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Choosing Joy!

by | March, 2019 | Uncategorized

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Choosing Joy!

This month seemed like a good month to write about joy.  Joy and happiness are wonderful feelings to experience, but are very different.  Joy is more consistent and is cultivated internally.  It comes when you make peace with who you are, why you are and how you are, whereas happiness tends to be externally triggered and is is based on other people, things, places, thoughts and events. [1]

Happiness can often be elusive for people since the focus is on external things like the actions of others and events that might be out of our control.  Joy, on the other hand, to me is exciting because as the definition above says can be “cultivated internally” and I believe there are many things that we can do to cultivate our joy, despite the external situations we find ourselves in with purposeful intensions.

Tips to Cultivate Joy:

1.  Be grateful of the good things in your life–people do this in a variety of ways such as keeping a gratitude journal that they add to each day, keep a list of the things that they are most grateful for, keep photos of favorite memories close by, etc.
2.  Make a conscious choice to focus on the positive–this doesn’t mean that you are a Pollyanna that avoids all negative.  You must be able to look at problems to solve them, but if you look at them from a positive perspective remembering other things you have done successfully and your full resources available things are usually much easier and it is possible to maintain a positive perspective.
 
3.  Note things you have done well and notice the positive choices of others in your life–It is a key parenting strategy to point out 5 positives for every 1 correction.  This is because the research consistently demonstrates that kids shine when they receive these positives.  I believe parents shine from being able to look to see the positives happening as well.
 
4.  Have mantras and positive thoughts–Set a clear intention for yourself and your day.  Use these in good times and times of struggle as anchors to stay on course.  
 
5.  Take time for fun and self-care–There is research that doing 20 minutes each day of relaxation helps to decrease anxiety.  It can be important to schedule yourself into your calendar so that you will be able to take care of yourself and others.  

I hope that 2019 is an amazing year for you filled will joy.

[1] Psychologies, Self, September, 1, 2015 https://www.psychologies.co.uk/joy-vs-happiness

UPCOMING PROGRAMMING

School Year Programming

School year therapy groups are ten-week afternoon therapeutic groups that are designed to provide therapy by specifically targeting individualized goals for our campers.

A minimum of one hour includes therapeutic activities that heavily target the development of social skills, emotion regulation, and positive behaviors, while the next hour focuses on further skill development by providing a variety of experiential activities as part of a group to create opportunities to observe the child in a natural setting and intervene to facilitate change. Some quarters provide a special emphasis to improve skills, while other quarters have a more general offering based on the campers’ interests and often include programming in areas such as video game making, drama, art, movie making, etc.

Spring Group Starts March 19!

REGISTER NOW!!

Summer Programming

Quest’s intensive summer program offers 7 weeks of programming (6 weeks of day camp and 1 week of residential). The summer program includes individualized behavior plans, group therapy, occupational therapy, a social thinking curriculum, mindfulness activities, yoga, soccer, games in the park, and field trips (beach, Boomers, Rockin’ Jump, Discovery Science Center, bowling, etc.) to create a fun and engaging, therapeutic camp experience for children.

Weekly parent meetings are also included. The summer program has been found across multiple studies to significantly reduce hyperactivity, impulsivity, aggression, and inattention, while improving peer relations, family relations, athletic competency, behavioral control and self-esteem. Quest has also been found to improve social awareness, social cognition, social communication, and social problems.

Summer Camp Dates are:
June 24, 2019 through August 8, 2019

REGISTER NOW!!