Your Joyful Order With Leslie Martinez

#98 A Fresh Start: The Joy Blueprint- How Systems Build a Foundation for Fulfillment

• Leslie Martinez • Season 5 • Episode 98

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This episode presents a thorough exploration of establishing lasting joy through intentional actions, including defining personal joy and aligning with a divine purpose. It emphasizes the need for structured systems and daily practices to create a sustainable foundation for joy in life. 

• Defining true joy versus fleeting happiness 
• Importance of journaling to identify joyful moments 
• Aligning life with God’s purpose for fulfillment 
• Recognizing areas in life that sync or conflict with God's plans 
• Creating systems to foster sustainable joy 
• The necessity of internal emotional work to build a solid foundation 
• Research backing productivity through established systems 
• Three daily habits: gratitude, prayer, and acts of kindness 

If you found value here, can you do me a favor and share this episode with a friend who could use more joy in their life? Don't forget to leave us a review, share us on social media, tag me and keep journaling y'all. Journaling is such a great way to cultivate joy in your life and once you put that practice and that system into place, you're going to reap the benefits from it. And until next time, friends, keep chasing joy.

Connect with Leslie:

Follow on IG: @yourjoyfulorderstyle

Website: https://www.yourjoyfulorder.com/

Email: lmartinez@yourjoyfulorder.com
to schedule- Speaking Events, Interviews or Life Coaching Sessions

Shop my SOAP the Gospels Journal on Shopify:
https://shopjoyfulorder.com/

Watch this Episode on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXoAYIM2mfclNtYiaOzIUw

Shop my Journal (Gratitude, Goals & Prayer Journal) on Amazon:
https://a.co/d/09Djvaw

Book a FREE 30 Minute Discovery Coaching Call: https://tidycal.com/joyfulordermedia/30-minute-meeting

Speaker 1:

What if I told you that building a joyful life isn't just about emotions or fleeting moments? Imagine that joy is as a beautiful constructed house it needs a strong foundation, thoughtful design and intentional upkeep. Well, today we're diving into the blueprint for building that house of joy. Stick around as we explore creative ways to define joy, align it with God's purpose and even add some practical systems to keep it standing tall. And yes, you'll need a notebook or a journal and pen, because we're going to be doing some deep work today. So let's get started. Today's episode is all about creating joy that lasts. We'll define joy, align it with God's purpose and explore how to build systems that make joy sustainable. This episode is interactive, so get ready to visualize, to journal, reflect and even plan your way to a stronger, joy-filled foundation. By the end, you'll walk away with actionable insights and your very own joy blueprint. Now, if you're multitasking maybe you're doing dishes right now, you're out for a walk, maybe you're driving the car right now no worries, you can always come back and you can replay this episode and you can do the journal prompts again later.

Speaker 1:

Hey everyone, I'm Leslie Martinez and you're listening to your Joyful Order podcast. Each week, I will bring you joyful stories that will motivate and inspire you and, at the same time, bring order to your everyday life. Let's just say this show will be a mixture of preaching and teaching, with a kick of motivation from your girl here. Welcome to your Joyful Order podcast. Let's start with defining joy. What is joy Now? True joy isn't just happiness when things are going well. Joy is a deeper, inner kind of fruit of the spirit that resides within us. Happiness is kind of surface level stuff. Now joy is just again. It's that deep, abiding sense of peace and contentment that comes from knowing who you are and knowing whose you are. Joy is a fruit of the spirit. It is rooted in our relationship with God. So step one in our blueprint is defining joy for yourself.

Speaker 1:

I want you to take a moment right here. Each time I come to these journal prompts, I'm going to ask you to just hit pause and then do the work. So I want you to, right now, in your journal, define what joy means to you and hit pause. All right now, we're going to keep going along. So here's your first interactive moment. I want you to close your eyes right now. Now, unless you're driving or you're out running or walking. Don't close your eyes Again. You can come back and you can do this exercise later, but I want you to close your eyes and I want you to imagine your most joyful moment. What does that look like for you? What do you see? What is that environment? What sounds do you hear? What smells do you pick up? What feeling are you feeling inside? What emotions Do you feel? You know, like the mist from the waves. Are you at the beach? Can you hear the waves crashing? Do you feel the sand in your toes? Do you see a beautiful sunset? Can you hear the birds flying over? I want you to think of every one of your senses in that joyful moment that you are re-envisioning right now, and I want you to write them all down. Picture the people, who were the people, write that down. Where were you, what could you smell? What could you see? What made that moment stand out as your joyful moment? And write it all down right here Now. It's important that we go back and we can create a foundation based on knowing what makes us joyful.

