September 19, 2023 • 21 mins
Join me as we discover the path to unwavering joy and mental well-being in this uplifting episode. I'll delve into 8 steps grounded in faith to help transform your perspective and find hope in every situation. Let's begin cultivating joy and gratitude together!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what's up everybody?
Today is going to be a fun one.
We're going to really stop downand break down the science
behind how to find a moregrateful life or to find joy in
your life.
It comes with a mindset shiftand it doesn't happen overnight.
It comes with being intentionaland it takes practice.
(00:23):
So my encouragement for you I'mgoing to give you eight tips.
Eight tips on how to apply thisto your life and by the end
you're going to find it's goingto be so much harder to see the
negative things in your lifewhen all the positive things are
jumping out at you.
All that and more is happeningright after this.
(00:45):
What's up everybody?
Welcome back to the WinWordsDon't Come Easy podcast.
(01:06):
My name is Andy Howard and itis such an honor to have you
here with me.
If this is your first time,welcome here, seriously welcome.
Thank you for joining, andmaybe you've been around for a
while.
Can I just say thank you, thankyou for showing up.
You're the reason why I do thisand I'm honored to be on this
(01:30):
journey with you.
And today is a very special dayfor me.
So, for those who were here lastweek, I'll put you in a little
secret.
I'm not perfect at this thing.
I feel like I'm just notlearning.
Last week I thought was the52nd episode, and I even
referred to it in the 51stepisode on September the 12th,
(01:50):
on confidence.
Go back and check that out, ifnot.
I love everything that was saidon boosting your confidence and
why, but today is actually the52nd episode, on September the
19th.
In fact, last year, a year ago,on September the 20th, I did my
first ever podcast, and sohere's the truth.
(02:14):
I'm not perfect at this, as youcan tell.
I'm not good with numbers.
I didn't realize it till I wentback and was editing the folder
and throwing it into the folderand everything that.
Oops, that was actually episode51 last week, but no one has to
know that, so put that out ofyour mind.
Today is episode 52.
It's one year in and I am soexcited to be here so excited to
(02:39):
be here a year, and I touchedon that last week.
So if you want to hear why I'mexcited to still be here after a
year, you'll have to go back tolast week's, because this week
we're moving on.
But I wanted to talk aboutfinding joy.
Finding joy in all things is ittruly is a mindset shift that
requires practice and consciouseffort.
(03:00):
If you've been around for anyof the other 52, you've probably
heard this set a time or two.
But anything that you want todo, that you want to get better,
doesn't happen by accident.
Takes being intentional and ittakes focus.
So you have to dial in and youhave to be intentional about it,
(03:21):
and you have to be focused onwhat you want to get better at.
And if you are someone who'scoming through depression, like
myself, many years ago I camethrough depression, but it's
something that I still have tokeep in check on a daily basis,
and so now it happens by findinggratitude.
And so if I finding joy andfinding gratitude, it doesn't
(03:43):
happen without being intentionalabout it.
So today I have eight thingsfor you, eight steps to help you
find gratitude.
The first step I would challengeyou to do is practice gratitude
, practice gratitude.
Take time each day to reflecton the things you're grateful
(04:03):
for.
This can be as simple asappreciating a beautiful sunset
or a kind gesture from a friend,or even a delicious meal.
We have so many things allaround us to be grateful for,
but focusing on gratitude helpsus shift your perspective
towards the positive aspects oflife.
This is something I was evenpracticing with one of my
(04:26):
daughters.
I won't say who, could I get introuble, but sometimes, when
things don't go her way or gothe way she hopes for right it
all happens to all of us.
We tend to focus on thenegative things.
Oh, I never.
The word never draws me nuts,by the way, but I never get this
, I never get to do that.
(04:48):
But when we start having amindset of gratitude, when we
start focusing on these things,even if it's something as simple
as being grateful for a millafter going to Africa and I know
I've talked about it a lotlately, please forgive me, but I
will never be ungrateful for amill we are so blessed, we're so
(05:09):
blessed here.
So start looking for ways whereyou can be grateful.
That's number one.
You have to practice gratitude.
The second thing I wouldchallenge you to do is just be
mindful.
I know I'm so guilty of this,but so many times if I'm not
careful, I can kind of turn intoautopilot, like where I'm
(05:29):
driving, I know where I'm going,but I don't even focus on the
on the trip.
