Edel Coffey: The importance of finding joy in our daily lives

Even though joyful moments are by nature small and fleeting they somehow have the power to make us feel truly alive - and joy is nearly always free.

Edel Coffey: the key to joy in life is in its little details. Photo: Ray Ryan

I was talking to a fitness expert recently, trying to figure out a way to introduce exercise into my life in a more permanent and ongoing way rather than the stop-start-stop way that has been the habit of my lifetime. “Every time I hit a goal, I stop. And then I have to start again six months later,” I complained. “How can I sustain?” She looked at me serenely and said, “I think we greatly underestimate joy in our lives.”

It was such a simple concept but I felt like I had just been given the secret to life. Joy. Find joy. Do things you enjoy. It was so simple. The reason I stop going to the gym when I hit a fitness goal is because I don’t like going to the gym. I find it … punishing. But if I were to do something I enjoyed, I might persist with it.