Author Tarana Burke recently spoke on a podcast I enjoy. In her young life, she experienced considerable trauma and pain. One thing she did to bring her out of her pain-ridden life was to write in a “Joy Journal”. Each day, she would consider what moments of joy she had experienced that day, perhaps only briefly, but they had happened. She writes those moments down in her journal. It helped her to realize that joy could co-exist with her pain. Your moment of joy might be something that makes you laugh out loud – for instance, today, on my car ride home, I saw a huge dog resting his head on the roof of the car, using the sunroof as his window to the outside. For Ms. Burke, that moment was frequently when she heard her elementary-aged daughter scream through the hall, “my mama’s here to pick me up.”
Our clients frequently endure great stress and pain on their whistle blowing journey. We encourage them to write in detail the elements of the fraud they have witnessed as well as retaliatory acts perpetrated by their employers. After doing all of that, it seems to me that a good mental counter for that is to reflect upon and write down what brought you joy that day. By doing so, perhaps your perspective on life may become a bit more balanced. At least, that’s my hope.