It's just like I'm headed to mydestination.
I, I know I got to do this,this, this today, and I got to
get it done in being busy, right, we sometimes wear that as a
badge of honor, but we're sobusy that we're not mindful.
We're just getting things done.
(05:50):
And my challenge would bepractice.
Being fully present, I engagewith your senses.
Pay attention to the details ofyour surroundings, the taste of
your food we mentioned that.
Right, you can tell I love toeat, but the taste of your food,
the filling of the sun on yourskin, the sound of laughter.
Being mindful helps youappreciate the small joys that
(06:13):
often go unnoticed, that we canoften just breeze on by when
we're in autopilot mode.
So, number two be mindful.
Another practice that can helpyou, uh, find gratitude or find
joy in things is is, numberthree just find joy in simple
pleasures.
Look for joy in your everydayactivities.
It could be something as assmall as enjoying a double shot
(06:37):
espresso that's my love language.
It could be something thatsimple.
It doesn't have to be somethingover the moon, like a trip to
Paris or something, right, uh,just find joy in the small
things enjoying that cup ofcoffee in the morning, reading a
good book, like, uh, when wordsdon't come easy by Andy Howard.
(06:57):
Okay, that's a little free plug, but if you haven't read it,
seriously, go get it.
Reading a good book, taking awalk, uh, spending quality time
with loved ones, embrace thesesimple pleasures and savor the
moments.
It's so valuable Again, findjoy in simple pleasures.
So number four and this is onethat is just something that's
(07:20):
going to take time, uh,something that I'm still
practicing at that I'm workingon, but it's just like working
out.
It doesn't happen overnight,it's not like you know, you ever
been there, I've been there oryou go get that workout on, then
you run back to the mirror andyou're like what happened, what
changed?
Doesn't happen overnight, butif you stay consistent at it, if
(07:41):
you work hard at it, if you'reintentional at it, like I don't
know, three months later, sixmonths later, a year from now,
you'll look back at old picturesand you're like dude, look at
you now or do that?
You know, if you're female,whatever.
But this is, this is one thattakes time, takes work, it's,
it's caught to me.
(08:02):
So number four caught to me apositive mindset.
It's not easy, right, it's noteasy, but you have to train your
mind to focus on the positiveaspects of situations Instead of
dwelling on what went wrong.
Look for lessons learned or thesilver linings.
Look for the beauty in thebroken.
(08:22):
I promise you it's out there.
So practice reaffirming thosenegative thoughts into positive
ones and choose to see the goodin every situation.
See, we are born with a desireto find the negative.
We're born that way.
We're we're, we're created tojust look at at the negative.
(08:44):
It takes practice to startfocusing on the good in your
life and being grateful for thepositive things.
But I promise you, if you woulddo this, if you will be
intentional to start searchingfor those things, all of a
sudden those things will startjumping out at you and it'll
actually be harder to find thenegative things in your life
(09:05):
than the positive.
Promise you that's true.
Give it a shot.
Number five surround yourselfwith positivity.
I surround yourself withpositive people, uplifting
environments, inspiring content.
That's why sometimes you justeven myself I have to go through
, and when something's causingme to be sad or causing me to be
(09:27):
angry or mad or not happy, I'mlike what is this serving me?
There are people I used tofollow that I had to unfollow.
That's okay.
Surround yourself with positivepeople who are uplifting, who
are inspiring you, who arepushing you to be better.
That would be my challenge foryou.
(09:49):
Engage in activities that bringyou joy, such as listening to
uplifting music, watching feelgood movies or even again
reading motivational books.
The more positivity yousurround yourself with, the
easier it becomes to find joy inall things.
But another thing we do for forour home we love to have
worship music just playingthrough the home.
(10:12):
Worship music just starts ourday right.
It's already running.
Alexa makes it so easy for us,so she's just playing the
worship sets and the worshipmusic.
And even our girls wake up forbreakfast before we start our
day, before we go to school.
You know, before I go wherever,before my workout, I've already
been hit.
Even when I don't even realizeit, I've already been hit with
(10:36):
with worship, and so it justsets your day, it sets the tone.
Do that, surround yourself.
And even finding a good church.
If you're not going to church,you don't realize the the
importance of surroundingyourself with good people.
