or maybe five minutes.
If I can do that like, I canfeel so much more joy and
(04:59):
studies have shown that it'slinked to better sleep, lower
stress and strongerrelationships.
If you take just even fiveminutes to journal something
that you're grateful for orsomething good that has happened
to you, then it can improveyour life so much.
One thing that I have starteddoing is my confidence journals,
so these are available in myshop.
(05:19):
I will include a link below.
But these are confidencejournals.
So these are available in myshop.
I will include a link below.
But these are confidencejournals that just are very
simple and they say today I feltconfident when and then I just
say when I felt confident whatis something that happened today
that either I did or thathappened to me, or a situation
that I was in that grew myconfidence, or that I had a
(05:42):
moment where I felt like I wasshining.
This has been a really goodpractice for me because it's
been having me notice morethings about myself and about
what I am comfortable with andwhat I'm not comfortable with,
where I do feel confident andwhere I need to improve, and
it's been a really good selfawareness reminder and practice
for me.
And if it can link to what thatstatistics said about improving
(06:06):
my sleep and lowering my stressand building my relationships,
then I am all for that and thatis definitely going to bring me
more joy.
So those are the three thingsthat I do to increase my joy.
I asked on my Instagram whatbrings you joy?
I asked on my Instagram whatbrings you joy and I got some
really great answers.
Some people said birds andsunshine.
Some people said my kidslaughing.
(06:26):
Some people said being with myfamily.
And how does joy change thingsfor you?
One person said that itenergizes her.
I loved that because it reallydoes.
Joy really does bring an energy.
A quote that I really love isjoy does not simply happen to us
.
We have to choose joy and keepchoosing it every day.
It's not something thatnecessarily easily comes to us
(06:49):
like.
It's a choice that we have tomake every day to feel joy,
especially in those moments oflife when things are really hard
.
Joy is a choice even when yourlife feels heavy.
It doesn't erase all the hardthings, but it can give the
power to move through them in adifferent way.
You can move through things andit can give you the courage to
(07:11):
move forward and to move throughthe heavy, hard moments with a
different attitude and adifferent perspective.
Some other awesome quotes thatI found about joy as I was doing
my preparations for thisepisode were sometimes your joy
is the source of your smile, butsometimes your smile can be the
source of your joy.
(07:31):
Joy is not in things, it is inus.
That's by Richard Wagner.
Here is an idea of a joy resetthat you can do if you are ever
feeling overwhelmed or feelinglike you just don't have any joy
.
This goes along with one of mythings of getting sunshine and
what I love to do is stepoutside, even if it's just for a
(07:52):
few seconds, and just close myeyes.
It's awesome if you can.
There's like studies andscience that if you can have
your bare feet on the ground,like in the grass, that can do
so much more for you.
It just really grounds you tothe earth.
So I just step outside barefoot, I close my eyes, I take a deep
breath and if you can face thesun or the sky and like just
(08:14):
feel like those sun rays on yourface, then just breathe that in
and then just think to yourselfone thing you're grateful for.
This can bring an awesome joyreset If you are feeling
overwhelmed or sad or justhaving a really hard time coping
with some things.
(08:35):
That's one of my favorite joyresets is to just step outside
and do that for 30 seconds.
I would love to hear what bringsyou joy this week.
So DM me, let's have aconversation.
I love the conversations I havein my messages and maybe even
like post to your story.
Tag me share this episode withsomebody that you think could
use a little bit of joy.
I want to remind you thatyou're worthy of joy right now,
(08:59):
not just when everything isperfect, because it never is
perfect.
You're worthy of joy right now,in this moment.
Another thing that would bringme joy today is if you would
leave me a review.
I love reading my reviews formy episode, and not only does it
bring me joy, but it alsobrings other people joy, because
they can read your reviews andactually find this podcast and I
(09:21):
would hope that this podcastbrings people joy and so if they
have reviews that they can readand they can know that this
podcast is for them, that helpsthem to get my podcast onto more
people's feed so that when theyare searching for confidence
podcasts or motherhood podcasts,this one can come up.
I want to read one of thereviews, because I love them all
.
This is from Emily.
(09:41):
She said I binge listened toevery episode and was sad when I
made it through the last one.
I loved the sincerity of thehost and learned some super
helpful life hacks.
My favorite episode so far wasthe one about morning routines.
I can link that in the shownotes.
I can't wait for Monday to gethere so I can listen again.
Good stuff.
This was actually from a coupleyears ago.
(10:03):
This was one of my very firstreviews, when I used to launch
the episodes on Mondays, but nowit is on Tuesdays.
So now Tuesdays can be yourjoyful, happy day when you get
another confidently beautifulpodcast episode.
So I believe that joy can changeeverything.
I don't think that it canchange our circumstances, but I
think it can change everythinginside of us.
It can change the way we feelabout ourselves and the
(10:24):
situations that we are in, evenif they are not ideal.
So find a little bit of joythis week and I will talk to you
again next week.
Stay confidently beautiful.
Do you have an inspiring storyof confidence?
Whether you've overcome alimitation, rediscovered
yourself after a loss, or builtconfidence through something as
simple yet super powerful asgardening, I want to hear from
(10:45):
you, or maybe you know someonewhose journey would inspire
others.
I'm looking for real, relatablestories to feature on the
Confidently Beautiful podcast.
Let's celebrate the beauty ofconfidence in all its forms.
Email me atconfidentlybeautifulwithsierra
at gmailcom and let's chat aboutsharing your story with my
incredible community.
I can't wait to hear from you.
(11:06):
Thanks for listening.
Connect with me on Instagram@confidentlybeautifulpodcast and
share this episode with someonein your life who could use a
little reminder of just howamazing they already are.
Stay confidently beautiful.
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