If you could create your own job -- and we mean, any job -- what would it be? Professional Nap Dress Wearer? Chief Eye Mask Tester? Creative Director of Headbands?
How about Joy Strategist?
Meet Grace Harry who spends her days and nights working hard to literally make people feel, well, more joyful. "It's literally what it sounds like," she says. "I work with people to strategize joy."
"Joy," Harry explains, "is our birthright. There was a time when you were five or six and you didn’t have to go look for joy. You would stand next to someone and start shaking your arm or twirling around or kicking your leg or singing a song. Where did you lose that?"
Harry works with her clients to find where that joy has gone and strategize--much like you would strategize a new business--how to find it again. Here, she shares what's next to her (joyful) bed.
What side of the bed do you sleep on?
If you’re facing into the bedroom I sleep on the left side of the bed.
What can you not sleep without?
I had neck surgery many years ago. I found this neck and side sleeper pillow that’s kind of changed my life. It’s the only way I can sleep and be comfortable. I don’t sleep with anything else besides that. I always have crystals next to my bed and things that are important to me. I have things that were picked by each of my kids, a book, something to draw on, something to write my dreams in... those are some of those important things.
Do you write your dreams down in that journal each morning?
I call it my me-book versus a journal because it’s not just a journal. It has a journal inside and a page for dreams and jokes and silly things and toys to play with and mementos and photos and I draw in it. Having a vision board where all of these things were separate--I was never seeing it. But this book, even when I’m going to a new page, I’m going back. I promised myself that whatever page I opened up to, that’s what I’m meant to read that day. It could be a poem I wrote, a purge of something that upset me once before... I just trust the universe and know that I’m meant to read that again. It’s been a really big thing [for me and my clients] during this quarantine. It’s a world unto itself.
Is there anything really strange next to your bed?
Yes! I missed my birthday because because of quarantine. I turned 50 and I had this whole experience planned that had to be canceled. But also, I found this really weird, kooky, quirky, florist and its a combination of dried feathers and stuff. I got this beautiful arrangement from them that’s next to my bed now and it makes me laugh because it looks like an entire cabaret show: pink flowers and even jewels stuck in it.
Do you keep any electronics next to your bed?
I’ve been really working on blocking the blue and keeping [electronics] as far away as possible. It really does mess with your sleep. The more you can pull away from electronics and listen to your own body’s energetic resonance, the more the messages from you or from your community comes through.
What’s your bedtime routine in five steps or less?
I’m not that into all that stuff. I dry brush. I take a bath. That’s a definite beauty routine. I try to have salts and bubbles and sometimes toys. I wash my face. That’s really it. The bath is pretty much the big one. I take my time in there. I get a lot of creative ideas and inspiration in the bath. Sometimes I’ll record something or I’ll just write. I used to have crayons for the bathtub so that If I really thought of something I could just write it on the side of the tub.