Positive people find thatchurch.
It's out there.
Not all churches are bad.
(10:57):
Right Churches get a bad name.
These days, people are quick topoint out well, this church did
this, this church did that.
Finding a good church and thenbe faithful to it and be a
positive for that church, be areason why someone else wants to
come to that church because ofyour smiling face, and not a
reason why they don't want tocome to that church.
(11:18):
I'm going to leave that foranother episode Episode, but
maybe going to number six.
So number six in finding well,eight tips for finding joy in
all things.
Number six is practicingself-care, and I'm going to be
honest with you.
Self-care is an area that Istruggled with for many years
(11:45):
because I didn't want to thinkabout myself and I was part of
my depression.
I was part of the struggle Iwas in, so I didn't care about
myself enough to invest inmyself.
And it's very important.
I'm not saying any one of theseare more important than the
other, but find you, I wastalking to my brother this week
(12:07):
and he was telling me and he's apastor and he has to he told me
he used the word I have to takeMondays off and and that is
because he will get so burnedout and going, going, going, and
he's found that he has to takeMondays off to to recharge
himself.
That's the case and that is sogood for all of us.
(12:27):
If we don't stop to invest inourselves, how can we be a
blessing to others?
So practice self-care, take careof yourself physically,
mentally, emotionally.
Prioritize activities thatbring you joy and recharge your
energy.
This could include exercise,like working out is so good at
(12:48):
prayer, reading the Bible, likeyou know, good meditation, good
prayer time, hobbies, spendingtime on walks or or pampering
yourself.
My wife loves a good massage.
Anytime I need brownie pointsnot from me, by the way anytime
I need brownie points.
So if I get her a gift card toher favorite thing, her favorite
(13:13):
spa here where we live, I amgolden, I'm good.
She loves that.
How?
How do you like to toprioritize self-care?
It can be different for everyperson, but do it.
Don't neglect yourself.
Don't tell yourself that you'renot worth it, that you're not
worth investing in yourself, andone you're going to find by
(13:35):
giving to yourself.
You're going to be a betterhusband for your wife.
You're going to be a betterfather for your kids.
You're going to be a betterChristian.
You're going to be a better Iknow that that's kind of like an
oxymoron being a betterChristian, because we're all
just followers of Christ andwe're at his mercy.
We're, we're all in need of hisgrace.
So I don't know that we getbetter, but we will be better
(13:59):
for others.
We will have more to give toothers when we prioritize taking
care of ourselves.
So practice self-care.
The number seven is embraceimperfections.
Embrace imperfections.
Accept that life is not perfectand that's okay.
Embrace imperfections and findthe beauty in them.
(14:19):
I say it all the time find thebeauty in the broken.
Learn to let go of the need forcontrol imperfections and
instead focus on the joy thatcan be found in the messy,
unpredictable moments of life.
It's a beautiful, beautifuljourney.
Life is a beautiful journey.
(14:41):
All of it, man.
So many things I went throughin my life that I can look back
and I'm so grateful for, for allof it.
It's made me the man I am today.
So I wish I could say I didn'thave the bad moments of my life,
but then again, without thosemoments, maybe I wouldn't
appreciate the good moments thatcome my way either.
(15:02):
Through all of it, though, Iknow God's been faithful and
he's used all things to bring meto who I am today.
So just embrace it.
Don't fall in love with thosemountaintop experiences.
Fall in love with the everydayjourney, even the journeys
through the valleys, because ifyou fall in love with what gets
(15:23):
you there, to the mountaintops,once you get there, you won't be
waiting on those mountaintopexperiences to find joy.
You will find joy in the day today.
Just embrace it.
Embrace it.
It's all beautiful life.
It's a beautiful life.
And the very last one of oureight tips for you is spread
kindness and joy.
(15:43):
Spread kindness and joy, actsof kindness.
Not only bring joy to others,but also to yourself.
Practice random acts ofkindness.
Whether it's a smile See,that's free.
You might have been thinking Idon't have any money, I can't do
this or that, or it's so tightright now I can't.
This is free.
Whether it's a smile, maybeit's a compliment, again, that's
(16:07):
free.
A small gesture of help hey, Isaw you're doing this.
What I found?
That makes it so much easier.
Again, this is free.
