Cheers to the Good Times: Embracing Joy and Celebrating Life’s Wins!

Unlock the secret to a more joyous life by mastering the art of celebration. Whether navigating the complex 40s or beyond, this Lemon Balm Coaching Podcast episode is your ticket to rediscovering joy and meaning. 

I'm Melissa, and together, we'll explore why celebrating life's moments, big or small, is more than just a festive distraction. We'll dive into cultural and biblical references on memory and learn how these practices can reshape your thoughts and beliefs. If you feel stuck or aimless, let's journey together to reclaim your joy and purpose.

Join me as we explore how celebrating can be a transformative practice for your mental well-being and personal growth. Your subconscious mind handles most daily tasks, but bringing important moments to the forefront is crucial. 

Discover why active celebration and mindful remembrance are essential for a fulfilling journey. Grab your favorite warm drink and settle in as we explore the profound impact of celebration on your life. This is your moment to reclaim joy and embark on the next beautiful chapter of your life.

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Transcript

Melissa: 0:03

In today's episode, I want to share why celebrating is critical to your wellness routine, what is worth celebrating, how and why you need to add this into your daily routine. Let's get started and bask in the joy of celebration. Welcome to the Lemon Balm Coaching Podcast, your cozy corner of the world where we'll sip on life's lessons and squeeze the most out of every moment. I'm Melissa, your coach, cheerleader and maybe even a little bit like that mom who always has a warm hug and the best advice waiting for you, mom who always has a warm hug and the best advice waiting for you. If you're a woman over 40, feeling like life's left you a little lost, aimless or downright stuck, you're in the right place. This is where your joy, your freedom and your purpose come back into focus, and your purpose come back into focus. Together. We'll laugh, learn and rediscover what makes you come alive. Because it's not too late. This is your time, so grab a cup of something warm, settle in and let's start creating the next most beautiful chapter of your life together.

Melissa: 1:35

Do you remember when Sly and the Family Stone sang? Celebrate, celebrate. Dance to the music. Or Kool and the Gang gang, celebrate good times, come on. Or how about rare earth. I just want to celebrate another day of life. Or one of my favorites, chaka Khan, tell me something good, right, celebrate, observe, commemorate, honor, recognize, remember with ceremonies and festivities. What's the big deal Like? Why do we celebrate? What's the big deal Like? Why do we celebrate? What's the point? Celebrating is actually critical to shifting and growing and changing your thoughts and beliefs.

Melissa: 2:35

According to Bible Gateway on the internet, the word remember shows up in the Bible over 8,500 times. Over 8,500 times. That's a lot, and there's a reason. It's because we forget. We forget what we had for breakfast. I have no idea. We forget appointments guilty. We forget birthdays, double guilty. But it's important to remember. It's important to engage our minds and be thoughtful. I even have a hard time remembering how old I am most days, much less how old my kids and my grandkids are. I always feel a little bit guilty when somebody says, oh, how old are your grandkids? And I'm like, uh, like I don't know 14, 15, somewhere in there is my oldest. I don't know. Maybe you remember birthdays, but I'd be willing to bet there's other things that you forget. Maybe just today you forgot why you walked into a different room. How often does that happen? We forget. It's easy to forget, but it's a challenge to remember, and I think that's why it's repeated over and over and over in the scriptures Remember, just like Mufasa said remember right.

Melissa: 3:51

Our brains are designed to file information away into the subconscious when it no longer needs that information in the forefront of your mind. Think about all the things that you can do now without thinking about them. Just really seriously, think about it for a second. You can brush your things that you can do now without thinking about them. Just really seriously, think about it for a second. You can brush your teeth, you can eat food, you can walk, you can hold your bladder Well, mostly I mean like you get to this stage and there's a few little sneeze leaks but you can drive a car, you can walk, you can chew gum. You can do a lot of things that you don't have to think about anymore. You don't have to focus on those things anymore because you don't need to think about them.

Melissa: 4:32

I always half joke that I write things down so I don't have to remember them, but it's actually true. I am a voracious note taker because I want to be able to go back and refer to my notes, though I think I have a pretty awesome mind. I can't remember everything perfectly. Your conscious brain uses only 1% of your intelligence. Your conscious mind this is all it does. The conscious part of your mind receives input, analyzes that input and makes decisions. That's the conscious part of your brain 1%. The other 99% is your subconscious at work, keeping things working, storing memories. Your subconscious archives everything you've ever done, everything you've ever experienced, everything you've ever felt or thought. It knows everything that you need.

Melissa: 5:31

Have you ever seen the Pixar movie Inside Out? The movie shows what goes on inside the main character's head. It shows how the memories are stored and recalled in a really cool way, and I'm not sure how Pixar does it, but they take extremely complex issues and lay them out in a way that a child can understand. There's even a recurring theme where Riley recalls a chewing gum commercial at the most inopportune times. I'm pretty sure you can probably relate. So kiss a little longer, stay close a little longer, hold tight a little longer, longer with big red. Sing along with me ready. That big red freshness lasts right through it. Your fresh breath goes on and on while you chew it. Say goodbye a little longer, make it last a little longer, give your breath long lasting freshness with big red. I think I changed keys a couple times in there, but that that theme went hard right, and those memories are hidden deep within your subconscious mind, but they're not in the forefront of your mind because you don't need them to survive.

