Hela

I discovered that I change my whole outlook on life, moment by moment.

I started listening to the audiobook Atomic habits, recommended by a friend. And it seems like a game-changer to me! I needed this book at this particular moment in my life.

The premise of the book is that we build our life out of thousands of tiny habits every day, and the nature of the habits determines the quality of our future life because they accumulate over time with an interest.

I realized that for a long time, I continuously created little moments of feeling terrible and anxious, and now I want to consciously start creating moments where I feel good in the here and now. Moments that accumulate into a happy life in the here and now. 

I realized that there was a narrative running in my head all the time about how painful, horrible, and difficult my life was. Even when I have no reason to feel it at the moment, I hold on to that narrative, I see everything in its light.

I can’t put it away completely yet, but I can put it away for that single moment when nothing terrible is happening to me and, on the contrary, there might be a reason to be happy. I can even create joy for myself and rejoice at the moment.

I wouldn’t have been able to do something like that before, I guess it takes time to come to this mindset. I hope that I will gradually be able to put the whole story about how life is so terrible to live completely aside.

I hope one day not far away I will have a completely different story. And creating it starts right now.

I’m trying to spread positivity, but not the toxic kind.

Imagine the proverbial glass of water. 🥛 You can look at it and see it as half empty, or half full. But no matter how you look at it, you won’t magically change it into a full glass. It’s impossible.

✔️ Healthy positivity is trying to make the best of bad situations while recognizing that it’s hard, and enjoying the good ones. It is drinking the half-glass of water and enjoying it.

❌ Toxic positivity is convincing yourself that the glass is always completely full. But no matter how full you imagine it, you still won’t be able to drink more than a half-glass of water.

If you are making plans that depend on the full glass, you will go thirsty at some point. And you will be wondering why.

This is a selection of my small joys that I wrote down in my journal this week. Enjoy the reading! I hope it will inspire you, at least a little bit.

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I was able to pet my white mousey Daisy – and she held still! Which she almost never does. She is always in motion.

I also petted a white poodle that was waiting in front of the post office. He had super-fluffy fur! Poodles are my absolute favorite, I had one and definitely plan to have a poodle again in the future. 🐩

Walking through a shower of golden falling leaves.

Rereading the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik. It’s pretty dark, but so, so good!

Finally scanning the positive affirmations coloring pages I have created 🙂

A massage (bliss.)

Several sunny days. I’m solar-powered so my mood went up a lot.

A small piranha of a stafbul puppy – she has bitten me quite ferociously, like puppies do, but she was so cute that I just couldn’t mind! And her human was wery friendly, we had a nice talk.

Starting an audiobook Atomic Habits – and a giant realization how to create a happy life I had while listening. (I will write about it later.)

Annnnd a not-so-small joy: I got a part-time job writing for a real paper magazine! And I can select most of my own topics. They had multiple candidates and picked me based on the quality of my writing! I’m so proud and grateful.

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What are your latest joys? Share them in the comments! 🙂

I have just finished an “infinite book” and it has been one hell of a ride!

Zorian Kazinsky isn’t the chosen one with enormous power. This role has already been taken. He gets into a time loop that wasn’t designed for his sake by absolute accident, his reserves of innate magical energy to draw from are sub-par, and he solves problems mostly through training and intelligence. But he also has a trick up his sleeve, though he doesn’t know it yet…

If you want a long, really long, yet all the while entertaining fantasy with interesting character development and psychology, funny moments, an elaborate world and magic system, and a logical plot, this is for you. Not once did I feel like putting it down, or that it was too much of the same. As the heroes’ abilities increase, so does the complexity of the obstacles they have to overcome. And they engage their brains in the process.

Mother of Learning by Domagoj Kurmaic is simply amazing and I have spent many pleasant evenings reading it. I like my books LONG so that I can return to the characters I know like they are old friends.

You can read it for free on the Royalroad, or buy it for Kindle from Amazon.

I was just listening to a Czech song titled “What does my body want”. The singer was listing simple things like immersing yourself in water, walking barefoot in the grass and touching it, running at the top of a hill, and shouting… And I realized a lot of simple pleasures like this are connected with summer.

It’s important to be mindful of this and create a similar experience even in winter.

Enjoying a bath from time to time. Standing on a massage mat. Moving your body. I’ll try not to forget about the small joys for my body in the cold season of the year.

I did it.

I have decided to share something that helped me heal with the world, something that I believe will help other people to heal as well, do something creative I love, and hopefully try to make a living of it.

I had mental health problems all of my life, ever since I can remember. I still do. Anxiety, depression, seasonal depression, social phobia… And I’m neurodivergent as well. I have been in therapy for more than 15 years, and I hope I have learned something in that time.

I learned that using positive language and positive affirmations helped to ease my self-consciousness and anxiety, especially when I extended them to my inner child.

I learned that sitting down every evening and listing the positive things that happened that day, the things that made me happy, however small, helped change my attitude towards my life for the better. This was the idea from which this blog, Create Small Joys, was born.

Tangentially related to this, when I was nervous or bored, I was always doodling. And when I was among people, I was nervous a lot. Every blank surface (including the back of my hands) was inevitably quickly covered by small ornaments.

“You should do something with that,” commented one of my friends, looking at a page in my notebook.

Now I finally found a way to do that “something”.

I combined adult coloring pages created by my unique drawing style with positive affirmations and the Journal of Joy and Success into a membership. Each month, a package of positive coloring pages will land in your inbox, creating an activity that will help you to work on your positive thinking, and ease your self-consciousness and anxieties.

You will also have access to a community of like-minded people and connect with them in a Facebook group designed for sharing your small joys, exchanging helpful resources, and answering positive thinking prompts.

I’m working now on a year’s worth of coloring pages so I will be always able to deliver on my promises. Once I have that, the membership will go live.

Do you want to heal while doing something fun? Sign up for my waitlist.