This doesn't cost any money.
Some things could cost money ortime.
Maybe you invest in and you gomost of them.
I did this as a teenager before,when there was an elderly woman
(16:29):
that was our neighbor next door.
I was already mowing our yardand looking back.
I mean, it was so small itdidn't even take me an
additional five minutes.
Seriously, it was a small house.
I just ran through and mowedhers without even asking, just
took care of it.
So it needed to be done and shewas so grateful for a simple,
(16:50):
simple act of kindness.
It happens all the time.
You could pay for the nextperson's Starbucks Something so
simple.
Maybe is it five bucks, 10bucks, whatever their order is.
You could take care of it.
Maybe that's what they need tofind that little spark of hope
for the day to keep going,whatever it is, but just watch
(17:10):
as you create a ripple effectthat brings more joy.
Remember, it's not for them,it's for you.
So as you start doing theselittle acts of kindness for
others, what you think you'redoing for others, you're going
to find yourself feeling betterabout yourself and your joy that
comes to you.
(17:31):
So those are the eight.
I can't recap all of them.
You have to go back and watchagain if you'd like to hear that
.
Remember, finding joy in allthings is a journey.
It takes practice, it takesbeing intentional, it takes
being focused.
So be patient with yourself andmake a conscious effort to
(17:51):
cultivate joy in your daily life.
You have to work hard at it andgive yourself grace on day two
or three, when you forget andyou have a setback.
That doesn't mean, okay, Ican't do that, I knew it, I knew
I couldn't find joy.
I just get up and start again.
Let it remind you that.
Oh yeah, I have to beintentional today, but I promise
(18:14):
if you would start workingthrough this list and you would
start making an intentionaleffort towards it, it will
become easier and easier tocultivate joy and have this
mindset shift of positivity.
Then the negative stuff thatcomes.
Before long you will have toreally really have to start
searching for the negativethings in your life, because
(18:37):
when things come your way, whenstorms come your way, when, when
all these heartaches come yourway, you will be so positive
people.
Dude, that guy's not human,he's just happy all the time
Doesn't mean you won't have abad day.
It just means you have somebodywith you who you can trust, who
will never leave you, he'llnever forsake you and he will
(18:58):
take every step of the journeywith you.
So just start putting your hopein him, your trust in him, and
apply these tips and see whathappens.
Thanks so much for your timetoday.
I hope this has been a blessingfor you.
God bless everybody.
I hope that was good for you.
I hope you enjoyed that.
Remember, it doesn't happenovernight.
(19:18):
It doesn't happen overnight.
It takes being intentional, ittakes drive, it takes focus and
in fact, the enemy, the.
You know.
As John 1010 says, the thiefcomes to steal, kill and destroy
.
But I've come that you can havelife and have it to the full.
And God wants you to have afull life.
God wants you to be encouraged,he wants you to find the joy in
(19:41):
life.
But the devil would lovenothing more than for you to
find all the negative thingsthat are going on in your life
and all the heartaches and allthe wounds.
And it doesn't mean all thosethings are going to go away.
It simply means that as youapply these things and as you
get intentional about it and asyou work hard on working out to
fix these things, it will beginto get harder and harder to find
(20:02):
the negative things in yourlife, because it is a mindset
shift.
So these are eight tips that Ihope will be a blessing to you
and if they were, will youplease share these with a friend
.
If the Lord has laid someone onyour heart who could use this
episode, use these eight tips tofind joy in their life.
Please pass this on and, asalways, I would love if you
(20:23):
would leave a five star review,not for my sake, but what it
does is it helps get thispodcast out to more people, and
that's my goal is to share thishope with the world.
So please leave your five starreview.
Share this episode withsomebody who it'll be a blessing
to.
If you haven't got the book yet,when Words Don't Come Easy is
available at AndyHowardcom.
(20:44):
In fact, you can find out moreabout where I will be, where
I'll be speaking, at my websiteat AndyHowardcom.
If you're a pastor or if youwould like for me to come to
your church, I will even sendout a book and a press kit to
you or to your pastor, because Iwould be honored to come and
share my story, our story.
So, thank you, guys, so muchagain.
(21:06):
And it's also available onAudible and it's available on
Kindle as well.
