Soulfully You Podcast with Coach Chris Rodriguez
In this technological age, we are hyper-connected through social media, we have instant access to unlimited information, and at the press of a button, everything we need is at our doorstep. Yet, we are more isolated, anxious, and depressed than ever before.
I'm a mindset and movement coach, and I believe there is a deeper way of living, a more soulful way of being.
Join me, Coach Chris Rodriguez, every week for my conversations with coaches, artists, spiritual directors, and community leaders on how to put a little more soul into your work, relationships, and everyday life.
Learn more at coachchrisrodriguez.com or on Instagram @coach_chrisrodriguez.
Soulfully You Podcast with Coach Chris Rodriguez
Cultivating Joy Practices in your Daily Life
In this episode of the Soulfully You Podcast, Coach Chris Rodriguez delves into the relationship between joy and hardship and how to build joy practices.
For all episodes and info about my coaching program, visit me at www.coachchrisrodriguez.com.
Connect on Instagram at @coach_chrisrodriguez and on TikTok at @coach_chrisrodriguez.
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Hey friend. Welcome to the Soulfully You Podcast with Coach Chris Rodriguez. I'm a movement and mindset coach, and I believe in a deeper way of living, a more soulful way of being. Join me each week for conversations about how to put a little more soul. Into our work, our relationships in our everyday lives. You ever wonder why? It's the people who have been through the hardest things who talk about joy the most. Let's talk about it. There's a book that I love that you gotta check out called The Book of Joy. Written by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. This book is an account of them doing a world tour together as friends, visiting the communities they care about and love giving talks and doing service to all of the people they see. In the book, Desmond Tutu says this quote, discovering more joy does not save us from the inevitability of hardship and heartbreak. In fact, we may cry more easily, but we will laugh more easily too. Perhaps we are just more alive. Yet as we discover more joy, we can face suffering in a way that ennobles rather than embitters. The secret that people who have suffered know about joy is that joy is not just the feeling that you have. It is an embodied practice that you got to build the muscle memory for. The reason that joy is something that you gotta practice and that you have to build muscle memory around is because joy on the surface does not seem like something that is linked to your survival. Our ancestors had to learn how to survive an environment that they didn't know what was gonna happen. Day to day, Animals learn how to survive by getting bigger, stronger. Faster people learn how to survive by getting bigger brains and recognizing patterns. One of the patterns we learned is cataloging negative experiences. We did this as a form of risk mitigation. So joy might feel risky because when we are practicing our joy, we're letting our guard down. Saying, I feel safe to be, to be expressive, to be myself. Though on the surface, cultivating joy practices seems like something that goes against your survival. It's actually the opposite because one thing, Because another lesson that people who have suffered know is that our joy is not singular. Our joy is collective. And though cortisol and adrenaline will help you fight and run, serotonin will help you live. And that is the chemistry of what we experience when we are connected with other people. If you're looking to cultivate more joy in your life, here are four practices that you can access right now. Gratitude, journaling. Make a list one to five and write down the things that you are grateful for. Make that a practice that you do every day. The act of writing down the things that you're grateful for is most likely gonna tie you to the memory of someone or something that brings you joy. Number two, joy journaling. Make a list, one through five, one through 10. Write down all the things, all the places, all the people that bring you joy. If it's a person, write down their name. Imagine them even if they're not with you in that space. This gives you a concrete way for you to say, if this person brings me joy, how can I make more time to get on the phone with them or be in person with them? It also gives you a list of the practices and the places that you need to put on your schedule for you to visit or do. The next practice is throwing on your favorite feel good playlist and moving your body. You might not feel like you look good. You might feel like you're offbeat. It doesn't matter. Do it, whatever. You are in public, in private, in the kitchen, in the shower, it don't matter. And if you do feel like, yo, I ain't got these moves, maybe that's gonna inspire you to go to a dance class. Go out, go have some fun, go be in places where people are expressing joy in the form of movement. And the last practice is make it a habit of telling the people in your life that you love them often. One of the biggest actions attached to joy is love Sharing. Love is something that you need, and it also gives the people in your life an opportunity to share love with you in response. So learn to cultivate that joy even in the midst of hardship. Thank you for listening to the Soulfully You Podcast with Coach Chris Rodriguez. If you like the show, help others find me by subscribing and leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. And don't forget to connect with me on Instagram at Coach underscore Chris Rodriguez. For more episodes along with all of my coaching programs, visit me@www.coach chris rodriguez.com. Special thanks to my team behind the scenes music by Dan Smith. And remember, whatever you do, wherever you find yourself today, make sure you put some soul in it.