Speaker 1:

For me, I was envisioning literally being on the beach in Hawaii. Such a joyful place. But it doesn't have to be in Hawaii. Being in any beach makes me happy. Actually, let me take that back. I shouldn't say any beach, because there are certain beaches here in SoCal that I'd rather not step sled on. But that's what I was envisioning. I was envisioning me on the beach in Hawaii clear blue waters, warm waters, soft sand, hearing the waves crash, hearing people laugh like my kids. I was envisioning when we took our kids to Hawaii for the first time. They were three and five years old, or soon to be three, five years old and just hearing them laugh, seeing my son swim with turtles and learn to swim in the lagoon in Hawaii. Such a joyful moment for me, like the smell of the ocean, the saltwater, hearing just little splashes, the pitter patter of my boys running and laughing and saying mommy, look at the fish, mommy, look at the turtles. Such a joyful moment for me, so much that, like I'm getting emotional about it right now.

Speaker 1:

And writing those moments down, reflecting on it, helps us to start to create a foundation of what joy means to us and joyful moments that have an imprint on us. So it allows us to create the foundation. It's like you're setting the bar that this is what joy is for me. Now, in talking about laying that foundation. I want to talk about just exactly that. How do we lay a foundation of joy? And it starts with this verse right here Jeremiah 29, 11. My life verse. I've shared it so many times on this podcast, but I'm going to share it again Because it reminds us that God's plans for us are good. Right, Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord Plans for a hope and a future, and aligning with his purpose is key.

Speaker 1:

Now here's the next journal prompt, right here. I told you all this was going to be very interactive, all right, it's a coaching session or therapy session, whatever you want to call it. If you're getting some therapy in this, doing some deep work, great. We're just doing some internal work in order to lay a foundation. So I want you to write down right here what is an area in your life where you feel aligned with God's purpose and an area where you feel that you are completely out of sync.

Speaker 1:

So look at what areas are you thriving in right now? Where do you feel that you are really aligned with God's purpose for your life? Is it in your career? Is it in you being a mother? Is it in you serving others in some organization. Think about just where you really feel aligned with God, and then I want you to write down where you feel out of sync with God. Maybe you're not going to church right now, so you feel a little out of sync. Maybe you are out of sync in your career. Maybe your career doesn't bring you joy and you are just feeling depleted and you're like God. This isn't where I feel that my purpose is intended to be.

Speaker 1:

I want you to write that down and I want you to think about how aligning the area that you are lacking in can bring you more joy. How can you align that area with God to cultivate joy in your life? So hit pause and write that down. We're going to move into how to create systems to cultivate joy. We are defining joy. We're looking at where our most joyful moments are. We're laying foundation and seeing where you know we're out of sync and where we're in sync with God and his purpose. That can allow us to cultivate more joy. But then now it's like, okay, well, wesley, how do we bring that all together? And systems is a way that will allow you to cultivate more joy in your life.

Speaker 1:

Now many people miss the mark on this one. They just try to wing it, they just try to go out. And you know, oh, let me recreate that moment of joy for me. If I could have that moment of joy on the beach every single day with my three-year-old and five-year-old kid on the beach in Hawaii, believe me I would. But that's not reality. I can't have that reality. And then you know what, if I had that moment on the beach every day for the rest of my life, eventually it wouldn't be so joyful for me anymore, because it would just become like routine, routine, routine. I'd get bored and be like, okay, I need something else, I need something new so we can learn to create the moments of how we feel. But we have to create systems and structures in place that are going to allow us to thrive in bringing joy into our life. Us to thrive in bringing joy into our life.

Speaker 1:

Now. I want you to think about it. Every great house is built with a blueprint. All right, there's no guesswork in building a house. I want you to really think about it. You might be in a building right now. You could be in your workplace. You could be even in a car. A car requires a blueprint to be created. Right, if you're in your house right now, think of the structure of your home. And I want you to think of the foundation. Now, if you are a home owner, you know that when you go to purchase a house, that part of the inspection process is the foundation. Is the foundation good? Because if the foundation is not good, guess what? You're not buying that house. Like, the bank would not approve a loan for you to purchase a home with a bad foundation.

Speaker 1:

Builders, they put a lot of time and effort into creating the foundation of a home, a building, because that is what is so important. If you do not have a strong foundation, everything else is just, it's irrelevant. And I want you to think even before builders build a foundation, they have to dig up soil. They have to do work and dig soil from way down below where they are trying to build the foundation. They're trying to build the foundation here, but they're taking a drill and they're going way deep, deep down, as far as they can go, to pull up soil and test that soil to see is this soil even good before we lay a foundation. Because before you even lay a foundation, you got to make sure that what is inside, that deep, like that internal stuff, is good. Now, y'all, I'm preaching a little bit here, all right, there is some Bible stories that also give us parables of this, to reflect on how important it is for us to look at the soil before we lay the foundation.