God bless you, guys, and wewill connect soon.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
If this episode helped you inany way, it would mean the world
to me if you would leave areview and share it with
somebody else.
Thanks so much.
I'll catch you next time.
Hey, what's up everybody?
Today is going to be a fun one.
We're going to really stop downand break down the science
behind how to find a moregrateful life or to find joy in
your life.
It comes with a mindset shiftand it doesn't happen overnight.
It comes with being intentionaland it takes practice.
(00:23):
So my encouragement for you I'mgoing to give you eight tips.
Eight tips on how to apply thisto your life and by the end
you're going to find it's goingto be so much harder to see the
negative things in your lifewhen all the positive things are
jumping out at you.
All that and more is happeningright after this.
(00:45):
What's up everybody?
Welcome back to the WinWordsDon't Come Easy podcast.
(01:06):
My name is Andy Howard and itis such an honor to have you
here with me.
If this is your first time,welcome here, seriously welcome.
Thank you for joining, andmaybe you've been around for a
while.
Can I just say thank you, thankyou for showing up.
You're the reason why I do thisand I'm honored to be on this
(01:30):
journey with you.
And today is a very special dayfor me.
So, for those who were here lastweek, I'll put you in a little
secret.
I'm not perfect at this thing.
I feel like I'm just notlearning.
Last week I thought was the52nd episode, and I even
referred to it in the 51stepisode on September the 12th,
(01:50):
on confidence.
Go back and check that out, ifnot.
I love everything that was saidon boosting your confidence and
why, but today is actually the52nd episode, on September the
19th.
In fact, last year, a year ago,on September the 20th, I did my
first ever podcast, and sohere's the truth.
(02:14):
I'm not perfect at this, as youcan tell.
I'm not good with numbers.
I didn't realize it till I wentback and was editing the folder
and throwing it into the folderand everything that.
Oops, that was actually episode51 last week, but no one has to
know that, so put that out ofyour mind.
Today is episode 52.
It's one year in and I am soexcited to be here so excited to
(02:39):
be here a year, and I touchedon that last week.
So if you want to hear why I'mexcited to still be here after a
year, you'll have to go back tolast week's, because this week
we're moving on.
But I wanted to talk aboutfinding joy.
Finding joy in all things is ittruly is a mindset shift that
requires practice and consciouseffort.
(03:00):
If you've been around for anyof the other 52, you've probably
heard this set a time or two.
But anything that you want todo, that you want to get better,
doesn't happen by accident.
Takes being intentional and ittakes focus.
So you have to dial in and youhave to be intentional about it,
(03:21):
and you have to be focused onwhat you want to get better at.
And if you are someone who'scoming through depression, like
myself, many years ago I camethrough depression, but it's
something that I still have tokeep in check on a daily basis,
and so now it happens by findinggratitude.
And so if I finding joy andfinding gratitude, it doesn't
(03:43):
happen without being intentionalabout it.
So today I have eight thingsfor you, eight steps to help you
find gratitude.
The first step I would challengeyou to do is practice gratitude
, practice gratitude.
Take time each day to reflecton the things you're grateful
(04:03):
for.
This can be as simple asappreciating a beautiful sunset
or a kind gesture from a friend,or even a delicious meal.
We have so many things allaround us to be grateful for,
but focusing on gratitude helpsus shift your perspective
towards the positive aspects oflife.
This is something I was evenpracticing with one of my
(04:26):
daughters.
I won't say who, could I get introuble, but sometimes, when
things don't go her way or gothe way she hopes for right it
all happens to all of us.
We tend to focus on thenegative things.
Oh, I never.
The word never draws me nuts,by the way, but I never get this
, I never get to do that.
(04:48):
But when we start having amindset of gratitude, when we
start focusing on these things,even if it's something as simple
as being grateful for a millafter going to Africa and I know
I've talked about it a lotlately, please forgive me, but I
will never be ungrateful for amill we are so blessed, we're so
(05:09):
blessed here.
So start looking for ways whereyou can be grateful.
That's number one.
You have to practice gratitude.
The second thing I wouldchallenge you to do is just be
mindful.
I know I'm so guilty of this,but so many times if I'm not
careful, I can kind of turn intoautopilot, like where I'm
(05:29):
driving, I know where I'm going,but I don't even focus on the
on the trip.
It's just like I'm headed to mydestination.
