In today’s episode, I am beyond overjoyed that I get to share MeiMei Fox with you—someone whom I consider my Joy Coach. Four years ago, she put out a challenge to encourage people to find joy in their lives—even in the smallest ways. I took on the challenge and blogged about my experience in real time for 40 consecutive days. Those who’ve been following my journey since that time know that 2013 was a rough year for me personally. I wholeheartedly believe that MeiMei’s joy practice was instrumental in helping me to remain grateful and hopeful when it would have been so easy to give up in many areas of my life. Our conversation today is about finding joy and gratitude—even in your darkest moments—and about showing up to do meaningful work as your authentic self. Enjoy!
Episode Quotables:
“Writing puts me into a flow state, which I really love. It’s like you’re connected to a higher power.” – MeiMei Fox
“I prefer the word joy to happiness. Happiness, to me, implies a permanent state. I am not seeking a permanently happy state.” – MeiMei Fox
“You can learn and benefit from suffering—and how turning towards your suffering can be one of your greatest teachers in life.” – MeiMei Fox
“The joy practice is not about being in a perpetually happy state. It’s realizing that even when things aren’t going your way, you can still find moments of happiness that are about appreciating.” – MeiMei Fox
“40 Days of Joy is a way of connecting to the present moment and saying ‘I’m here right now, right here. I have this amazing gift of life on this planet—it’s not gonna last long—and I want to appreciate it every single day.'” – MeiMei Fox
“Mindfulness is not about having some perfectly blank mind and being like the Dalai Lama on the top of a mountain. It’s being present, seeing what’s on going around you, feeling your heartbeat, and noticing your breath.” – MeiMei Fox
“If you don’t follow your purpose and passion, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. You are also doing the world a disservice because you’re not sharing your best self with the world.” – MeiMei Fox
Episode Resources:
MEIMEI’S TOOLS FOR FINDING JOY, SHOWING UP AUTHENTIC, AND BUILDING CONFIDENCE
- Gratitude Journal. Every night before you go to bed or first thing when you wake up in the morning, write down three things you are grateful for. One of those things has to be something you’re grateful for about yourself. This daily habit should take no more than two minutes.
- Vision Board. This is a great tool for discovering your passion and purpose because it allows you to let go of your thinking mind and to access to your artistic side of your brain. You can even do it for free online at bettyvision.com.
Find MeiMei:
Learn more about MeiMei’s bio, books, and blog at meimeifox.com.
Find MeiMei’s articles at Forbes or HuffPost.
Connect with MeiMei on Twitter.