Speaker 1:

All right, y'all, just think of the story of the three little pigs. You have the straw, the sticks and the brick. Now the straw and the stick piggies. They wanted to go and play. So they put very little effort into creating a system or foundation. They didn't want to do the work. They were just like I'm just going to collect some straw and here we go. All right, the sticks, here we go. All right, the sticks, here we go.

Speaker 1:

Now the pig with the brick he had to do some work. He had to, like, make sure. He had to do some math to make sure how many bricks do I need, how much? Why do I want to go? He had to take some measurements. He had to lay a foundation before he can put the bricks on. And the two, the little stick and straw piggies, they went and played and laughed at the brick house piggy, because they're like, we get to go play and you're still working. And then, when the storm came, who came running into the brick house? Y'all know that story, right? There's similar parables like that in the Bible that tell us this.

Speaker 1:

All right, but y'all, the foundation work is important, but even more than that, the work that goes deeper than that, the soil. What does the soil look like before you lay the foundation? Systems have to be created in order for a foundation to be strong. Systems save you time. Systems reduce stress. They reduce anxiety and they create space for joy to flourish.

Speaker 1:

Now, doing internal work, digging that soil up, like let's do a deep dive right now. Y'all, here's a little therapy session for you. What is deep down inside that you know that needs work. Is there unforgiveness, is there resentment, is there hate? Are we bringing that up and saying, hey, some of the soil is bad. We can't have a strong foundation of joy when there's hate, when there's prejudice, when there is resentment, unforgiveness. There You're going to put the foundation on unstable soil and eventually that foundation is going to crack and that soil is going to be exposed, and that's not how we cultivate joy.

Speaker 1:

Internal work is needed in order for us to thrive and bring joy into our life. So take a moment and I want you to write some things that you might need to kind of bring up. What is some deep down soil? Is there trust issues? Is there feelings of unworthiness? And again, if you listen to last week's episode, y'all we kind of did some of this work a little bit, but I'm revisiting it because I want to express how important it is for us to create a strong foundation on healthy soil. You cannot create joy and cultivate it when you are kind of covering up the internal stuff that needs to be worked on Now in order for us to create a system that is going to have a strong foundation, eliminate stress and all of that.

Speaker 1:

We have to put some time into creating that blueprint work that I was just talking about. Again, go back and think of the builders, right, little Piggy building the brick house he had to take a little bit of time away from the fun stuff. So maybe that means that you don't need to go to the family party this week and get drunk because it's going to ruin your whole weekend. Maybe that means that you don't need to plan that girl's weekend next month because, guess what, you're going to stay behind and put some work in. Maybe it means you say no to people pleasing. Maybe you don't need to be the room mom for a season, maybe you don't need to lead a community group for a season. It is okay to say no to things that are not going to bring you value in the season, but also if you have not created strong structures or systems in place.

Speaker 1:

Now I wanted to share some research with you to just allow you to kind of open your eyes to see how important systems and structures are to not just achieving your goal but cultivating joy, and I mean a thousand other things. Now, research shows that people who create systems and routines are 23% more productive than those who just operate off the fly, and this is according to a study from the Harvard Business Review. Now, these people that create systems also report lower stress levels and higher satisfaction in both personal and professional areas. So y'all systems help you to reduce stress. That alone is just worth it. And I will tell you, I am queen of systems. I have probably 20 different systems in place to keep me aligned of where I need to go. And do they all fail? Sometimes? Yes, because I will still like kind of stray and then I'm like nope, I gotta get back to my systems, y'all. When I am away from my systems, I will tell you stress, anxiety, overwhelm, all of that like takes place and I quickly realize why am I feeling overwhelmed, why am I stressed, why am I having an anxiety attack? Because I have not been implementing my systems that are in place, I haven't been honoring the systems, I haven't been adhering to the systems, and then I have to get back to the systems.

Speaker 1:

Start of the new year. I implemented some new systems this year because I fell short of a lot of goals last year. I want to protect some of the things that God put in my heart and there are goals and things that God put in my heart that I fell short of last year. There are goals and certain things that you have to protect that are between you and God and sometimes, when you share those things, the enemy tries to come in and just attack those, and the more people that know about them, the more opportunity the enemy has to come and attack those goals. So I will tell y'all in my goals and review episode that was a couple episodes back I was not fully transparent with all of my goals.