I, I know I got to do this,this, this today, and I got to
get it done in being busy, right, we sometimes wear that as a
badge of honor, but we're sobusy that we're not mindful.
We're just getting things done.
(05:50):
And my challenge would bepractice.
Being fully present, I engagewith your senses.
Pay attention to the details ofyour surroundings, the taste of
your food we mentioned that.
Right, you can tell I love toeat, but the taste of your food,
the filling of the sun on yourskin, the sound of laughter.
Being mindful helps youappreciate the small joys that
(06:13):
often go unnoticed, that we canoften just breeze on by when
we're in autopilot mode.
So, number two be mindful.
Another practice that can helpyou, uh, find gratitude or find
joy in things is is, numberthree just find joy in simple
pleasures.
Look for joy in your everydayactivities.
It could be something as assmall as enjoying a double shot
(06:37):
espresso that's my love language.
It could be something thatsimple.
It doesn't have to be somethingover the moon, like a trip to
Paris or something, right, uh,just find joy in the small
things enjoying that cup ofcoffee in the morning, reading a
good book, like, uh, when wordsdon't come easy by Andy Howard.
(06:57):
Okay, that's a little free plug, but if you haven't read it,
seriously, go get it.
Reading a good book, taking awalk, uh, spending quality time
with loved ones, embrace thesesimple pleasures and savor the
moments.
It's so valuable Again, findjoy in simple pleasures.
So number four and this is onethat is just something that's
(07:20):
going to take time, uh,something that I'm still
practicing at that I'm workingon, but it's just like working
out.
It doesn't happen overnight,it's not like you know, you ever
been there, I've been there oryou go get that workout on, then
you run back to the mirror andyou're like what happened, what
changed?
Doesn't happen overnight, butif you stay consistent at it, if
(07:41):
you work hard at it, if you'reintentional at it, like I don't
know, three months later, sixmonths later, a year from now,
you'll look back at old picturesand you're like dude, look at
you now or do that?
You know, if you're female,whatever.
But this is, this is one thattakes time, takes work, it's,
it's caught to me.
(08:02):
So number four caught to me apositive mindset.
It's not easy, right, it's noteasy, but you have to train your
mind to focus on the positiveaspects of situations Instead of
dwelling on what went wrong.
Look for lessons learned or thesilver linings.
Look for the beauty in thebroken.
(08:22):
I promise you it's out there.
So practice reaffirming thosenegative thoughts into positive
ones and choose to see the goodin every situation.
See, we are born with a desireto find the negative.
We're born that way.
We're we're, we're created tojust look at at the negative.
(08:44):
It takes practice to startfocusing on the good in your
life and being grateful for thepositive things.
But I promise you, if you woulddo this, if you will be
intentional to start searchingfor those things, all of a
sudden those things will startjumping out at you and it'll
actually be harder to find thenegative things in your life
(09:05):
than the positive.
Promise you that's true.
Give it a shot.
Number five surround yourselfwith positivity.
I surround yourself withpositive people, uplifting
environments, inspiring content.
That's why sometimes you justeven myself I have to go through
, and when something's causingme to be sad or causing me to be
(09:27):
angry or mad or not happy, I'mlike what is this serving me?
There are people I used tofollow that I had to unfollow.
That's okay.
Surround yourself with positivepeople who are uplifting, who
are inspiring you, who arepushing you to be better.
That would be my challenge foryou.
(09:49):
Engage in activities that bringyou joy, such as listening to
uplifting music, watching feelgood movies or even again
reading motivational books.
The more positivity yousurround yourself with, the
easier it becomes to find joy inall things.
But another thing we do for forour home we love to have
worship music just playingthrough the home.
(10:12):
Worship music just starts ourday right.
It's already running.
Alexa makes it so easy for us,so she's just playing the
worship sets and the worshipmusic.
And even our girls wake up forbreakfast before we start our
day, before we go to school.
You know, before I go wherever,before my workout, I've already
been hit.
Even when I don't even realizeit, I've already been hit with
(10:36):
with worship, and so it justsets your day, it sets the tone.
Do that, surround yourself.
And even finding a good church.
If you're not going to church,you don't realize the the
importance of surroundingyourself with good people.
Positive people find thatchurch.
It's out there.
Not all churches are bad.
