Taking classes to receive my Integrative Nutrition health coach certification, I was surprised at the concept of Primary Food. These categories are considered by the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN) as being in many ways more important than the food you eat. If these areas are in balance and present and healthy in your life, you can get more lee way with not having perfect nutrition to be healthy. One of these categories is Joy. The definition of joy is the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires - delight.
Like every other factor, what brings joy to one person is very unique and different than what joy means to others. For me, one of my areas that has always brought me joy is playing my violin in a symphony. I spent last weekend doing just that with the Southwest Symphony (SWS) here in Hobbs. We celebrated the SWS's 40th anniversary this year, and musicians were recognized for their tenure. I have done this for 18 years, and, before that, I played in the Clear Lake Symphony in Houston, TX. As a teenager, I was very active in my high school orchestra, in music competitions, private lessons, solo concerts, playing in the youth community orchestra Tucson Junior Strings. My joy comes from so many aspects of this activity: the community and friendship of other musicians, working together to create pieces of beautiful music, pleasing the audiences, the music itself, practicing and mastering new material, an emotional outlet into the music played, the many prior experiences relived in the current concert, the gratitude for the sacrifices of my parents, especially my mother, that I can still be doing this so many years later.
What does Joy look like for you? Do you have enough joy in your life? If not, what might you do to increase the amount of time spent experiencing joy? What might you try to see if it brings you joy? Purposefully work to bring more joy in your life and see if your whole health (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual) doesn't show improvements!
If there are obstacles that make that difficult, you can consider using health coaching to make Joy a habit. Contact me if you want to learn more.