Our holiday weekend kicked off on the Colorado River with a handful of family members and a busload of new friends. Equipped with essentials—refreshments and tunes—adults and kids excitedly piled into giant tubes about 40 miles west of Vail. We scrambled to bungee our vessels together, and set off downstream in our festive flotilla.

Not long into our July 4th excursion, a few folks started nibbling on an unexpected snack. It quickly dawned on me that the mushrooms, although edible, were not portobellos. I giggled, shrugged, and settled in for the entertainment that was sure to follow.

As a middle-aged mom—especially one navigating a waterway with my 9-year-old—I opted for a different kind of microdosing: bite-sized servings of ease. It’s my natural medicine of choice these days, and a powerful elixir in our crazy-busy world.

Wherever I am and whatever I’m doing—from working to vacationing, from mothering to human-being—these doses of ease tilt me toward on-the-spot calm, comfort, and connection. And, by intentionally weaving those doses and tilts into my days, I gradually create new patterns in my body, mind, and life. Patterns that are sustainable, empowering, and nourishing. That offer a slow and steady antidote to the race and pace of modern society.

On the float, I microdosed with sprinkles of joy. Joy emerges through connection—with others, with our environment, and with ourselves. And, it’s experienced by slipping into the present. Meandering down the river, I found joy in laugh-out-loud moments (thanks in part to those sampling the fungus among us), jaw-dropping vistas, and the pure glee of my son with his cousins.

Joy promotes ease by releasing feel-good hormones (e.g., dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin), decreasing stress hormones (e.g., cortisol), and improving pain and immunity. The experience of joy may feel like a lightness. A stillness. Glimpse of peace. Whole-body shimmer. Heart-felt resonance. Gasp of delight. An expansion.

Read on to scoop up some of this deliciousness today!

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A Microdose of Sweetness

Need some joy? Try this natural medicine.

Tend to yourself with (to use yoga therapist Durga Leela’s term) sweetness therapies. Bring in delight through your senses. You might relish the flavor of honey, the scent of a rose, the feel of sunshine on your face, the notes of a soothing song, or the flicker of aspen leaves in the breeze. 

What are your favorite things to taste, smell, touch, hear, and see? Intentionally weave doses of sweet nourishment into your daily life.