(10:57):
Right Churches get a bad name.
These days, people are quick topoint out well, this church did
this, this church did that.
Finding a good church and thenbe faithful to it and be a
positive for that church, be areason why someone else wants to
come to that church because ofyour smiling face, and not a
reason why they don't want tocome to that church.
(11:18):
I'm going to leave that foranother episode Episode, but
maybe going to number six.
So number six in finding well,eight tips for finding joy in
all things.
Number six is practicingself-care, and I'm going to be
honest with you.
Self-care is an area that Istruggled with for many years
(11:45):
because I didn't want to thinkabout myself and I was part of
my depression.
I was part of the struggle Iwas in, so I didn't care about
myself enough to invest inmyself.
And it's very important.
I'm not saying any one of theseare more important than the
other, but find you, I wastalking to my brother this week
(12:07):
and he was telling me and he's apastor and he has to he told me
he used the word I have to takeMondays off and and that is
because he will get so burnedout and going, going, going, and
he's found that he has to takeMondays off to to recharge
himself.
That's the case and that is sogood for all of us.
(12:27):
If we don't stop to invest inourselves, how can we be a
blessing to others?
So practice self-care, take careof yourself physically,
mentally, emotionally.
Prioritize activities thatbring you joy and recharge your
energy.
This could include exercise,like working out is so good at
(12:48):
prayer, reading the Bible, likeyou know, good meditation, good
prayer time, hobbies, spendingtime on walks or or pampering
yourself.
My wife loves a good massage.
Anytime I need brownie pointsnot from me, by the way anytime
I need brownie points.
So if I get her a gift card toher favorite thing, her favorite
(13:13):
spa here where we live, I amgolden, I'm good.
She loves that.
How?
How do you like to toprioritize self-care?
It can be different for everyperson, but do it.
Don't neglect yourself.
Don't tell yourself that you'renot worth it, that you're not
worth investing in yourself, andone you're going to find by
(13:35):
giving to yourself.
You're going to be a betterhusband for your wife.
You're going to be a betterfather for your kids.
You're going to be a betterChristian.
You're going to be a better Iknow that that's kind of like an
oxymoron being a betterChristian, because we're all
just followers of Christ andwe're at his mercy.
We're, we're all in need of hisgrace.
So I don't know that we getbetter, but we will be better
(13:59):
for others.
We will have more to give toothers when we prioritize taking
care of ourselves.
So practice self-care.
The number seven is embraceimperfections.
Embrace imperfections.
Accept that life is not perfectand that's okay.
Embrace imperfections and findthe beauty in them.
(14:19):
I say it all the time find thebeauty in the broken.
Learn to let go of the need forcontrol imperfections and
instead focus on the joy thatcan be found in the messy,
unpredictable moments of life.
It's a beautiful, beautifuljourney.
Life is a beautiful journey.
(14:41):
All of it, man.
So many things I went throughin my life that I can look back
and I'm so grateful for, for allof it.
It's made me the man I am today.
So I wish I could say I didn'thave the bad moments of my life,
but then again, without thosemoments, maybe I wouldn't
appreciate the good moments thatcome my way either.
(15:02):
Through all of it, though, Iknow God's been faithful and
he's used all things to bring meto who I am today.
So just embrace it.
Don't fall in love with thosemountaintop experiences.
Fall in love with the everydayjourney, even the journeys
through the valleys, because ifyou fall in love with what gets
(15:23):
you there, to the mountaintops,once you get there, you won't be
waiting on those mountaintopexperiences to find joy.
You will find joy in the day today.
Just embrace it.
Embrace it.
It's all beautiful life.
It's a beautiful life.
And the very last one of oureight tips for you is spread
kindness and joy.
(15:43):
Spread kindness and joy, actsof kindness.
Not only bring joy to others,but also to yourself.
Practice random acts ofkindness.
Whether it's a smile See,that's free.
You might have been thinking Idon't have any money, I can't do
this or that, or it's so tightright now I can't.
This is free.
Whether it's a smile, maybeit's a compliment, again, that's
(16:07):
free.
A small gesture of help hey, Isaw you're doing this.
What I found?
That makes it so much easier.
Again, this is free.
This doesn't cost any money.
Some things could cost money ortime.
Maybe you invest in and you gomost of them.
