Episode 22: Disproportionate Joy

Tina Boogren
3 days ago
6 min read

Description: Some of the most powerful joy in our lives comes from the smallest moments. This episode explores disproportionate joy, the simple things that bring an outsized sense of happiness and calm. As you move through your week, notice what brings you joy beyond reason and see how those moments begin to multiply.

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Resources: Happier in Hollywood with Liz Craft and Sarah Fain and Happier with Gretchen Rubin.

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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to Everyday Wellness with Dr. Tina H. Boogren. I am your host, Tina Boogren, and I'm so happy that you are here. I just want to pause and say thank you for being a listener, for sharing this episode with someone that you think might be able to benefit from it as we move into this new season where we're kind of widening our circle. I'm just so grateful as you help spread the word. As we think about this week's invitation, I'm going to, per usual, ask us to just kind of pause for a second and take a nice deep breath to settle into this moment. It always feels so good when we do that, doesn't it? And I can't wait to share this week's invitation, it's a really fun one.

I got this idea from one of my favorite podcasts that I listen to every single week, which is Happier in Hollywood with Liz Craft and Sarah Fain. It's an episode about- the podcasters are two writers in Hollywood, which I don't have a lot in common with, but they share such wonderful tips and advice. It's kind of a spinoff podcast, if you will, of Happier with Gretchen Rubin that I mention all the time, because Liz Craft, who's one of the hosts of Happier in Hollywood, is also the co-host with Gretchen Rubin on Happier with Gretchen Rubin.

And so I get lots of great ideas from both podcasts and I've been thinking about one of the kind of tips and strategies that they gave a while back that just kind of follows me around and I thought, oh my goodness, I need to share this with my squad. And so the invitation is to find moments in your life of disproportionate joy. Oh, I love that term so much. Disproportionate joy. In other words, things that bring you such great joy that are actually tiny little things, right? Where it feels like the amount of joy that we get from this thing isn't equal, that we get way more joy than maybe we even feel like we should, but isn't that the best?

Because really disproportionate joy is often hiding in plain sight. So these are those small moments that deliver way more goodness than their size would suggest. And once you start looking for them. You will find them and they will spread. This is similar to other invitations that we've explored in the past, you know, around gratitude, around starting a list of all the good things that are always happening to us. I'm constantly looking for delight in the world, and so this is kind of along those same lines, but just a little bit of a tweak. That's really fun.

So I started to write down a list of things that bring me disproportionate joy to get you started in kind of what I mean by this and what things you might be looking for in your own life that bring you disproportionate joy.

So for me, that first sip of coffee, I mean, that's an explosion of joy. I love when I look up and I notice the moon, especially when I notice the moon various, multiple nights in a row, and I can watch it grow. I love that. I find disproportionate joy in making my bed in the morning, and then I step back and I admire my work. I find disproportionate joy in the shower spray that I use that is a eucalyptus mint spray that never gets old. Every time I use it, I think, oh man, that smells so good.

I get disproportionate joy from candles. I always have candles lit. In fact, as I'm sitting here recording this in my home office, there are two candles in my office burning. I know that there is a candle in our kitchen burning. There's a candle in our living room burning. We love candles around here, and they bring me just disproportionate joy. I also get disproportionate joy from, oh, my favorite coffee mug.

I get disproportionate joy from people that hug longer than normal. I love a long hug and I love when it's not me doing it, although that's good too. But I love when someone else just hangs on a little bit longer. That brings me disproportionate joy. A little love note, like a little sticky note left on my desk, or a text note, or my husband just leaves me a note or just any sort of little, tiny, little note, especially a handwritten note, brings me incredible joy.

I love, love. When I find the perfect meme, I have so many screenshots saved in my phone of memes that either make me laugh out loud or think, or just hit me right in the feels. I just feel a need to hold onto them, and so I just screenshot them and then I do nothing with them, but they bring me disproportionate joy every time I'm scrolling through my photos and I see them.

What else? Oh, I get disproportionate joy from every dog that I meet, especially, especially the lovey ones and the ones that know that they need to stay down, but they just can't resist it, and they jump up and it's just this sweet little, they're tails are wagging like crazy. Disproportionate joy.

I get disproportionate joy when I find like the perfect leaf that fell on the ground that is totally intact. I get disproportionate joy from the smell of rain before it actually starts raining. I get disproportionate joy from being the first person to put my footprints in the snow. I get disproportionate joy, whew, from finding money in a coat pocket that I completely forgot about. Even if it's like a dollar. Yeah, I feel as though I've won the lottery because I forgot it was there.

I love that feeling of when the perfect song comes on that feels like it's like a direct message to you. It's like a sign from the universe that brings me such joy. And of course I get massive, like all of us disproportionate joy from laughing so hard that I start snorting or I can't catch my breath. Oh, that is the best. I also get disproportionate joy from, ooh, clean sheets. Oh, from the smell of toast, bread I should say toasting in the toaster.

I love freshly sharpened pencils. Uh, I love a smooth new pen. I love taking a sweatshirt straight out of the dryer and putting it on. I love the perfect clementine. that is so perfectly oof, deliciously ripe. I love, love, love oh, when my dog Harry curls up like perfectly in like the creases and the folds of my body, where we're just like a perfect, uh, just cozy little, little matched up pear. I love, love, love the sound of the dishwasher finishing. I love leftovers that taste better the second day. I love being included. I get disproportionate joy out of realizing that I don't have to rush.

I could go on and on and on, but I think you get the idea, right? These are small things that bring us joy, but beyond that, they bring us a ton of joy, and I want us to just be on the lookout for those things. People, places, sounds, smells, use all of your five senses to recognize what brings you disproportionate joy. Bring on, be on the lookout this week and share with each other. I'll have some prompts over in the Facebook group. I'm matching the prompts to the podcast episodes, so we'll have a chance to share over there because I know these are contagious. Have fun with this one.

As always, I'm so thankful that you're here. Thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing this podcast. Thank you for recommending it and reviewing it. Thank you to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources for providing the foundation so that I can do this work. And to you, the Badass Wellness Squad, go find disproportionate joy this week.

If this episode resonated with you, find more emotional wellness episodes here.