We often want the big fix, but maybe micro joys – like the signs of spring – are the real key to a happier life

There had been signs of it for weeks, of course – I’d just allowed myself to get too busy, too caught up in the rush of life to notice.

What is it about the pace of modern life – darting to appointments, picking up children, packing lunches, work meetings, cooking dinner – that seem to suck the joy from ordinary moments for all of us?

That’s not to mention the backdrop of global disasters, climate warnings and cost of living worries that seem to push things so far out of our control.

So when I finally took five minutes to step outside just after sunrise one morning this week, I was surprised to find the tiniest leaves appearing on the honeysuckle and furry catkins dangling from the alder trees.

I could smell nature’s quickening in the woods after the night’s rainfall. A low thrum, like a heartbeat of the earth, seemed to pulse beneath my feet and I wondered how I could have allowed myself to get so busy I almost missed my favourite time of year.

These observations coloured my day. They changed it. Something of the magic fragments of morning’s golden hue had seeped into the deepest parts of me that still had all these tasks to do. Yet somehow these tasks felt more manageable now.

The neuroscientific community has coined the term ‘micro joys’, to describe these small wonders that might be an antidote to the stresses of daily life.

And they’re not just found in nature. Lunch with a friend. A walk with the dog. Receiving a card in the post. Climbing into a bed made up with freshly laundered sheets. Taking time out to go to see a film. Just hanging out – these all qualify as things which can tip the balance in favour of seeing the cup as more half full than half empty.

None of these things is particularly out of the ordinary. The point about micro joys is that they’re simple, quotidian things in life that can transform our day if we take the time to notice them and appreciate them.

If our diary is chock full of shoulds, must-dos and tasks that make us groan, then a ‘joy snack’, as these micro joys are also being called, might be just what we need to push us into healthier territory.

In the US, the neuroscientific community is taking pocket-size joyful moments very seriously.

In a massive citizen science project, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley embarked on new testing by asking people to sign up for its ‘Big Joy Project’.

With nearly 60,000 people signed up so far, the findings already show an immediate increase in positive emotions after trying micro acts of joy practices.

Psychotherapist Stella O’Malley believes that micro joys are a really important concept, which often gets overlooked as unimportant.

“If we make sure we often have little joys, over time we’ll become a much happier person,” she says.

“As humans, we often want the ‘big solution’ and we dismiss the little things but these are the key to life.

“If you talk to older people about what’s really important, they’ll tell you it’s about the nice cup of tea, it’s about the chat and enjoying pleasant events. It’s like the gurus have been telling us for decades – enjoy the moment”.

O’Malley points out that well-being is a skill and a habit that you acquire – albeit one that takes practice.

Cultivating good habits takes time and over time builds up, she says.

Just like we can adopt bad habits like smoking and nail-biting, there is potential in the idea of cultivating a daily habit of joy.

Like any habit, the more we do it, the more we’ll want to do it and if this one brings more goodness into our lives, surely it’s worth giving it a try.

Sometimes the biggest revolutions begin quietly. Change might come slowly but small pocket-sized pieces of joy seem like a good starting place for a happier life.