I did this as a teenager before,when there was an elderly woman
(16:29):
that was our neighbor next door.
I was already mowing our yardand looking back.
I mean, it was so small itdidn't even take me an
additional five minutes.
Seriously, it was a small house.
I just ran through and mowedhers without even asking, just
took care of it.
So it needed to be done and shewas so grateful for a simple,
(16:50):
simple act of kindness.
It happens all the time.
You could pay for the nextperson's Starbucks Something so
simple.
Maybe is it five bucks, 10bucks, whatever their order is.
You could take care of it.
Maybe that's what they need tofind that little spark of hope
for the day to keep going,whatever it is, but just watch
(17:10):
as you create a ripple effectthat brings more joy.
Remember, it's not for them,it's for you.
So as you start doing theselittle acts of kindness for
others, what you think you'redoing for others, you're going
to find yourself feeling betterabout yourself and your joy that
comes to you.
(17:31):
So those are the eight.
I can't recap all of them.
You have to go back and watchagain if you'd like to hear that
.
Remember, finding joy in allthings is a journey.
It takes practice, it takesbeing intentional, it takes
being focused.
So be patient with yourself andmake a conscious effort to
(17:51):
cultivate joy in your daily life.
You have to work hard at it andgive yourself grace on day two
or three, when you forget andyou have a setback.
That doesn't mean, okay, Ican't do that, I knew it, I knew
I couldn't find joy.
I just get up and start again.
Let it remind you that.
Oh yeah, I have to beintentional today, but I promise
(18:14):
if you would start workingthrough this list and you would
start making an intentionaleffort towards it, it will
become easier and easier tocultivate joy and have this
mindset shift of positivity.
Then the negative stuff thatcomes.
Before long you will have toreally really have to start
searching for the negativethings in your life, because
(18:37):
when things come your way, whenstorms come your way, when, when
all these heartaches come yourway, you will be so positive
people.
Dude, that guy's not human,he's just happy all the time
Doesn't mean you won't have abad day.
It just means you have somebodywith you who you can trust, who
will never leave you, he'llnever forsake you and he will
(18:58):
take every step of the journeywith you.
So just start putting your hopein him, your trust in him, and
apply these tips and see whathappens.
Thanks so much for your timetoday.
I hope this has been a blessingfor you.
God bless everybody.
I hope that was good for you.
I hope you enjoyed that.
Remember, it doesn't happenovernight.
(19:18):
It doesn't happen overnight.
It takes being intentional, ittakes drive, it takes focus and
in fact, the enemy, the.
You know.
As John 1010 says, the thiefcomes to steal, kill and destroy
.
But I've come that you can havelife and have it to the full.
And God wants you to have afull life.
God wants you to be encouraged,he wants you to find the joy in
(19:41):
life.
But the devil would lovenothing more than for you to
find all the negative thingsthat are going on in your life
and all the heartaches and allthe wounds.
And it doesn't mean all thosethings are going to go away.
It simply means that as youapply these things and as you
get intentional about it and asyou work hard on working out to
fix these things, it will beginto get harder and harder to find
(20:02):
the negative things in yourlife, because it is a mindset
shift.
So these are eight tips that Ihope will be a blessing to you
and if they were, will youplease share these with a friend
.
If the Lord has laid someone onyour heart who could use this
episode, use these eight tips tofind joy in their life.
Please pass this on and, asalways, I would love if you
(20:23):
would leave a five star review,not for my sake, but what it
does is it helps get thispodcast out to more people, and
that's my goal is to share thishope with the world.
So please leave your five starreview.
Share this episode withsomebody who it'll be a blessing
to.
If you haven't got the book yet,when Words Don't Come Easy is
available at AndyHowardcom.
(20:44):
In fact, you can find out moreabout where I will be, where
I'll be speaking, at my websiteat AndyHowardcom.
If you're a pastor or if youwould like for me to come to
your church, I will even sendout a book and a press kit to
you or to your pastor, because Iwould be honored to come and
share my story, our story.
So, thank you, guys, so muchagain.
(21:06):
And it's also available onAudible and it's available on
Kindle as well.
God bless you, guys, and wewill connect soon.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
If this episode helped you inany way, it would mean the world
to me if you would leave areview and share it with
somebody else.
Thanks so much.
I'll catch you next time.
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