Speaker 1:

All right, now getting back to what matters here the research, because I realized that some of the systems that I had in place weren't working for me, and that is another thing that you have to be willing to test, to tweak and to work out the systems that work best for you. There are a million different systems and ways that you can put into place to help you, but if they aren't working for you, you have to try another system. So this year your girl is trying new systems and saying, hey, let's see if this works to keep me aligned to the goals that God is calling me to. Now I want to be in that higher percentage. All right, now, 23% of people, you see, are more productive and stuff when there are systems in place. And then you have the people that just go off the fly.

Speaker 1:

Now I want to tell you people that go off the fly, the people off the fly people, y'all. You probably aren't listening to this right now. I will say that because you like to go off the fly, you like to do what you want to do. You don't want to hear no one else telling you what to do. You get advice from your inner self, and you probably are not the ones listening to this right now. The people that are listening are the ones who like structure, who like routine, who are very self-motivated, self-disciplined, all of that. Those tend to be the personas of the people that listen to this podcast, and a lot of you know self-motivating podcasts in general. So there is a small amount of you that are probably listening right now that are the fly off the tide people. And I'm telling you, people right now, the one or two of you that are listening right now, start small. Don't try to create a system that is overwhelming or try to put 20 systems into place, because you're going to crash and burn because structure is not your cup of tea.

Speaker 1:

So for this next exercise, we're going to think about what systems could you build this next week to bring more order into your life. What does that look like? And we're talking joy and order. When you bring order into your life, what does that look like? And we're talking joy and order. When you bring order into your life, it cultivates joy, y'all. I've said it a million times. This podcast is called your Joyful Order for that reason, and I want you to write down right here this is your prompt what system could you build this week to bring more order and joy to your life. Could it be creating a morning routine, could it be meal prepping, could it be a gratitude journal, could it be exercise, could it be getting out and just walking for 15 to 20 minutes a day. I want you to write it down right here and I want you to commit to it Now for my off-the-fly people that don't like structure or systems.

Speaker 1:

Just think of one small thing that you can do for the next week and yours could be as simple as let me just make a weekly to-do list, and that weekly can-do list or weekly to-do list next week can turn into a daily to-do list, and then it keeps evolving over time as you create the habit. Start small, all right Now. Building these systems may feel like extra work up front, but they're investments that pay off and save time so much later. I promise you that you were talking to a person that did not have systems in place for her personal life and then, once systems got put into place, I realized how much freedom and how much more time I had to do the things that I enjoy. More time I had to do the things that I enjoy Now.

Speaker 1:

In Luke 14, 28, it says suppose one of you wants to build a tower, won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? Planning is biblical y'all. Going back to building the blueprint for a house building the blueprint for a house, you have to put in the work up front in order to create a strong foundation, in order to create the joy that you are trying to bring into your life. All right, now we're going to finish off strong right here. I'm going to leave you with three habits that can cultivate joy every day for you. First is to start with gratitude. Write down three to five things that you are grateful for each morning. This simple act shifts your perspective and sets a positive tone. Journal prompt right here. We've done this many times. This isn't you. If you have not completed your gratitude practice for today, you're going to do it right here in the journal. So hit pause. Write three to five things that you are grateful for today.

Speaker 1:

The second habit to cultivate joy is to pray with purpose. Share your heart with God, but also listen for his guidance. Ask him to reveal areas where you can experience more joy, and I want to just kind of sit on this one for a minute right here, because there are many of you that don't have an active prayer practice because of the shame you carry, of the guilt you have of past hurts, past lies that you've been told, because maybe another church or another religion told you that you have to be perfect to pray to God, or told you that the only way you can pray is through a priest or through a saint or getting on your knees and saying Allah's for 20 times. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that there is religion out there that has restricted people from praying directly to God and having a relationship with God. Religion is what killed Jesus y'all. Religion is what put Jesus on the cross. Religion is not relationship. Relationship with God, relationship with Jesus is what will allow an active and fulfilling prayer life for you. And I'm not here to get like theological with you to tell you your religion or practice is right or wrong. But there is someone that is listening right now that has been carrying shame because they felt that they have never been perfect enough to pray directly to God, and I want that burden and that shackle that has been holding you from having a relationship with God to just go away right now Because Jesus came to set us free from that.