Melissa: 6:47

Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we can remember it. Lucy Maud Montgomery said that Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we can remember it. Lucy Maud Montgomery said that Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we can remember it. So what are we supposed to remember, though? Is it just important events like anniversaries, holidays, promotions? Obviously not. Since you've got those old commercials, thoughts, ideas and more rolling in around in your brain, it's obvious that we're meant to remember more than just the important things. Yes, it's important to commemorate the big things, but it's also important to remember and to celebrate and honor the little things too.

Melissa: 7:28

There's a very real mind, body and spirit reason to celebrate. When you celebrate, your brain releases happy, feel-good chemicals like dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin. Celebration speaks directly to the limbic system of your brain, confirming the happy and joyful emotional experience. When you take time to celebrate even the tiniest achievements. It tells your brain that positive, feel-good, joyful emotions are good and tolerable. Celebrating can do more than just improve your mood. It can also boost your motivation and even enhance your relationships. It's a powerful tool for your overall well-being. Your heart was designed for joy, love and other positive emotions and when your heart doesn't get those, it's going to seek out the tiniest spark of those emotions. It's going to become desperate to feel good, it's going to become desperate to feel joy and it's going to become desperate for happiness.

Melissa: 8:35

Celebrating activates the reward system in your limbic brain. When the reward system is activated, it reinforces the behaviors that are associated with those positive emotions. Think about potty training a child. You get the most success when you reward the positive behavior that you're looking for and celebrating when it happens. I remember potty training my kids and every time they used the potty we would celebrate, we would do a little dance, we would have a good time, so that their brains would start to recognize oh, going potty in the potty means goodness, means happiness, means joy.

Melissa: 9:22

The reward center in the limbic brain is activated when you celebrate and it reinforces those positive behaviors with positive emotions. Now the reward center can also be affected by drugs like alcohol, cocaine, nicotine and more. These substances also release dopamine and dopamine is that chemical that gives you that feeling of a warm hug. One of my favorite authors, dr Gabor Mate, wrote about addiction in his book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. Through his years of working with skid row addicts, he found a common theme. When he asked them, what is it like when you take that first hit, many of his patients replied it's like a warm hug. So those drugs release dopamine, giving you that warm hug feeling. So if you do not stop to celebrate, to notice, to recognize or honor the little things, your limbic brain starts to suffer and then it starts to look anywhere that it can to find joy and happiness. So choosing celebration each day keeps that part of your brain continuing to seek the reward of that positive experience. The Indian philosopher Osho states that life should not only be lived, it should be celebrated.

Melissa: 10:48

Another reason celebration is important is because of your reticular activating system. Have you ever heard of that before? The RAS is a network of neurons in the brainstem and is a filter between the brain and the senses that allows only the most important information to get through. It's a sensory gate. It plays a key role in filtering incoming sensory information. It helps to prioritize what's important and suppresses what isn't. Anything repetitive will be moved to a lower priority. So repetitive things like brushing teeth, walking, things like that they're a lower priority and that allows the important things to take front and center. So the RAS is really critical part of your brain.

Melissa: 11:38

Think about where you are right now and I want you to start to focus on your environment. What sounds do you notice that were blocked out before you started focusing on sounds? What colors do you see? Clearly now that you're looking for colors? What shapes, what smells, what tastes? What do you feel? Do you feel cold? Do you feel hot? Do you feel clammy? All those sensations, sights and sounds were there before, but they were a low priority until you told your brain to start paying attention. That's your RAS at work, your reticular activating system. You can actually train your RAS for what you want it to focus on. That's the funny thing about our brains the thoughts we think on repeat create our experience in this life. If you're a negative Nancy or a Debbie Downer, then negativity is what will rule your life. Your RAS will make sure of it. However, if you can shift your thoughts to positive ones, you begin to train your RAS to look for positivity around you and your life experience will begin to shift to look for positivity around you and your life experience will begin to shift to look for positivity.

Melissa: 12:59

So when we talk about celebration, joy is the word and the feeling that comes to mind and infuses my body with energy. So I have a gift for you to help you start to feel joy in less than 20 minutes each day. Do you have 20 minutes to begin shifting your RAS to seek joy instead of negativity? There are simple and free practices you can do to begin to focus your limbic brain on joy. Just visit the link in the show notes and download your five tips to feel joy in under 20 minutes, as soon as this episode is finished. When you train your RAS to look for the good around you, when you celebrate even the tiniest of achievements, when dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin become associated with the positive, the good, the happy and the joyful celebrations in life, you begin to create positive energy within and all around you. Imagine a world where everyone around you was celebrating themselves and others. Just think about the high vibrational energy that would begin to rule. How incredible would that be. Remember. I have a gift for you to start retraining your RAS to seek out positivity and joy. Just visit the link in the show notes to download your copy of five simple tips to feel joy in under 20 minutes. Remember your thoughts, create your experience of life. Are you ready for joy? Download the five tips to feel joy in the show notes today.

Melissa: 14:30

Thanks so much for spending a little time with me today on the Lemon Balm Coaching Podcast. I hope you're walking away with something that sparks joy, hope or a fresh perspective for your journey. If you loved today's episode, let's keep the conversation going. You can find more inspiration, coaching tips and resources over at my website, lemonbalmcoachingcom. Don't forget to follow me on social media for encouragement and updates, and you'll find me on Instagram and Facebook at Lemon Ball Coaching. And hey, if you're looking for a supportive, uplifting community of amazing women just like you, come join us in the Reignite your Flame Facebook group. It's a safe, welcoming space where we share, grow and cheer each other on, and you can find the link on my website or just search for Reignite your Flame on Facebook. Remember, honey, just be yourself. The world needs what only you have to offer. Take care and I'll see you in the next episode.