Speaker 1:

Jesus came for us to have a relationship with God. Jesus came so that we can pray directly with our Father without carrying the burden of shame or sin on us. You are worthy to pray directly to God and if you don't know how to pray, just start simple. Start with just waking up and saying God, thank you for waking me up. Turn your gratitude into a prayer by just going whatever you just wrote on your list of those three to five things. Go down it and just say thank you, lord, for whatever he wrote down. Thank you, lord, for my health. Thank you, lord, for my Bible. Thank you, lord, for the birds chirping, thank God. That's a prayer. Just talk to God like you'd be talking to a friend or your therapist or a counselor. Be real with God. God knows your inner thoughts. He knows your sins. There is nothing that is going to surprise God that you have done or said. So be real with God.

Speaker 1:

If you need kind of further insight on this, I did a podcast. It's episode 89. You can go back and listen. It's called Dangerous Prayers and I touch upon how to pray and how to create a good, strong prayer life. Now I'm going to leave with this. Just remember that you are worthy to pray and to talk directly to God. Now, y'all, none of that was in my script. That was just directly from the Holy Spirit. Somebody needed to hear that and I hope it was you. Now the third habit that is going to allow you to cultivate joy is to serve others. Acts of kindness not only bless others, but it also fills your heart with joy, and I want you to think about one way that you can go and serve someone else today. How can you serve someone else not just today, maybe throughout the week Now, to serve others, you don't have to be like an official volunteer or servant somewhere.

Speaker 1:

You can serve someone else. You can serve someone in your home. Today, you can pick up the phone and send an encouraging text to a loved one or a friend. You can pick up the phone and you can call someone and say hey, I was thinking about you today. Can I pray with you? Today, you can do something as little as let someone in front of you in the line at the grocery store or in the drive-thru, buy somebody coffee, buy somebody a meal, open the door for someone. Maybe you see a mom in the parking lot. She got her hands full trying to get the babies in the car and unload her groceries. Maybe you can go over and help her put her groceries in her car. There are so many different acts of kindness that you can do to serve others. That doesn't have to be like official volunteer work.

Speaker 1:

Y'all. I've been serving others for over 23 years in official roles of volunteer in my church, in classrooms, in my community, and I can tell you that it has been one of the biggest blessings and joy makers in my life and it's just a way of life for us. We have been of service to others for over 23 years and I will serve others in some type of capacity until the day I die, until I am bedridden, and even when I'm bedridden promise you'll be getting texts from me or videos or something, because it will be until I cannot breathe, because that's how much joy serving others brings to me. This podcast is serving others and it brings so much joy to my life. It also brings stress when I have deadlines and I'm editing and all that stuff, but it's worth it because I know and y'all can be part of that joy making process for me by sharing it by responding and being interactive on my social media and telling me how episodes have impacted you and engaging. If you're journaling some of this stuff right now and you don't mind sharing it on social media, take a picture and tag me in it so I can see that my service is helping you, because that brings joy to me. I'm being a little selfish here because this episode should be all about you, but I'm just telling you things that bring me joy, and when I see somebody share my episode or tag me on social media, y'all it brings so much joy that I was of service to you.

Speaker 1:

So these three things that can cultivate joy in your everyday are simple Gratitude, prayer and serving others. Now I want you to reflect on these small habits and I want you to write down right now which one resonates with you most and how can you incorporate that into your daily routine. Take a pause and write that down in your journal. Now I want you to remember that joy is not a one-time achievement. It is a practice, it is a daily choice. In Psalm 1611, it says you make known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence. Seek his presence daily and let him fill you up Now before we move on. Also, I want you to take the time right here in your journal.

Speaker 1:

I want you to write a prayer out. Yes, you may not be in the practice of writing your prayers out. I want you to get in the practice of writing your prayers out. I do because I think it is so beneficial to you, not just verbally expressing your prayers to God, but also internalizing them through writing. There is such a deep rooted process that goes on when you write things out. It goes on in your brain, it goes on in your spirit. It is a practice that will have great impact on your joy. So I want you to stop and I want you to just write a prayer out to God right now, asking him to bring more joy into your life. I want you to just write a prayer out to God right now asking him to bring more joy into your life. I want you to just write a prayer out of what's on your heart right now.

Speaker 1:

What did this episode kind of surface up for you? Are there things that you need to work on? Are there moments of joy that you want to create more of in your life? And I want you to just write a prayer out what you're feeling, what you're thinking right now. Hit pause and take time to write that prayer out Now. I hope that today's episode inspired you to start building a joyful life. If you found value here, can you do me a favor and share this episode with a friend who could use more joy in their life? Don't forget to leave us a review, share us on social media, tag me and keep journaling y'all. Journaling is such a great way to cultivate joy in your life and once you put that practice and that system into place, you're going to reap the benefits from it. And until next time, friends, keep chasing joy.